NPA board frets over lingering crisis in logistics sector

The Board memebers of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), have promised to made into the lingering crisis in the oil and gas logistics value chain.

The Board, during a visit to the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistics (LADOL) base in Apapa Lagos, promised to probe into the issues and table it before President Muhammadu Buhari in a short distannce for due inteference.

The board members led by its Chairman, Emmanuel Adesoye Olajide, an engineer, said they will look into the matter, which has threatened forex earnings in the country and ensure that the president himself wades in.

The board described LADOL as an organisation that is foremost to current efforts by the Federal Government in checking the lingering foreign exchange challenges currently facing the nation.

The visiting team, which comprised the board members and accompanied by seven general managers of NPA, were received in audience by the Managing Director of the logistics base, Dr. Amy Jadesmi.

Describing LADOL as a huge investment that is generating job opportunities as well as revenue base for the economy, one of the NPA Directors, Emukowhate Charles, said the organisation is vital to government’s current efforts to check the lingering scarcity of foreign exchange that has hit the country.

“I am greatly impressed by what I have seen here which shows that there is hope for the country…the fact that you have a facility here that is the only one of such in Africa, and a foreign exchange earner, it makes it a win-win situation and a seller for the President.

“The President needs people and organisations that can generate forex at this critical time…and you are one of them, hence we must make sure that what we have seen here goes directly to the table of Mr. President”, he said.

Olajide, assured that the board would do all that was necessary in order to ensure a level playing field for all operators in the industry to strive.

The chairman, who was responding to earlier calls by the LADOL boss, Jadesimi, that only a healthy competition under a level playing field would guarantee efficiency of service delivery in the industry pointed out that NPA was concerned about reducing costs, hence it would convene a stakeholders’ dialogue to address all the lingering issues.

Jadesimi noted that aside from being the only indigenous service provider in the sector, LADOL also boasts of being the only logistics service provider in the oil and gas sector that currently operates the most modern blasting and painting technology in Africa.

“As a fact, we also parade other main distinguishing factors such as our unique quay wall and draft capacity of 500 meters that can handle a 35 tonnes entity. There is currently no dry dock facility in Africa to handle an FPSO vessel, except LADOL” she said.

Throwing more light on the evolution of the Egina FPSO project at the base, which is a contract awarded by Total Nigeria, Jadesimi said the multinational oil company takes the issue of safety for the world class facility very seriously, hence “together with Total and Samsung Heavy Industries, we undertook five different simulations to show that the vessel can safely come in to Nigeria and can berth at LADOL.