The House of Representatives Committee on Ports and Harbours has pledged to support the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) port infrastructure rehabilitation plan.
Speaking recently during a press conference to conclude the 3-day oversight visit of the Committee to the NPA, Nnolim Nnaji, chairman of the Committee, said they have seen the level of decay at the ports and agreed with the management of NPA on the need to urgently reconstruct Tin-Can Island Port.
He said there is also a need to comprehensively rehabilitate Apapa, Rivers, Warri, Onne, and Calabar Port Complexes respectively.
Commending the Mohammed Bello Koko-led management and staff of the NPA for delivering exceptional results despite impediments outside of its control, Nnaji said the port authority has done very well in the area of unprecedented revenue generation and remittance to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the federation.
He said the NPA has worked in the area of infrastructure and equipment renewal.
Nnaji frowned at the 100 percent physical examination of cargo by Nigeria Customs, which negates the objectives of trade facilitation and ease of doing business.
“We must acknowledge the efforts of the current leadership of Nigeria Customs, and we will give legislative support where necessary for the automation of cargo examination through the use of scanners.
“On the way to 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 port to eliminate the delays associated with over-concentration on the roads,” Nnaji explained.
