From left: Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, Mohammed Bello -Koko, ED, Finance and Admin. Adenrele Adesina and ED, Marine and Operation, Hon. Onari Brown during the TCIP access road project inspection recently.

Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, Mohammed Bello -Koko led the top management team of the organisation to inspect the ongoing rehabilitation of Tin Can Island Port Complex TCIP access road and completion of the concrete perimeter fencing of the port, which contracts were awarded last year.

This is in line with the port infrastructural renewal policy of the Bello-Koko-led management of the authority across all port locations, which is part of its efforts to enhance port efficiency, reduce cost of operation and make the seaports globally competitive.

Speaking shortly after the project inspection, the Managing Director restated the commitment of the current management under his watch to the renewal of existing port infrastructure and establishment of new ones with a view to boosting efficiency.

The Managing Director charged the contractors to speed up the pace of the project to enhance timely completion before the coming of the rainy season. He also expressed the hope that the completion of the concrete perimeter fencing would substantially boost security at the ports.

Recall that the TCIP access road had become so bad that it worsened the gridlock on the Mile2-Apapa Road corridor, thus making it very difficult for trucks laden with import and export consignments to access the port terminals with the attendant delays and increased cost. Similarly, the absence of the perimeter fence made the ports porous and vulnerable.

For instance, there were repeated cases of security breach at the complex which container broaching became the order of the day, a development that left the NPA management with the only option of fixing the access roads and the perimeter in line with is infrastructural renewal policy.

Bello- Koko was accompanied on the project inspection exercise by the Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Hon. Onari Brown, Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Adenrele Adesina and Port Manager, TCIP, Jibril Buba, among others.