Transport Minister Berates Terminal Operators For Breech Of Agreement, Charges NPA To Furnish Him With Report On Compliance
Appraising the nation’s eight year old port concessioning policy yesterday in Lagos, the
Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar has berated terminal operators for failing to comply with the concession agreement they entered into with the Federal Government.
The Minister gave this verdict during his keynote address at an event tagged; "Monitoring and Compliance Conference, 8 Years After Concessioning of the Terminals" held in Lagos by the Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA).
Appraising the nation’s eight year old port concessioning policy yesterday in Lagos, the
Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar has berated terminal operators for failing to comply with the concession agreement they entered into with the Federal Government.
The Minister gave this verdict during his keynote address at an event tagged; "Monitoring and Compliance Conference, 8 Years After Concessioning of the Terminals" held in Lagos by the Nigerian Ports Authourity (NPA).
Umar who was ably represented by the Executive Secretary of the Nigeria Shippers’ Council, Barrister Hassan Bello noted that in spite of the successes of the port reforms, many of the terminal operators have failed to pay up their required dues to the Federal Government.
Other allegations against the terminal operators include: block stacking of containers inside their facilities and their inability to position containers for examination for onward clearance out of the ports.
The Minister has subsequently directed the Nigerian Ports Authority to furnish his office with an updated report on the compliance level of the terminal operators.
He said, "in spite of the achievements recorded, many of the terminal operators are in breach of the concession agreement in payment of various fees, infrastructure development and operations, and we have also noticed unwholesome practices such as block stacking, deliberate delays in positioning of containers for examination and undue delay in clearing of cargoes from their terminals"
"I am therefore directing the Nigerian Ports Authority to furnish my office with the current status of compliance by the terminal operators".
Senator Umar however noted that port concession has brought good fortunes to the ports in terms of local and foreign investments, even as he observed that the infrastructure development and cargo handling equipment have ensured major increase in cargo throughput.
He also said that the average turnaround time for vessels has equally reduced significantly.
According to him, there has been a rise in volume of trade from 82million tons of cargo in 2008 to 93.7million tons in 2009 and 100million tons in 2012 with container volume of 1.4 million TEUs in 2011, 1.6million TEUs in 2012 and 1.7milliom TEUs in 2013.
He said that the Federal Government had embarked on the port concession exercise in order to bring efficiency into the port system and to decrease the cost of port services “to promote competition in the provision of port services and to make Nigerian ports the hub for international trade and shipping in West and Central African Sub-region".
Senator Umar however assured that some of the agreement with the port concessionaires will terminate in the next two years.
Speaking earlier, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mallam Habib Abdullahi said that eight years after the concession exercise, the NPA has recorded a lot of successes and challenges.
The NPA boss said that after the concession, the agency had set up a framework for monitoring and compliance, which according to him is handled at port level by a committee comprising departments that have responsibility on all issues of obligations of the parties.
Apart from this, he said that working groups had been set up with objectives of evaluating compliance after which reports are made to the headquarters. Areas of poor or non compliance are then discussed with operators in order to remedy them.
"It should be noted that though NPA is the direct beneficiary in the partnership with the concessionaires, it also represents other institutional obligations as demanded by the concession agreement"
"Eight years of concessioning, the ports have been full of excitement and challenges. They have also been saddled with the responsibility of managing expectations of the concessionaire, other government agencies and our esteemed port users" he said.
On her part, Chairman of the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN); Princess Dr. Vicky Hastrup assured that terminal operators will continue to add value to the port system in Nigeria, so that it can compete favorably with other ports of the world.
Hastrup, who was represented by Mrs Lizzy Ovude, noted that terminal operators in the last eight years have carried out comprehensive economic and infrastructural developments their various terminals.
"We have created jobs and promoted industrial harmony with the hope of making the Nigerian ports the hub of Africa" she said.http://shippingposition.com.ng/article/%E2%80%8E8-years-after-port-concession
Other allegations against the terminal operators include: block stacking of containers inside their facilities and their inability to position containers for examination for onward clearance out of the ports.
The Minister has subsequently directed the Nigerian Ports Authority to furnish his office with an updated report on the compliance level of the terminal operators.
He said, "in spite of the achievements recorded, many of the terminal operators are in breach of the concession agreement in payment of various fees, infrastructure development and operations, and we have also noticed unwholesome practices such as block stacking, deliberate delays in positioning of containers for examination and undue delay in clearing of cargoes from their terminals"
"I am therefore directing the Nigerian Ports Authority to furnish my office with the current status of compliance by the terminal operators".
Senator Umar however noted that port concession has brought good fortunes to the ports in terms of local and foreign investments, even as he observed that the infrastructure development and cargo handling equipment have ensured major increase in cargo throughput.
He also said that the average turnaround time for vessels has equally reduced significantly.
According to him, there has been a rise in volume of trade from 82million tons of cargo in 2008 to 93.7million tons in 2009 and 100million tons in 2012 with container volume of 1.4 million TEUs in 2011, 1.6million TEUs in 2012 and 1.7milliom TEUs in 2013.
He said that the Federal Government had embarked on the port concession exercise in order to bring efficiency into the port system and to decrease the cost of port services “to promote competition in the provision of port services and to make Nigerian ports the hub for international trade and shipping in West and Central African Sub-region".
Senator Umar however assured that some of the agreement with the port concessionaires will terminate in the next two years.
Speaking earlier, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Mallam Habib Abdullahi said that eight years after the concession exercise, the NPA has recorded a lot of successes and challenges.
The NPA boss said that after the concession, the agency had set up a framework for monitoring and compliance, which according to him is handled at port level by a committee comprising departments that have responsibility on all issues of obligations of the parties.
Apart from this, he said that working groups had been set up with objectives of evaluating compliance after which reports are made to the headquarters. Areas of poor or non compliance are then discussed with operators in order to remedy them.
"It should be noted that though NPA is the direct beneficiary in the partnership with the concessionaires, it also represents other institutional obligations as demanded by the concession agreement"
"Eight years of concessioning, the ports have been full of excitement and challenges. They have also been saddled with the responsibility of managing expectations of the concessionaire, other government agencies and our esteemed port users" he said.
On her part, Chairman of the Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN); Princess Dr. Vicky Hastrup assured that terminal operators will continue to add value to the port system in Nigeria, so that it can compete favorably with other ports of the world.
Hastrup, who was represented by Mrs Lizzy Ovude, noted that terminal operators in the last eight years have carried out comprehensive economic and infrastructural developments their various terminals.
"We have created jobs and promoted industrial harmony with the hope of making the Nigerian ports the hub of Africa" she said.http://shippingposition.com.ng/article/%E2%80%8E8-years-after-port-concession
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