The Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) has promised to support the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in replacing some of the items lost to the recent attack on its headquarters by suspected hoodlums during the recent nationwide #ENDSARS protest.
Vicky Haastrup, chairman of STOAN, said this in Lagos recently when she led the port operators on a visit to Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of NPA, to sympathise with her and the entire management over the attack, which led to the burning of a section of the NPA headquarters.
Haastrup described the attack as ‘sad and mind-boggling’. “We are most saddened by what we have seen. It’s actually beyond anybody’s comprehension that so much carnage and destruction could be done to a government property particularly NPA.
“I can imagine what the NPA management has gone through. It must be a very difficult and sad period for you because you put together so much and then some hooligans came and carried out this level of damage to the property. We sympathise with you and we are equally very sad because this is a government establishment where we all benefit from,” she said.
According to her, terminal operators are ready to support especially in replacing some of the office equipment.
“I have the assurances of my colleagues that we will support you. We are not going to wait for insurance. This is the time we need to support the NPA. They have always had our back and this is the time we need to have their back,” Haastrup said.
Also speaking, Ascanio Russo, managing director of PTML Terminal, who commended the combined effort of the police and Navy in repelling hoodlums that invaded the Tin-Can Island Port in the wake of the #ENDSARS protest, appealed to the NPA management to check the influx of unauthorised persons loitering around the port area.
He said there is an urgent need to beef up security in the port, especially at this time, to guide against any future attack on the port.
“The situation at Tin Can Island is still very precarious. There are far too many people working around the port and it is not clear what they are doing. We appeal to the NPA to look into this,” he said.
Hadiza Bala Usman, who expressed appreciation to terminal operators for the visit, said NPA is going through a difficult period but assured that the Authority remains resilient.
“We are keen to bounce back and we have commenced work. Luckily our IT infrastructure was not damaged. We have insurance cover for literally everything so we are trying to recover as much as we can through our insurance process to see how we can replace some of our equipment within the shortest possible period so that we can get back to work,” Usman said.
She however promised to liaise with the Lagos State Government to dislodge miscreants loitering around the Tin-Can Island Port Complex.
STOAN members on the visit include the representatives of ENL Consortium, APM Terminals, PTML Terminal, Tin-Can Island Container Terminal, Apapa Bulk Terminal Limited, Port & Cargo, and ECM Terminal. Others were the representatives of BUA International, Greenview Development Nigeria Limited, Five Star Logistics, PTOL Terminal and Josepdam Port Services.
