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Tag: NPA

  • Smooth port operations: NPA ban acceptance of gift, souvenirs from vessel crew

    Smooth port operations: NPA ban acceptance of gift, souvenirs from vessel crew

    The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has banned the collection and acceptance of gift item and souvenirs from vessel crew members by officials of the agency who board vessels for official purposes.

    In the minutes of meeting of the Ports Facility Officers, PFSO Forum, NPA’s Assistant General Manager, Security, Mr. Mohammed Khalni said that the purpose was to reduce access to the port.

    Khalin told the Forum that port access and other requirements are needed to access the port as even as other measures are also being considered to make the port areas more secured.

    He opined that since the security agencies in the port has been prune down, access into the port should be more restricted.

    He explained the Committee that was set up to ensure enforcement of the Executive Order has also constituted a Task Force that will use the Lagos port Complex as a case study.

    He disclosed that consultation by the Committee with other stakeholders has been going on adding that the recommendation of stakeholders’ engagement has been sent to NPA for implementation.

    He said “Various measures have been put in place to reduce access to the ports, even with a port pass; other documents were required to for access.

    “Already, there are measures in place to address and eradicate all forms of exploitation and extortion in the ports.

    “The collection and acceptance of gift items and souvenirs from captains and crew members of when boarding vessels have been abolished forthwith.

    Recall that about four years ago, four immigration officers were arrested for looting a vessel they boarded to carry out official duties.

  • 282 missing vessels: NPA faults Senate claims

    282 missing vessels: NPA faults Senate claims

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has faulted claims by the Chairman, Senate Committee on Customs, Excise and Tariff, Senator Hope Uzodinma, that 282 ships went ‘missing’ from the port between 2010 and 2016; and asked the committee to provide more information to enable it respond to the allegation

    In a statement signed by the authority’s Head of Public Affairs, Mallam Ibrahim Nasiru, NPA said the Senate Committee handed over documents containing a list of 29 items, which are a combination of vessels and details of individual Bill of Ladings of consignments carried by different vessels to representatives of NPA for review.

    NPA said it received another set of 10 volumes of items numbering 1-1,252 alleged to have been transported by vessels said to have called at Nigerian ports.

    The documents, it stated, were delivered to it by the Nigerian Shippers Council on the instructions of the Senate Committee.

    NPA said after reviewing the documents, it discovered that “of the 29 items handed over to the NPA on July 20, 2017, only five vessels were identifiable.

    “We discovered that the other 24 items are repetitions of the five vessels that were identified. A report to this effect with relevant supporting documents evidencing payment of all charges for the five vessels has been forwarded to the Senate Committee as requested.”

    On the latest set of documents it received through the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, NPA said it was unable to conduct a meaningful review, as the documents failed to provide the data that will enable verification.

    The Senate Committee documents, according to NPA, did not have the names of the vessels, dates of arrival of the vessels, ports of call, names of terminals where the vessels berthed or rotation number.

    “The authority has conveyed these observations to the Senate Committee and looks forward to receiving the required information to enable full investigation.

    “On the whole, NPA restates its commitment to every single effort aimed at sanitising operations at the ports and will cooperate with all stakeholders and arms of government in the achievement of same,” the statement added

    Meanwhile, some maritime analysts have also faulted the Senate’s claim saying that it was move to blackmail the NPA over the Calabar dredging project which was contracted to Senator Hope Uzodimma.

  • NPA, other stakeholders, meet to sustain Executive Order on port operations

    NPA, other stakeholders, meet to sustain Executive Order on port operations

    The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Ms Hadiza Usman, on Friday urged stakeholders in the maritime sector to work together to sustain the Presidential Order on Port Operations.

    According to a statement on Friday by the Principal Manager, Public Affairs of NPA, Mr Ibrahim Nasiru, the NPA chief executive made the plea at an inter-agency interactive session on the Presidential Order on Port Operations held at the NPA headquarters in Lagos.

    The statement said Usman called on all stakeholders in the sector to make information-sharing a pivotal part of their activities.

    According to her, we need to work hand-in-hand to improve efficiency in our ports.

    “We need to work as a team toward achieving success across the industry. It is about the greatness of our dear country Nigeria.

