The acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, Mohammed Bello Koko (middle) commissions the new state- of the -art records center, flanked by the Executive Director, Marine and Operations of the authority, Hon. Onari Brown (right), General Manager, Administration, NPA, Engr. Sylvester Ajibola (left), and the General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, NPA, Olaseni Alakija (2nd left) during the official flag off of NPA the state- of- the- art Records Centre.

The management of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA has commissioned a state-of-the-art ultra- modern e-Documents Management and Records Centre as part of efforts to boost and sustain operational efficiency at the seaports.  The centre is domiciled at the Marina, Lagos corporate headquarters of the organisation.

The documents solution centre which is of American model, will not only serve as a source for information storage and retrieval but as a reservoir of data of enduring values.

Acting Managing Director of NPA, Mohammed Bello Koko who unveiled the ultra-modern Records Management and Solution Centre described it as a testament of the management’s relentless efforts aimed at comprehensively improving the agency’s position at developing seamless customer based services and operations.

He highlighted the fact that it is the strategic intent of the authority to sustain competiveness in the sub-region by giving priority to the safety of documents through automation and digitalisation.

Bello Koko stated that in adherence to the authority’s plan to deploy a 360- degree document management solution, management aspires to migrate from physical archiving to digitalisation up to work flow via Electronic Documents Management Solution EDMS with strategies to localise same at port locations as functional retention centres.

At the moment the authority has two other functional retention centres in Apapa and Port Harcourt to serve the Lagos and eastern ports respectively. This is in addition to another record centre undergoing automation within the Apapa port area.

The acting Managing Director added that the speed and seamless nature of the EDMS in records storage and processing has a bearing on the organisation’s desire in achieving customer satisfaction and excellence whilst promoting the Ease of doing Business.

“In fact this event is very much in line with our drive towards attaining compliance status of the International Organisation for Standardisation ISO. The ISO framework for records management, positions organisations like the NPA to reap the benefits of enhanced records management”, he said.

This according to him, includes meeting legal obligations for accurate storage and retrievals, adding that the documents management solutions would institute a clear regime of improved accountability and transparency in addition to strengthening our auditing system and training process to world class standard.

Bello Koko further expressed confidence at the realisation of the authority’s vision of deploying a single window platform to access records across all port locations.

While the documents solution centre is expected to serve as an antidote to vandalism, theft and arson.

In his closing remarks, the acting MD enjoined all staff of the authority to take ownership of the facility, reminding them to deepen their maintenance culture while also admonishing them not to let the investment in the project be a wasteful venture.

It is envisaged, that before the end of 2021, the pilot project of the end-to-end documents management solution would have been achieved.