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Hurdles to tackling the rot in NPA

By Sulaimon Salau
20 July 2016   |   3:41 am
Three days after the new Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman assumed office, expectations are high in the maritime sector of a possible turnaround in the fortunes of the parastatal.
Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman

Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman

Three days after the new Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman assumed office, expectations are high in the maritime sector of a possible turnaround in the fortunes of the parastatal.

Port operators, workers and other stakeholders are hopeful that the new team would bring transparency and accountability to bear in port administration.

NPA, in recent history, has engrossed in numerous challenges majorly based on corrupt practices and inefficiency that have negatively impacted on the nation’s shipping business.

Although, many are of the opinion that Usman’s appointment was not based on ‘competence’, rather was ‘politically motivated’, those, who are in support of her appointment hope that her coming in would bring reforms.

The National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu, said the task ahead of the new helmsmen in their desire to steer the ship of NPA to safety are onerous.

Shittu said NPA has been grossly mismanaged in the past and the new team should ensure that it is efficiently operated, and that transparency and accountability are watchword in their day-to-day operations.

He tasked Usman to strictly scrutinize the Authority’s account and ensure that all the leakages are blocked, and revenues published periodically.

He said: “NPA’s output is not commensurate with the revenue they generate. They are just spread all over the country, doing what? The time they were operating the ports is quite different from now that ports had been concessioned and responsibilities they were to take care of were abandoned. The excuse they gave was that it is Federal Government’s project. How do they account for the usage of the money they earned? I have worked there before, so I know what I am saying.

“With this modern day technology, the number of staff in NPA should be reduced to half and operations reviewed to a mobile ports authority whose job is to do technical regulations of the service providers. All the Ports have been concessioned, NPA does not have control and yet they make money from these people. Then, where are they spending the money? They are not building new ports. They are just helping the Federal Government to oversee the construction of the new Lekki Port. It is being built with Federal Government’s money. What do they do with their money? And that is why you see them buying new cars and giving themselves fat allowances.

“They have turned NPA to just a political drain so that anybody who is posted to NPA is seeing like a ‘Grade A’ posting. Anybody who is a board member of NPA is a ‘Grade A’ posting. So, what is their role now? This is one reason the harbour bill has not been promulgated because it whittled down some of those accrued powers of NPA.

“Those are the areas I will want the Federal Government and the new management to work on. In fact, the rate of turn over of managing directors of NPA will tell you that something is wrong.

“They are just collecting money, nobody knows how much they generate to the Federal Government coffers. They should be audited; government should review the operations of the authority. How much do they make in a year, we have not come across anywhere that the income of NPA is stated. There is no movement on Nigerian water that NPA does not collect money. They have a long list of payments made by shipping companies, terminal operators, and sea fearers among others. What are they doing with the money?

“According to the concession agreement, they were supposed to provide constant electricity to the terminals, water for the purpose of servicing the vessels that are coming to the Ports, fixing of common user roads among others. These are their responsibilities, but they have reneged on it. The terminal operators now have to provide these things themselves, so why the charges?” he asked.

Meanwhile, the President, Senior Staff Association of Communication, Transportation and Corporation (SSACTAC), Benson Adegbeyeni, pledged the association’s support for the new team, urging them to review towage services.

Adegbeyeni, who noted that towage service is a core function of the NPA, stressed that billions of naira of government’s revenue “are being diverted through this channel”.

This, according to him, had been presently outsourced to a private company in the Lagos area, in Rivers Port and Port Harcourt Port areas, leaving NPA with only Warri and Calabar ports.

He said: “This is the first time we are having a female as the boss. It is an act of God and we believe she can transform the agency,’’

Adegbeyeni urged the new NPA boss to be ready to submit herself for learning and to yield to advice from the right quarters, adding that so many things were wrong with the port including the port concession exercise.

“The revenue of NPA is currently going into wrong hands through towage services that have been outsourced to a third party. Also, terminal operators’ activities are not properly monitored by NPA. The dilapidated infrastructure is not being replaced and the terminal operators are bringing in sub-standard infrastructure that cannot last for 10 years.

Pilot cutters and tug boats were procured by NPA, but they were given to a third party‎ to run the towage services and at the same time, generating 3,600 dollars and paying peanuts of $920 to NPA,’’ he revealed.

The President, Dockworkers Branch of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), Comrade Adewale Adeyanju, welcomed Usman on board, urging her to carefully study the numerous challenges and take drastic step to surmount them.

“The industry is very tense, there is no work, and they are sacking people on daily basis and the issue of security men that have been sacked about eight months ago without entitlements.

Also appointed alongside Usman are three new executive directors, Mohammed Bello-Koko (Finance), Prof. Idris Abubakar (Engineering) and Dr. Sekonte Davies (Marine Operations).

Speaking at the handover ceremony at the headquarters in Lagos on Monday, Usman expressed her commitments to turn the ports authority a model agency.

“We will listen to our customers, importers, exporters and other agencies working in the ports to improve on our service delivery to the nation, anything less than world-class services is simply not acceptable; attaining such heights is a mission to which I am certain we can all subscribe.” She stated:
“Today, I assume with humility the responsibility of leading the NPA team. As you all know, the country expects much from us all. Our ports are a critical artery of the economy, and it is our duty to ensure that the operators deliver port services at the standards that our businesses deserve in the 21st century in supporting President Buhari’s administration agenda of economic diversity. We will strive for enhanced operating efficiencies to facilitate improved revenue generation and inflows into the national treasury.

“As team leader, I have come to add my best efforts to yours so that we can collectively achieve results for our industry. We must work as a team pursuing common goals with professionalism and diligence.” she said.

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