How NPA emerged the most committed govt. Agency

Just last week, the Federal Government released its scorecard on the performance of Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDA), scoring the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the most committed Agency, while the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy Emerged as the Best Performing Ministry for Driving PEBEC Reforms.

NPA was adjudged the most committed Agency in recognition of its dedication to driving the reforms.

On the score sheet, NPA cane first ahead of over 41 other Federal Government Agencies in terms of commitment to actualizing government reform agenda

The Authority is acknowledged as “The Most Committed” agency with the highest number of reform activities—63—double the average number of activities for other MDAs and nonetheless achieved a 100% feat.

In what she calls a “tenacious leader” the Special Adviser to the President on PEBEC and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole acknowledged the never-dying spirit of the Managing Director, Mohammed Bello-Koko in getting the desired results.

The impact of these reforms is far-reaching and will improve the overall effectiveness of the ports.

The most significant reform under cohort #3 is the reduction in export processing time after benchmarking against competing jurisdictions. The authority can reduce its processing time for exports from an average of 10 days to a timeline of 3-5 days, depending on the arrival of the lifting vessel.

Other reforms embarked on by the Authority is ensuring transparency, reduced costs, and streamlined processes.

While addressing the press, the Managing Director, Mohammed Belo-Koko, strongly commended the leadership role of the Honorable Minister of Marine & Blue Economy, Alh Adegboyega Oyetola, the support of the Executive Management, Senior Management, and the BFA Reform Team of the Authority, in achieving a comprehensive reform agenda for the port industry.

The Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy also emerged as the Best Performing Ministry in the delivery of the reform activities.

Tinubu’s Policies Driving Maritime Sector Transformation, Stellar Revenue – Bello-Koko

The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko has stated that the economic policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu which have attracted global applause, are responsible for the transformation of the maritime industry and massive improvement in revenue generation by the Authority.

Koko made this assertion during an unscheduled visit to the Lagos ports access roads whose decade-long traffic gridlock was recently cleared by the NPA.

He praised the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola’s leadership and hands on approach to driving the industry.

As part of president Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, he said the sanity that has since returned to the ports access roads will be sustained to promote ease of doing business and drive exports to enhance Nigeria’s balance of trade.

He added that despite global economic headwinds that characterized the year 2023, the Nigerian Ports Authority, succeeded in maintaining momentum to surpass its sterling performance of the year 2022.

According to him, “The implementation of continuous performance improvement measures resulted in unprecedented revenue generation and remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federation, with revenues steadily growing from N361 billion in 2022 to N501 billion as at December 2023; and remittances increasing from N93.4 billion in 2022 to N131.2 billion by year end 2023″.

The NPA helmsman who was recently named by Mr. President on the implementation committee of the National Single Window Project added that “taxes paid the Government of the Federation also grew at various times in the period under review up to $77.7 million and N17.6 billion respectively.”

The foregoing, he said, added to strategic forecasts set to be actualised in 2024 such as the $1 billion worth reconstruction of Tincan Island Port Complex and the comprehensive rehabilitation of Apapa, Rivers, Onne, Warri and Calabar Port Complexes, New Ports Developments viz; Badagry Deep Seaport, Snake Island, Burutu and Ondo Deep Seaports, the Port Community System (PCS) and the National Single Window amongst other initiatives for port competitiveness being aggressively implemented, it is evident that the Nigerian Ports Authority has been positioned to not only create but sustain superior performance necessary to maximize the comparative advantages that Nigeria’s maritime endowments confer.