The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has pledged its unstinting support for the Corruption Risk Assessment Project studying selected ports across the country.
The Managing Director the NPA, Mallam Habib Abdullahi, who gave the assurance in Lagos Monday, expressed optimism that the nation’s port industry would be better for if at the end of the Corruption Risk Assessment Project at the selected ports.
Abdullahi, who spoke while receiving members of the Corruption Risk Assessment Project Committee during a courtesy call, compared the relevance of the Committee to the NPA Anti-Corruption Committee, which draws membership from stakeholders.
The NPA boss said that the peculiarities of the nation’s port industry had made anti-corruption efforts imperative crusade, so that the port sector is seen to operate maximally and efficiently.
Abdullahi said that, under the prevailing concession regime, the NPA now has sufficient time to supervise and ensure free flow of goods and services in the nation’s ports, where, according to him, cases of corrupt practice is at its barest minimum.
Earlier, the Head of the Corruption Risk Assessment Project Committee, Mrs Lillian Ekeanyanwu, explained that the Corruption Risk Assessment of ports operations aims at enhancing integrity and strengthening the port industry.
Ekeanyanwu added that her team will embark on a Corruption Risk Assessment tour of the ports from next Monday to the middle of June, with the intention of conducting actual test and closing gaps at points where there are likelihood of corruption.
She, therefore, solicited for the support and cooperation of the NPA Management, while emphasising the need to improve the integrity of the port industry, particularly because of its international nature.
The main objective of the Corruption Risk Assessment Project is to identify vulnerable areas that are prone to corruption, proffer recommendations, and jointly, with the relevant ministerial departments and agencies, develop integrity plans that would strengthen accountability and transparency for enhanced service delivery.
The membership of the Corruption Risk Assessment Project Committee is drawn from a number of organisations, including the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), Technical Unit on Governance and Anti-Corruption Reforms (TUGAR), United Nation Development Programme (UNDP), Maritime Anti-Corruption Network (MACN) and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
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