FIC Report (Lagos State) – The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) , has promised to support the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) to achieve fast entrance and exit of containers in Nigerian ports to at most 7 days dwell period.
The Government’s determination to make the ports Efficient, effective and competitive was demonstrated with a three day high level stakeholders engagement between PEBEC and NPA.
The session was held at the Apapa Port complex and brought together the Ports and Customs Efficiency Committee (PCEC) under the Business Environment Enhancement Programme Acceleration (BEEPA) framework.
The session was meant to streamline port processes and enhance the ease of doing business at the Nigerian Ports.
During the stakeholders engagement, an extensive tracking exercise where officials observed vessel berthing and cargo clearance operations at both Tincan Island and Lagos Port complexes occurred.
Speaking at the event Princess Zahrah Mustapha, PEBEC Director General, reiterated that the session was designed to go beyond identifying hurdles to implementation of practical solutions. She observed that Nigeria incurres a lot of loses due to operational lapses.
The director stated that there need for an integration of government regulations and private stakeholders to ensure transparency and accountability, with the optimum aim of reducing cargo dwell time and improving vessel entrance and exit time.
The Managing Director of The NPA, Dr Abubakar Danthoso assured of the Authority’s commitment to Supporting PEBEC’s charges.
He accentuated the NPA’s progress amongst which are collaboration with International Maritime Organizations (IMO) in deployment of Port Community Systems (PCS) the digital cornerstone for the National Single Window,
The Ports Authority was commended for achieving 100% success rate in PEBEC reforms, ranking 5th amongst government Agencies.
With the closure of identified operational gaps observed, NPA, PEBEC targets a more efficient, competitive maritime Territory that will ensure a hitch free trade environment and more investment opportunities.
Signed
Dimaka Chioma
Deputy Director
Information and Public Relations.