    “Let us work together to make our ports competitive in the entire ECOWAS sub-region,’’ Usman said.

    She, therefore, urged all organisations to adhere to the tenets of the Executive Order, in order not to be hampered by any encumbrances.

    Usman said that the NPA Management had evolved an effective machinery to comprehensively review the progress and challenges associated with the efforts to actualise the executive order.

    The managing director also presented the Joint Stakeholders Committee’s report on the implementation of the Executive Order on Port Operations at the session.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, had on Thursday, May 18 signed three far-reaching executive orders expected to ease business, fast-track budget submission and promote made in Nigeria products.

     

    NAN

  • Senate commences probe of NPA’s $3bn spending on dredging

    The Senate, on Wednesday, began a probe into the $3bn allegedly spent by the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, on the dredging of Lagos, Bonny and Calabar water channels.

    The lawmakers mandated the Senate Committee on Marine Transport to investigate the “dredging activities, books and records” of the NPA and the three companies engaged for the job, where the authority holds 60 per cent stake.

    They are Lagos Channel Management Limited, Bonny Channel Company Limited, and the Calabar Channel Management Company Limited.

    The move followed a motion moved by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege (Delta Central) and co-sponsored by five others at the plenary on Wednesday.

    The motion was titled, ‘Senate‘s Intervention to Urgently Stop Monumental Financial Recklessness and Economic Waste by the Nigerian Port Authority Under Its Joint Ventures with Lagos Channel Management Limited, Bonny Channel Management Company Limited and Calabar Channel Management Company Limited.’

    In the motion, Omo-Agege lamented that despite being joint venture contracts, the NPA was still spending more on the dredging projects.

    He stated, “The Senate is worried that although these JVs are supposed public-private partnerships conceived to reduce financial burdens on the Federal Government, the NPA has expended over $1bn and $2bn, respectively, on LCM and BCC from 2005 to date, while significant dredging is yet to commence on the Calabar channel; notwithstanding that it is an economic gateway to the North-Central and North-East political zones of the country.”

    Omo-Agege alleged that the NPA had “failed, refused and/or neglected” to ensure the JVs’ compliance with the Marine Environment (Sea Dumping) Regulations 2012 made pursuant to the Merchant Shipping Act 2007; the Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matters 1972, otherwise called the ‘London Dumping Convention,’ and the 1996 Protocol to the London Dumping Convention.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki, in his remarks, blamed the anti-corruption agencies in the country for not detecting the alleged misappropriation of funds on the contracts.

    He wondered how $3bn was spent by the NPA in 10 years without being detected by the agencies.

    “The Committee on Marine Transport should ensure that they work quickly on this. We cannot continue to put our money where it is being stolen,” Saraki said.

  • Why we are seeking collaboration with Nigerian Navy – NPA

    Why we are seeking collaboration with Nigerian Navy – NPA

    The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hajiya Hadiza Usman has explained why the agency is collaborating with the Nigerian Navy (NN).

    The MD explained that the collaboration aims to address the security and service delivery challenges of the agency.

    Usman made the call when she paid a courtesy visit to the Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Adm. Ibok Ete-Ibas, at the Naval Headquarters, Abuja.

    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.

    The managing director said the visit would also enable the two organisations to address grey areas affecting their operations.

    She called for the sustenance of the working relationship the two organisations had enjoyed over the years and promised to support NN in carrying out its professional responsibilities where and when necessary.

    She added 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.”

    Ete-Ibas said 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.

     

     

  • Executive Orders: FG clears NPA, NDLEA, 6 other agencies to operate at ports

    Sequel to the acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo signing of Executive Orders to ease the conduct of business in the country, the Federal Government on Tuesday cleared some agencies of government to lawfully operate at the ports.

    A statement by the Principal Manager, Public Affairs of NPA, Mr Ibrahim Nasiru, on Tuesday in Lagos, listed the eight approved agencies.

    The cleared agencies are; Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Police, Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Port Health.

    Nasiru also stated that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had been approved to operate at the ports.

    He said that the directive was communicated to the Managing Director of the NPA through a memo by the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

    He added that the memo indicated that a methodology which would ensure that only relevant cargoes were inspected by the NDLEA would be worked out.

