The Nigerian Ports Authority has concluded plans to rally stakeholders within the Nigerian port corridor to tackle some of the challenges affecting ease of doing business.
The Managing Director of the NPA, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, while speaking during a stakeholders’ engagement at the NPA’s Marina Headquarters on Tuesday, said that they have resolved to find a lasting solution to the problems along the port access road.
He added that they had identified the issue of overlapping jurisdictions as a key challenge.
He said, “Find lasting solutions to peculiar problems along the port corridor in Apapa and Tincan. Now we have established that there are issues along the corridor that are outside the port heading towards Julius Berger and Oshodi.
“And they are also outside the port, coming through Wharf Road to Ikorodu and then Surulere. So that is one issue. The second issue is the issue of overlap, jurisdictional overlap. In our system, what is established is that there is a police command for the port system, that is the Maritime Police, and then there is also the Lagos State Police Command. So, in some instances, you know, there are clashes, overlaps. So that is number two.”
He added that the stakeholders have agreed on ways of making the collaboration among different agencies smoother to ensure a better operational corridor, “without the issue of extortion and delays that are being experienced by importers and exporters as well. So, we have achieved a great lot of success in our discussions.”
“We have already committed ourselves to ensuring that we create a very sweet and more environmentally acceptable standard so that the emphasis will be that we are going to function and then function better in our practices so we can do better than our neighbouring countries,” Dantsoho said.
The NPA boss reiterated the need to take all necessary measures to position Nigeria as the leading port hub in West and Central Africa and beyond.
Earlier, the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of Maritime, Okunade Ronke, harped on the need to work together to tackle the challenges.
“On the issue of the overlap jurisdiction, we have been able to agree that we are going to form a task force between the Lagos State, the NPA, and all the stakeholders so that we can get a smooth operation around the port authority environment. So, at this juncture, I want to tell you that it has been a very, very useful discussion and you will see better statistics around the port authority,” she said.
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