NPA raises alarm over increased extortion on Lagos Ports access roads

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has raised alarm over what it called increasing extortion along the access roads of the Lagos and Tin Can Island Port Complexes.

NPA, in a statement issued on Tuesday, disclosed that the extortion increased after the clearance operations the Authority undertook from July 16 to July 18 to rid the port corridor of shanties and illegal structures that harbour those who perpetrate the acts.

Persecondnews reports that the Managing Director/CEO of the NPA, Mr Mohammed Bello Koko, had earlier lamented on the eve of the port corridor clearance operations carried out in collaboration with Lagos State Government, that the acts of extortion and other illegalities are antithetical to trade facilitation which is the core function of NPA.

“We cannot allow these nefarious characters to make nonsense of the gateways to the national economy which the ports constitute.

“We had in the past visited punitive measures on of our staff who were complicit in such unethical practices, and I want to reiterate that once we are confronted with evidence of any our staff involved in these acts of sabotage, we would sanction them in line with the public service rules and our conditions of service which has zero tolerance for such malfeasance,” Bello Koko said.

The NPA boss had earlier met with the leadership of the Nigerian Army, the Navy, the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), stressing the need to collectively nip the menace of extortion in the bud.

Persecondnews reports that the NPA under Bello Koko had completed the perimeter fencing of the Tincan Island Port to curb unauthorized access to the port premises.

The Authority’s fact-finding has discovered some flash points of extortion where levies ranging from N500 to N5,000 were being collected.

The NPA has, therefore, solicited the collaboration of sister government agencies operating along the port corridor to help sustainably tackle the menace which is impeding ease of doing business at the ports.