    He said other agencies not mentioned in the list would remain outside the port premises as the authority would develop standard procedures to facilitate their seamless operations.

    “The NPA remains committed to the determination of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to ease of doing business in the country.

    “It also remains committed to the implementation of the Executive Orders recently issued by the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, as well as the improvement of conditions under which business is carried out in all ports across the country.

    “We solicit for the kind support of all agencies and stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime sector toward actualising the noble goal of making Nigeria a destination of choice for all legitimate businesses,’’ Nasiru said.

  • Port Reforms: We attracted over $86m Chinese investments – NPA

    Port Reforms: We attracted over $86m Chinese investments – NPA

    The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has refuted allegations that it’s current leadership under the Managing Director, Ms. Hadiza Bala-Usman was hindering investment in the maritime sector insisting that in a couple of months it attracted over $86m Chinese investments.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Committee of Maritime Professionals, CMP, had accused the management of the NPA of causing loses to the sector with its ‘unfriendly reform policies’.

    However, the NPA in a statement by its Principal Manager, Public Affairs, Ibrahim Nasiru, on Friday noted that the policies and procedures introduced since Usman assumed office were borne out of firm commitment to actualising the change agenda of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. It added that there were other investments in the pipeline running into billions of dollars.

    It said, “In the same vein, the NPA is currently working with DP World to actualise the organisation’s determination to invest in Greenfield port opportunities in this country. The plan is to develop a DP World Terminal in the Lagos area and a suitable site is currently being sought.

    “Both the brownfield as evident in the agreement on the Bulk Terminal and the Greenfield are investments worth billions of United States Dollars. Tanger Med Port of Morocco has equally indicated interest to invest in the development of Greenfield Terminal, Logistics Base and warehousing and a variety of other opportunities running into billions of dollars.”

    While commending the CMP for its patriotic zeal which, it said, must have inspired its statement, the NPA called on all stakeholders in the maritime sector to work together in the best interest of the industry and the country.

  • Climate Change: NPA reads riot Act on breach of environmental laws

    Climate Change: NPA reads riot Act on breach of environmental laws

    The Nigerian Ports Authority, (NPA) on Monday warned stakeholders in the maritime and port industry to adhere to environmental laws, particularly marine waste laws or face severe sanctions.

    Speaking at this year’s World Environment Day celebration, (WED) in Lagos, Managing Director of the NPA, Ms Hadiza Bala Usman, said that there was a need to willingly and consciously comply with for national environmental laws and standards.

    Usman also said that employing environmentally-friendly technologies and methods in industrial processes and production could a long way in protecting and preserving the environment.

    Similarly, NPA’s General Manager, Health, Safety and Environment, Mr. Yusuf Ahmed said that it was the responsibility of everybody to protect the earth from negative environmental effects.

    According to Ahmed, humans are part of nature and intimately depend on it for survival on the earth.

    He said “We at the Nigerian Ports Authority are taking all necessary steps to ensure that our actions and those of our partners do not impact negatively on the environment, guided by the relevant national and international laws, regulations and conventions.

    “Our ultimate objective is attaining port environments that are free of pollution, oil/chemical spills and biohazards.

    “We are happy with the understanding and cooperation of our partners in this regards and urge them to sustain it.

    “We therefore have a responsibility to protect the earth from negative environmental effects through such conscious actions as afforestation, reducing wastes at source, proper waste disposal and management and generally reducing all forms of pollution,” Ahmed explained.

  • Ease of Doing Business: NPA bans hawkers, touts from ports

    Ease of Doing Business: NPA bans hawkers, touts from ports

    Sequel to the Executive Orders signed by Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo some few days ago to facilitate a friendly business environment in the country, the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, has commenced the implementation of the new security protocols in all the sea ports in the country.

    By implication, all touts and hawkers are now banned in the port, while clearing agents and motor-boys will be stopped from hanging around and constituting crowd in the Port.

    This is contained in a statement made available to the press by the agency on Tuesday.

    The Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, has according to the statement, directed full and immediate compliance with the executive order by all officials of the agency.

    As part of the implementation process, the surveillance of illegal vessels movement by Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence (C3I) Centre and regular patrols of waterfront and common user areas and terminals by joint security teams has already started.

