Usman gradually building core reforms to drive ease of doing business at ports
The reformist Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman has set up a technical team within the agency to understudy tariff regimes across ports in West Africa, so as to determine the true competitiveness of Nigerian ports.
The team will explain in clear terms, what make the ports of immediate West coast neighbours thicker than ports of Nigeria.
Another major reform NPA is working on now is the massive deployment of anti-corruption mechanisms with the aim of reducing cases of fraudulent and criminal activities at the Nigerian ports.
Industry analysts say fraud at ports contribute in making the Nigerian ports among the most expensive in the world due to the legion of charges ports users are being subjected daily.
This adds credence to an October 2016 report which identified corruption as the major driver of inefficiencies at the ports, as costing Nigeria the loss of about N1trillion annually.
With the efforts of Ms. Usman, the presidency has confirmed that the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption will soon open an office in NPA in line with a report submitted by the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission (ICPC) on the corruption index in ports administration.
Business Hilights recalls that the managing director of NPA is a member of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Anti-Corruption.
Pundits say the coming of the anti-corruption agency will grow business sanity at the ports if compromise is not allowed to creep into the system.
Having met with media executives in the sector before the end of 2016, early this year, she has started strategic visits and discussions with leading clearing agents’ groups at the ports, a strategy experts say, will deepen relations and grow revenue generation for the federal agency after all.
Earlier last year she had toured several ports in the country preaching the gospel of reforms and efficiency in port administration.
