The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has said that it plans to generate about N629.89 billion in revenue in 2024 while looking for a N200 billion loan from Afrexim Bank and the United Kingdom Export Finance (UKEF) to address infrastructural deficits at the nation’s gateway.
NPA Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko, disclosed this in Abuja on Thursday while defending the agency’s budget before the House Committee on Ports and Harbours.
Bello-Koko said the N200 billion loan is required to rehabilitate, reconstruct, and address dilapidated infrastructure at the seaports.
He put NPA’s expenditure in 2024 at N464.32 billion; operating expenses at N212.03 billion and capital expenditure at N252.29 billion.
He said, “Part of the main thrust of the 2024 budget of the NPA is the urgent need to rehabilitate, reconstruct, and moderate the dilapidated port infrastructure.”
Chairman, House Committee on Ports and Harbours, Nnolin Nnaji, described NPA as an important agency to the Federal Government, noting that the committee would need to visit some of the dilapidated port facilities.
“We need to see those things you are telling us. The House of Representatives is very serious about budget defence, while they do screening on the other side. Budget defence is here,” Chairman of the House Committee on Ports and Harbours, Nnoli Nnaji, said.
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