NPA to consolidate 2023 performance, reconstruct Tincan port

Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has announced a $1 billion reconstruction plan for the Tincan Island Port Complex and the comprehensive rehabilitation of Apapa, Rivers, Onne, Warri and Calabar Port complexes.

The Authority has also earmarked for similar reconstruction, under the new ports’ development plan, the Badagry Deep Seaport, Snake Island, Burutu and Ondo Deep Seaports.

Other initiatives on the card towards enhancing port competitiveness are the emplacements of the Port Community System (PCS) and the National Single Window.

The NPA management said it was poised to transform the Authority’s strategic intent of being the maritime logistics hub for sustainable port services in Africa from potential to actualities.

In a document, entitled: “Consolidation of superior performance at the Nigerian Ports Authority 2023-A synopsis of the Authority’s performance improvement 2022-2023,” sighted by The Guardian, the management said that despite global economic headwinds that characterised the year 2023, the Managing Director, Mohammed Bello Koko succeeded in leapfrogging Nigeria’s foremost trade facilitation platform to surpass its sterling performance of the year 2022.

The NPA noted that the implementation of performance improvement measures resulted in unprecedented revenue generation and remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federation, with revenues steadily growing from N361bn in 2022 to N501bn as of December 2023.

According to the management, remittances increased from N93.4 billion in 2022 to N131.2 billion by year end 2023.

The document also captured taxes paid to the Government of the Federation, which according to it, grew at various times in the period under review totaling the sum of $77.7 million and N17.6 billion respectively.

The NPA disclosed that it contributed to the deepening of Nigeria’s balance of trade through the promotion of exports of especially non-oiI export in response to the national exigency of strengthening the Naira.

The management said that in order to create new businesses and promote multi-modalism in line with global best practice as prescribed by the International Association for Ports and Harbours (IAPH), the NPA initiated Barge Operations services which, apart from reducing pressure on the roads, had grown into a N2-billion annual generation business both from direct investment and accompanying externalities.

According to management, “Movement of cargo by barge has greatly enhanced port-hinterland connectivity as evidenced by the meteoric rise in numbers from a total of 80,244 TEUs in 2022, which by 2023 had grown to 118,046 TEUs.

“The NPA during the period under review licensed ten (10) Export Processing Terminals to facilitate exports at Nigerian Sea Ports.

“This move which provided a one-stop shop for export processing where quality control, cargo assessment and statutory checks by all government agencies were carried out was geared towards eliminating all bureaucracy and attendant delays that hitherto undermined the competitiveness of Nigerian exports in the international marketplace.

“The resultant effect of this initiative, was a quantum leap in the numbers of Nigerian export-laden containers from One Hundred and Fifty-Six Thousand, Seven Hundred and Ninety (156,790) Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in 2022, to Two Hundred and Twenty-Six Thousand, Four Hundred and Fifty-Six (226,456) TEUs in 2023.”

Besides, the NPA said that it had also grown the number of ship calls following the consistent dredging of channels, installation of buoys and improved security at the ports’ channels.