The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) says its revenue grew from N361 billion in 2022 to N501 billion in 2023 despite the economic headwinds that impacted trade negatively.
NPA’s remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the federation, also grew from N93.4 billion in 2022 to N131.2 billion in 2023, according to a document titled: ‘Consolidation of Superior Performance at the Nigerian Ports Authority 2023-A Synopsis of the Authority’s Performance Improvement 2022-2023,” sighted by BusinessDay.
The document stated that taxes paid to the government also grew in the period under review totaling $77.7 million and N17.6 billion respectively.
It further disclosed that the Mohammed Bello-Koko-led management of NPA was able to grow revenue and remittances by creating a trade facilitation platform to surpass its performance.
One such platform is the licensing of 10 Export Processing Terminals within the period under review, to facilitate exports at Nigerian ports.
The export terminals provided a one-stop shop for export processing where quality control, cargo assessment, and statutory checks by all government agencies were carried out.
It also helps to eliminate bureaucracy and attendant delays that hitherto undermined the competitiveness of Nigerian exports in the international market.
In its first year, the terminal led to an increase in the number of Nigerian export-laden containers from 156,790 TEUs in 2022, to 226,456 TEUs in 2023.
The Ports Authority said it contributed to the deepening of Nigeria’s balance of trade through the promotion of exports of non-oiI in response to the national exigency of strengthening the naira.
To create new businesses and promote multi-modalism in line with global best practices as prescribed by the International Association for Ports and Harbours, the NPA initiated barge operations services which, apart from reducing pressure on the roads, had grown into an N2 billion annual business both from direct investment and accompanying externalities.
“Movement of cargo by barge has greatly enhanced port hinterland connectivity as evidenced by the sudden rise in numbers from a total of 80,244 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) in 2022, which by 2023 had grown to 118,046 TEUs.
In addition, the NPA said it grew the number of ship calls sequel to the consistent dredging of channels, installation of buoys, and improved security at the ports’ channels.
According to the performance report, the number of ship calls grew from 1,997 vessels in 2022 to 2,179 vessels in 2023.
Also, Lekki Deep Seaport, Nigeria’s first fully automated port that commenced operations in 2023, processed 6,076 TEUs of transshipment cargo.
This showed the NPA’s readiness to cater to the maritime needs of Nigeria’s landlocked neighboring countries and to win back cargo hitherto lost to maritime neighbours.
To maximise the distinctive advantage of economies of scale that the Lekki Deep Seaport with its capacity to berth super post panamax vessels, the Authority 2023 acquired and deployed two units of first-of-its-kind in Africa Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) 8213 model 80 Ton Bollard Pull Tugboats to enable the berthing of very large vessels of 300 metres LOA and above.
The Authority sustained its revenue performance, during the period under review, by looking beyond the sole dependence on earnings from core port operations.
In this respect, the Authority had set Public Private Partnership modalities in motion to derive revenue from Ports’ Independent Power Production, Bunkering Stations, Fallow Lands for Logistics, Fresh Water Provision, and Ship Repairs and Maintenance and to insulate its income from leakages, even as the Authority had firmed up its Revenue Invoice Management System (RIMs) to the cutting edge version of RIMs 2.0
In terms of security, the Authority collaborated with the NLNG Ship Management Limited to deploy the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) to complement the newly-equipped control towers across its locations to assure stakeholders of its domain awareness capacity for enhanced security and in response to emergent threats and vulnerabilities.
