The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has cited Nigeria’s “aquatic endowments” and its geography as potential revenue generators.
This was stated by the Authority’s Acting Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko, while highlighting the importance to turn particular focus on the deteriorating road networks of Tin-can Island Port, Calabar port, Delta port, and the Onne port.
He said that a revamp of the poor infrastructure of the above-listed ports would attract private investors, which in turn, would be a boon for the Authority and the government.
Bello-Koko said, “Nigeria accounts for about 70 percent of cargoes imported into West and Central Africa and the country controls an impressive stretch of the Atlantic Ocean. Nigeria’s rich aquatic endowments and her border with landlocked nations make the development of deep seaports a huge potential revenue earner for the nation.
“The move towards earning the status of the hub in the region is in line with our new vision statement which was adopted at the recent NPA Management retreat, ‘To Be The Maritime Logistics Hub For Sustainable Port System In Africa.'”
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“I will like to crave the understanding of the Board with regards to executive management’s limitations in actualizing some of our goals and objectives, which I am sure distinguished board members must have noticed in the course of the tour of ports that preceded this retreat.
“Some of the benchmarks we are yet to achieve are dependent on externalities and variables that require concerted inter-agency actions, which the Authority, despite dogged efforts is yet to optimally achieve owing to systemic administrative constraints and red-tapism, including conflicting directives from the agencies operating within the port value chain and reporting to different supervising Ministries with jurisdictional overlaps and duplication of functions.
“NPA has a lot of high value landed properties in Onne, Snake Island, and Takwa Bay that are designated free trade zones and mostly allocated but with poor arterial road network and other infrastructure to make them attractive for private investments which would bring good revenue to the Authority and Federal Government.
“Management will need the support of the Board to drive the process of alternative revenue sources to actualize the lofty aspirations of the Authority.”
