Concerted efforts are being made by Nigeria Ports Authority [NPA] to expand its revenue streams in addition to revenue from traditional port operations, its Acting Managing Director Mohammed Bello Koko said at a Board retreat in Abeokuta. He said unlike the practice in neighbouring francophone countries where government funds dredging of ports, NPA is responsible for funding the dredging of ports which puts a lot of strain on its resources and its capacity to invest in critical port infrastructure.
Bello-Koko said, “We are facing decaying port infrastructure. For example, sections of the quay aprons or walls at Tin Can Island Port, Onne, Delta and Calabar ports are collapsing and require huge funds to repair them. With the increasing pressure to remit more revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federation, it has become very difficult to have sufficient funds to attend to these decaying facilities, hence the need to explore alternative funding sources outside the traditional port service offerings.”
NPA’s acting MD also said the authority has begun to explore smart ways to boost its revenue. NPA, he said, is blessed with prime real estate which could serve as alternative funding sources outside the regular budget. “NPA has a lot of high value landed properties in Onne, Snake Island and Takwa Bay that are designated free trade zones and mostly allocated but with poor arterial road network and other infrastructure to make them attractive for private investments.”
He said NPA’s Management has contacted some multilateral financial institutions such as French Development Agency [AFD], African Development Bank [AfDB], European Investment Bank [EIB] and Sanlam Infraworks [a Central Bank of Nigeria approved fund manager for InfraCorp], as part of plans to access long term, low interest credit for port infrastructure upgrades and expansion.
Speaking of efforts to make Nigerian seaports more business friendly, Bello-Koko said, “We have deployed technology to address the perennial traffic gridlock that has been frustrating the conduct of business around the Lagos ports corridor. A software application code-named Eto is gradually restoring sanity to trucking business despite the initial teething problems and resistance by vested interests hitherto profiting from the chaos.”
He said NPA has accredited 33 private truck terminals within the Lagos area, in addition to the Lilypond Truck Transit Park and Tin Can Island Port Truck Transit Park, to ensure trucks do not park indiscriminately on the access roads and would only be allowed to transit to the port after obtaining electronic tickets via the Eto call-up platform.
