Decongestion: NPA to upgrade facilities at Onne Ports

Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has promised to upgrade facilities at the Onne Sea Port to attract more patronage and assist decongest Lagos ports. Mr Muhammad Koko, the Managing Director, NPA, made the promise at a stakeholders meeting in Onne, Rivers on Friday. According to Koko, the Eastern ports will start attracting higher patronage to help actualise efforts of government to decongest Lagos ports.

He also said that all access roads to the port terminal would be given priority, adding that some major adjoining roads would be delivered in the next 10 months. He, however, called for synergy among the various customs units to enhance speedy passage of cleared consignment at the terminal. The NPA boss said he was surprised over trucks trapped within the port premises which does not portray a good business outlook. “I have seen almost 20 trucks within the premises and this does not support the ease of doing business, every cleared consignment should not be stopped at the gate,” he said.

Koko further said that with the appointment of a new Minister of Niger Delta, the Federal Government had started to work on the Oil-Mill and Onne axis of the East-West road to boost business at the port. He gave the assurance of addressing all issues raised by stakeholders at the meeting. Some of the issues bothered on deployment of patrol boats to enhance security at the port. Others are to improve communications signal and overall procedure towards effective and timely delivery of consignments at the Onne port. Mr Mike Ebeatu, Chairman, Association of Nigerian Customs Agents, also called for synergy among the various agencies operating at the port.

He said that the multiple clearing procedures was hampering timely passage of consignments at the port. Other stakeholders in the shipping industry also decried the poor state of  East-West road and urged the Federal Government to rehabilitate the roads to ease business at the Onne port.(NAN)