From right: Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Ports & Harbour, Rt. Honorable Nnolim Nnaji receives a plaque from the Managing Director / CEO, Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello- Koko during the legislative oversight visit of the House of Representatives Committee on Ports and Harbours to the NPA.

The House of Representatives, Nigeria’s lower legislative chamber has commended the Mohammed Bello- Koko-led management and staff of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPAfor delivering exceptional results despite impediments outside of its control.

 Speaking during the press conference to conclude the three-day oversight visit of the committee to the NPA, Chairman, House Committee on Ports and Harbours Nnolim Nnaji said: “The management and staff of NPA have done very well in terms of unprecedented revenue generation and remittance to the Consolidated Revenue Fund CRF of the federation and in the area of infrastructure and equipment renewal.

“We have seen the level of decay at the ports and we agree with the management of NPA on the need to urgently reconstruct Tin Can Island and comprehensively rehabilitate Apapa, Rivers, Warri, Onne and Calabar Ports Complexes respectively. We have also noted that the insistence by Nigerian Customs on 100per cent physical examination of cargo negates the objectives of trade facilitation and ease of doing business, though we must acknowledge the efforts of the current leadership of Customs and we will give legislative support where necessary for the automation of cargo examination through use of scanners.

“On the way to the Lekki Deep Seaport, the Committee got a firsthand experience of the pressing need for the government to ramp up efforts at deploying multi modalism in the evacuation of cargo from the ports to eliminate the delays associated with over concentration on the roads.”