NPA, Navy cement collaboration to deepen maritime safety, ease of doing business
More details have emerged on why the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hajiya Hadiza Usman, has called for collaboration with the Nigerian Navy (NN).
Explaining issues during a recent courtesy visit to the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Ibok Ete-Ibas in Abuja earlier in the week, Usman averred that the visit was to deepen better service delivery in the nation’s maritime industry.
She said the purpose of the visit was to seek collaboration with NN and work out ways to strengthen the already existing relationship between the two organisations.
According to her, “the visit would also enable the two organisations to address grey areas affecting their operations”.
While calling for sustenance of the working relationship which the two organisations had enjoyed over the years, she promised to support NN in carrying out its professional responsibilities where and when necessary.
Hadiza Usman argued that ““with this collaboration, I have no doubt in my mind that NPA will become more effective and efficient in carrying out its responsibilities. The collaboration will also open new frontiers for NPA, especially in security and conducive environment for maritime activities.”
In his response, the Service Chief noted that the collaboration was timely, bearing in mind the spate of activities of sea pirates and other criminal elements in the nation’s maritime domain. He said it was imperative to collaborate with seafarers and other stakeholders for the security and protection of the nation’s maritime domain.
Ete-Ibas promised to sustain the relationship both organisations had enjoyed so far. He added that “the fact that NN was carved out of NPA some years ago, it meant we still need your support.
“With your support, NN would continue to secure the maritime domain better for seafarers and other stakeholders to have an enabling environment for their activities.”
He thanked NPA management for the support in complementing its work and ensuring that NN lived up to its mandate of securing the nation’s maritime domain and sundry security services.
