NPA committed to completion of Lekki, Ibom deep seaports – MD

Managing Director, Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdulahi has reiterated his organization’s commitment towards the successful completion of the Lekki and Ibom deep seaports.

Abdulahi who stated this at an interactive session with journalists in Lagos at the weekend said this had become imperative with the change in transport demand and technological advancement.

According to him, ports built in the 1970s may not be able to accommodate bigger ships because the demand has changed.

Represented by NPA’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Captain Iheanacho Ebubeogu, Abdulahi said other transformation embarked upon by NPA is the development of intermodal transportation.

He said apart from the 1.6 kilometers road recently rehabilitated at the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) Apapa, NPA had also facilitated the rehabilitation of rail line within the port to Port Harcourt Port to decongest the roads and ensure speedy delivery of cargo.

“We are working seriously, very hard to see how Lekki deep seaport will come on stream.

“For the Ibom seaport, government has already approved it and process is underway right now to employ the service of a transaction consultant to ensure the port takes off.

“We have done a lot in tying up the rail tracks within the port of Lagos and Port Harcourt. For the other port like Tin Can, there is a consultancy to look at the possibility of linking it with rail and as soon as the report comes out, we will know if it is visible and also viable,” he said.

Abdulahi said NPA had also made a lot of improvement in the automation of its operational processes including the recently introduced Revenue Invoicing Management System (RIMs) which he said has helped in facilitating trade and enhancing its revenue generation as well as blocking of revenue leakages in the system.

He said the organization would continue to improve on its capacity programme to further train journalists.