NPA upgrades seafarers centre in boost for Nigeria ports

The ranking of Nigerian seaports is expected to take a notch upward following the recent overhauling of the Mission to Seafarers (MTS) centre in Lagos by the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).

Speaking during the recent inspection of the ongoing rehabilitation works at the MTS Centre in Apapa, Mohammed Bello-Koko, managing director of the NPA, said the centre has been upgraded to become one of the best in Africa and will improve Nigeria’s rating among maritime nations in the continent because the state of seafarers centre is one of the indexes for a port rating in the world.

He said the new facility can confidently host visiting seafarers from all parts of the world.

“The attention of the Nigerian Ports Authority was called to the poor state of the headquarters of the seafarers’ in Nigeria. Then, the state of the facility was an embarrassment a few months ago. We discovered that it was not in a good state, and we promised to do something about it. We just came to inspect the state of the work, and we are impressed with what we are seeing.

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“The essence of this place is that when seafarers, and ship captains, who are essential to moving the economy of the world come into the country, like in every other country, they should have somewhere to go and rest, spend a little time on land, and before continuing their journey,” he said.

He said Nigeria will going forward, be proud to host any Captain from any part of the world here.

On his part, Adebayo Sarumi, chairman of the Mission to Seafarers, Lagos, said the facility in the centre was like a Dracula house. Still, the NPA turned it into a place that Nigeria should be proud of.

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He said that a port is rated with not only the infrastructure inside the port but with other ancillary services like a good centre that can serve some important stakeholders in the port industry, like seafarers.

“We just started. It is going to be among the best in the world. We can raise our heads high, and we can compete with South Africa, our regional centre, and we are hopeful that very soon, even the international headquarters will say, let it go to Lagos,” Sarumi said.

With the renovation work on the formerly dilapidated facility, MTS Lagos can now boast of a swimming pool, bedrooms in a two duplex, and an indoor game centre, among other facilities.