The Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Ms. Hadiza Usman Friday, hinted her readiness to review all the concessions and lease agreements between the federal government and port operators as soon as possible to boost output.
Addressing newsmen at the end of her three-day tour of Port Harcourt and Onne Ports, she said many of the terms and conditions in the prevailing agreements are not in line with current realities of the economy.
Expressing anger on the level of rot and inactivity in the ports caused by the weaknesses of concessionaires Usman, said her administration at NPA will do everything possible to stop leakages of revenue and boost efficiency at the ports.
Usman made the remarks during a tour of the ports in Port Harcourt and Onne in Rivers State.
Stressing that the era of operational lapses at the expense of revenue due to the government is over, Ms Hadiza Usman assured them that welfare of staff was a priority for her administration.
Before now, the new managing director had been touring NPA formations beginning from Lagos commands since last month.
Top officials of the Onne Port, and the Port manager, Mr. Alhassan Abubakar, rolled out the challenges faced by personnel especially in the area of welfare to include infrastructure, low throughput and insurgency.
Responding, Usman said steps had been taken to ensure all revenue leakages were blocked and duly paid to the consolidated revenue account.
According to her, “One of the things we are doing in Onne Port is to ensure that all revenue due to the Federal Government is duly paid. We have developed a payment system that will guard against leakages”.
In his address of welcome, the General Manager of eastern ports of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Abdullahi Goje, hinted that the port was sitting on a land area of over 2,539 hectares and still expanding and was home of the nation’s oil and gas free zone, regarded as the fastest growing in Sub-Saharan Africa, with over 200 companies operating within the port.
