ISPS CODE: NPA tightens ports access control

Effective next Tuesday, only genuine port users with electronic port pass or means of identification issued by approved authorities will be allowed into the ports in Lagos.
General Manager, Western Ports of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Miss Adenike Sonaike, who disclosed this in Lagos yesterday, said that the measure has become necessary to check the influx of people at the port and in line with provisions of the International Ships and Ports Facilities Security (ISPS) Code.
“We have severally warned people who have no business being at the port to desist from coming to the port premises. We are now going a step further by ensuring that such people do not have access to the port and anyone found to flout this new order will be arrested and prosecuted by operatives of security agencies,” Sonaike said.
She stated that the port is a security area where only authorised persons are allowed.

“We have responsibility to ensure the safety and security of lives and goods at the ports and we will ensure that we continue to work with relevant stakeholders in this regard,” she said.
She advised hawkers, miscreants and people who wander aimlessly around the port environment to desist from such acts or risk possible harassment and embarrassment from security operatives.
She, however, assured genuine port users of their safety and security in the course of their transactions at the port.
“The present management of NPA places a premium on service delivery. The Managing Director of NPA, Mallam Habib Abdulahi, has mandated us to ensure port users get value for their money and that is what we are focused on achieving so genuine port users have nothing to fear under this new initiative,” Sonaike stated.
The tightening of ports access control, SHIPS & PORTS DAILY gathered, affects all such facilities across, due to recent memo to that effect from the NPA Corporate Headquarters.