The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, has revealed that the agency has contributed N151 billion to the Consolidated Revenue Account (CRA) in four years.
Bala-Usman, who stated this in Lagos recently, said NPA contributed N42 billion in 2017, N33 billion in 2018, N31 billion in 2019 and N45 billion in 2020 .
According to her, “Our cargo for 2019 was 80 million metric tons in the whole country. In 2020 we recorded 78 million metric tons, so we can see the difference in how much we were able to attract into the country within that period and the differential.
“For container traffic, 1.84 million TEUs in 2019 and 1.86 million in 2020, called vessels was 4,251 in 2019 and 3,972 in 2020. Gross registered for the vessels
was 29.4 million in 2019 and 24.6 million in 2020. “There is a marginal drop because of the pandemic and we even thought it would be less but it is not materially different.”
The Tin Can Island and Port, she said, had the highest number of called vessels –1,197 vessels while Apapa port recorded 986 vessels within that period.
The NPA, Bala-Usman added, recorded total revenue of N305.3 billion in 2019 and N360 billion last year.
“This contribution to CRF is in line with the fiscal responsibility act which requires for government agencies to make remittance surplus to the government coffers.”
“Ensuring strict compliance to that is what we have sworn to do so that we are meeting the full compliance to the Fiscal Responsibility Act. So this is the general overview of what we have been doing and our area of focus.”
She said one of the key issues that have been bedeviling the NPA’s operations within the Lagos area has been the traffic congestion in Apapa and Tin Can Island.