Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello Koko.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, Mohammed Bello Koko has restated the commitment of the current management under his watch to enthrone a regime of international standards and best practice in the handling of ships and cargo in all seaports in the country.

Bello-Koko made the remark while addressing members of the Senate Committee on Privatisation and Commercialisation led by Senator Theodore Orji, who visited the authority in line with their oversight responsibility.

According to Bello Koko, the authority has created the enabling environment for a well-structured inter-modal system for seamless connectivity of the water ways, rail and road transport, to foster improved service delivery as well as increase revenue into the nation’s purse.

He noted that the various reforms rolled out by the Federal Government have had a significant positive impact on port productivity, stressing that the dividends are evident in the areas of reduced cargo dwell time, improvement in cargo throughput, ship turn-around time and drastic reduction in security challenges within and around the seaport environment.

The NPA MD called for better synergy with Nigeria Customs Service NCS and other agencies of government involved in the examination and clearance of cargo, to drive efficiency in port operations.

While expressing the appreciation of the Authority to the lawmakers for their visit, Bello-Koko assured that NPA would work tirelessly at ensuring the sustenance of service excellence across the nations Ports. He solicited the timely support and cooperation of the committee on efforts of the authority to end the perennial gridlock plaguing vehicular activities along the port access roads, especially in Apapa. Chairman of the committee, Senator Theodore Orji, who spoke earlier, assured that the committee would work in collaboration with the management of the NPA with a view to removing all bottlenecks militating against ease of doing business at the country’s seaports.