claims that port competitiveness would be ensured. The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has obtained the required permissions for an upward review of its rates, which were last reviewed in 1993, due to the necessity of bringing Nigerian ports up to par with those of its counterparts in terms of infrastructure and equipment. NPA claims that item rates such as throughput and leasing fees, rents on NPA-landed properties, MOWCA levy, service boat operations, hourly towage, and mooring charges will not be impacted by the 15% upward review.
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According to the agency, the review’s foundation is the pressing need to confront the unfavourable reality of ageing and shoddy infrastructure, outdated machinery, and sluggish port capacity expansion, all of which have continued to lower Nigerian ports’ performance and, in fact, their competitiveness. At a stakeholders meeting in Lagos on Thursday, NPA Managing Director Abubakar Dantsoho announced the review.
He was accompanied by Executive Director of Marine and Operation Olalekan Badmus, who said the management’s decision to meet with stakeholders stemmed from their desire to include everyone. Joshua Asanga, a stakeholder who also spoke at the meeting, supported the increase and added that the current NPA tariff value has since been lowered by inflation, which is at roughly 35%.
Speaking at the ceremony, Demian Ukagu, another stakeholder, discussed the necessity of allocating further NPA financing to the construction of other vital port facilities throughout the nation as well as to outer port amenities and jetties like the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal. He went on to say that in order to provide a minimum return on investment and encourage sustainable trade, NPA rates should be sufficient to pay these expenses. The committee concluded that the current rates were established without accounting for the overhead, labour, capital, and consumable costs required to operate the ports.
They were concerned that maintaining the ports at the previous tariff would lead to issues like subpar service, inadequate infrastructure, low pay, and outmoded vital port infrastructure, equipment, and facilities. In order to fulfil their duties, which include building and maintaining port infrastructure, dredging channels, providing aids for safe navigation, providing modern marine craft for effective harbour services, automating and digitising port transactions, port security, energy efficiency, and employee training and retraining, port authorities around the world rely on operating revenue.
How successfully the aforementioned obligations are met is the basis for the global port rating and competitiveness index, which the international commerce community uses to select which nations to do business with. This belated tariff review, which was inevitable given the current global economic turmoil and market competition, is crucial to Nigeria’s efforts to regain the cargo handling industry and all of its perks, including employment opportunities, that it had lost to its maritime neighbours.
Verifiable evidence indicates that NPA tariffs are among the lowest in the region, defying the widely held but incorrect belief that high port prices are a result of NPA in comparison to its rivals.
This manufactured lie is caused by a number of factors, including the high rate of unreceipted costs as a result of excessively high human interaction, bureaucratic delays, and functional overlaps brought on by the lack of a Port Community System (PCS) and its counterpart, the National Single Window (NSW). Although long overdue, the Authority’s ability to expedite the start of real work on its completed port reconstruction and modernisation plans is one of the NPA Tariff review’s quick win benefits for stakeholders.
Second, the Tariff review offers the assurances required to finance the purchase and immediate installation of the PCS’s Information Communications Technology (ICT) backbone, which is a prerequisite to the NSW’s implementation.
Additionally, the review’s increased revenue generation supports the Authority’s ability to carry out essential maintenance projects that will allow the Eastern Ports to handle more vessel and cargo traffic, like rebuilding the collapsed Escravos Breakwaters and addressing issues with the Rivers, Onne, and Calabar Ports, respectively.
