NPA Urges Terminal Operators To Increase Investment At Seaports

The managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, on Wednesday, toured the Lagos Ports of Apapa and Tin-Can Island Ports.

The NPA boss who visited Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited (ABTL) and APM Terminals, Apapa in the Lagos Port Complex (LPC), Apapa also visited the administrative building of the Tin Can Island Port complex, Lagos.

Speaking to newsmen, the NPA boss urged terminal operators to take advantage of the investor friendliness of the administration of President Bola Tinubu to increase their investment in the nation’s seaports.

According to Dr Dantsoho, given Nigeria’s huge population, Nigerian Ports definitely deserve greater investment than what is currently obtainable.

“I would like to implore all terminal operators to take advantage of the investor-friendliness of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and put in more investment. Giving Nigeria’s huge population, Nigerian Ports definitely deserve greater investment than what is currently obtainable.”

“Compared to the last 20 years, or even more, the reform that ended in 2006 was a clear departure from when NPA was doing both the cargo and the shipping part of the business. Right from 2006, NPA is structured in the way that we are concentrating on the ship side of the business, private sector are involved in the cargo handling, and the essence of bringing the terminal operators is for Nigeria to be able to have a more advanced infrastructure and equipment without using public sector funds.

“So, if you bring in private sector practitioners, such as terminal operators, what is expected of them by Nigeria is for them to improve infrastructure and equipment, that is the key objective. And as you can see, we have achieved part of the aim,” Dr Dantsoho stated.

“You know, in Apapa, we have a company or terminal operators like APMT, like ABTL, and then at Tin Can, we have Five Star Logistics and others, they are doing their best to improve these two things I have mentioned, infrastructure and equipment.

“But, that is not to say that we are where we want to be or that we have achieved 100 per cent of the goal we set out to achieve at the beginning of the day but, we are looking to see how we can improve the relationship, how we can integrate in a way that we can move faster and because of that, government is trying to see how it is going to be as soon as possible,” he stated.

The NPA boss, however, assured the operators of necessary support to protect their investment and as well guarantee Return on Investment (RoI).

“In alignment with the World Ports Sustainability program, this Management is keen on Ports eco-friendliness, and we will insist on investor compliance with this global imperative. On our part as a regulator, we assure you of all the facilitation necessary to protect your investment and guarantee return on investment.

The NPA helmsman also noted that the authority is ready for the implementation of the Port Community System (PCS) and upgrade of the seaports through the port modernisation upgrade.

“We will begin implementation of PCS. We will be on the same page with our terminal operators, other government agencies and our stakeholders. APM Terminals is 100 percent ready for the PCS and ABTL is almost ready.”

“All the terminals will have electronic integration, what is called the Port Community System, which will now advance into the National Single Window (NSW). This is a major project of the federal government and the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, who has been focused on that,” the MD stated.

Dantsoho who was recently elected as the first ever Nigerian President of the Port Management Association of West & Central Africa (PMAWCA) stated further that “We must translate our vision of being the maritime logistics hub for sustainable Port services in Africa to reality as quickly as possible.