NPA halts monopoly in cargo handling at ports

•As NAE, Arco Group seek attention for engineering profession

To reduce monopoly and enhance operational efficiency at the ports, the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman, has inaugurated the cargo handling speciality by terminal operators at the ports.

Usman directed that every terminal in the port is free to receive any cargo in so far as they have the technical competence to handle such. Before now, terminal operators were given area of speciality in cargo handling, thereby given some operators monopoly to handle certain type of cargoes.

The Managing Director added that “the Authority would ensure a level playing field for all the operators and that no investor is above the law and that all must comply with laid down rules and regulations.”

Speaking when she received visiting members of the Nigerian Academy of Engineering, in her office in Marina, Usman requested for greater collaboration and support from the Academy in the area of new engineering projects.

She also affirmed that NPA has a large pool of competent engineers who are versatile, and are contributing immensely to the organisation, while assuring of NPA’s support to the Academy.

She also said the Authority would look at the possibility of supporting relevant technical institutions in line with its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) especially in the area of capacity building.

The President, Nigerian Academy of Engineering, Mrs Joanna Maduka, commended Usman on her achievements within such a short period, adding that NPA was noted to have produced very competent engineers in the past.

She solicited NPA’s support in the efforts of the Academy to resuscitate engineering institutions and colleges in Lagos, decrying that government has not given enough recognition to the profession.

In another development NAE and Arco Group, have stressed that engineering education and profession are not given the pride of place it deserves in national planning and development.

The Academy led by its President, Mrs Joanna Maduka in a courtesy visit to Arco’s head office to brief Arco on its expanding role in promoting engineering education and profession as well as discuss ways and means of broadening its collaboration with the group in different spheres of its activities.

Maduka observed that the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan recently put in place by the Federal Government did not have sufficient technical input, a situation, she said did not reflect the crucial role of engineers in economic planning in Nigeria.

She bemoaned the pervasive scarcity of modern teaching instruments and equipment in the engineering and technical departments of tertiary institutions in the country and called on all concerned to improve the situation in order to enhance the technical competence of graduates of the institutions.

A member of the delegation, Prof Augustine Esogbue, who is the coordinator of the Academy’s activities among Nigerian engineers in diaspora informed that Nigerian engineering talents abound in different countries around the world.