    It was also gathered that all security agencies are being sensitized on their specific roles procedures for enforcing security in the ports and environs in order to achieve a synergy between all security agencies in carrying out security at the ports in line with the International Ships and Port Facility Security (ISPS) code.

    According to the statement, the management of NPA has commenced ongoing illumination of port common user areas and fencing of Tincan Island Port Complex to ward off unauthorized access by miscreants, while liaising with Lagos State Government for the illumination of port access roads.

    Also in line with the Executive Order, all security personnel are to display their on-duty cards while on duty while all off-duty personnel are now completely banned from the ports. A new ID card for staff and retirees with improved features and better production quality is also being proposed while the procedures for issuing port passes and access cards are being reviewed.

    As part of moves to ensure seamless operations at the port, a joint patrol team comprising NPA Security, Port Authority Police, Customs and DSS will be constituted to carry effective patrol in the Port on hourly basis. A security operations room will also be established to monitor all port activities.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo earlier this month in an Executive Order directed that “the Apapa Port shall resume 24-hour operations within 30 days of the issuance of this Order and there shall be no touting whatsoever by official or unofficial persons at any port in Nigeria.’’

     

  • Dilapidated port roads: NPA, Dangote, others to raise N4.3bn for reconstruction

    Dilapidated port roads: NPA, Dangote, others to raise N4.3bn for reconstruction

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said it would raise N4.3 billion to reconstruct access roads around Apapa Port as port operators withdrew services over poor infrastructure.

    The Managing Director of NPA, Ms Hadiza Usman, told a stakeholders’ meeting in Lagos on Monday that NPA would provide N1.8 billion while Dangote Group and Flour Mills would provide N2.5 billion.

    TheNewsGuru.com reports that the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) had on Sunday given the Federal Government a 21-day ultimatum to rehabilitate and make the Oshodi-Apapa Dual Carriage Way and the access roads leading to the nation’s sea ports motorable.

    In Usman words: “We have received proposal for Corporate Social Responsibility of N2.5 billion from Dangote Group and Flour Mills for the full reconstruction of port roads.

    “The reconstruction entails full drainage service and the total cost of the Apapa port access roads project is N4.3 billion.

    “The two entities are willing to provide N2.5 billion, while NPA will pay the remaining N1.8 billion to ensure that the roads are done,” Usman said.

    The NPA boss said that the reconstruction would begin within one month, adding that she would ensure speedy completion of the project.

    She said that the Federal Ministry of Works would request the approval of Federal Executive Council to obtain the necessary approvals for NPA to embark of the project.

    Usman said NPA has asked the Federal Ministry of Works to provide the final engineering design and costing to enable it embark on reconstruction of the Creek road and Liverpool road later this year.

    “I feel concerned about the deplorable state of these roads and I communicated at a meeting with the minister that we are willing to fund these roads irrespective of which agency of government is doing it, she said.

    Usman said that the management of NPA would make provision for an annual budget for the reconstruction of the roads.

    She urged the Federal Ministry of Works to urgently complete the reconstruction of Coconut/Mile 2 road in Lagos.

    Usman said that NPA would seek permission of the Federal Ministry of Works to complete the holding bay under the Public Private Partnership arrangement.

    According to the NPA boss, the congestion around Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports was due to lack of an effective holding bay, trailer parks and non-reconstruction of ports roads in Lagos.

    Usman commended the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr Hassan Bello, for dialoging with port operators who had protested poor infrastructure at the port.

    Speaking earlier, Bello stressed the need for regular dialogue with stakeholders on issues militating against port operations.

    He pleaded with the port operators to suspend the withdrawal of their services and await the outcome of the initiatives of the NPA management.

    Also speaking, the Chairman Corporate Fleet Truck Association, Mrs Folake Soji-George, urged NPA to compel security agencies to stop tanker drivers from using one-way roads.

    Soji-George said that security agencies should be committed to their duties by ensuring free flow of traffic to reduce the time of doing business at the ports.

    Mr Kayode Farinto, National Publicity Secretary, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), urged government agencies to address the issue of multiple charges by the customs.

     

     

     

     

    NAN