The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has revealed that, as of December 2023, its revenue had increased from N361 billion in 2022 to N501 billion, marking unprecedented revenue generation and remittances to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the Federation.
According to NPA, by the end of 2023, its remittances had climbed from N93.4 billion in 2022 to N131.2 billion.
A summary of the Nigerian Ports Authority’s performance improvement from 2022 to 2023, “Consolidation of superior performance at the Nigerian Ports Authority 2023,” was the document’s title obtained by Persecondnews.
The NPA also reaffirmed its ambitious $1 billion reconstruction plan for the Tincan Island Port Complex and the thorough restoration of the port complexes in Apapa, Rivers, Onne, Warri, and Calabar.
The Authority revealed that the Badagry Deep Seaport, Snake Island, Burutu, and Ondo Deep Seaports were designated for comparable reconstruction under the new ports development plan.
The National Single Window and the Port Community System (PCS) were two further planned measures aimed at improving port competitiveness.
According to the NPA administration, the organization is ready to go from a prospective strategic intent to a reality by being the marine logistics hub for sustainable port services in Africa.
The management added that Mohammed Bello Koko, the Managing Director, was able to outperform Nigeria’s leading trade facilitation platform in 2022 even with the global economic challenges that marked 2023.
It claimed that the use of performance enhancement strategies produced before unseen levels of income creation and CRF remittances.
The record also included the amount of taxes paid to the federal government, which increased over the course of the review period and came to a total of N17.6 billion and $77.7 million, respectively.
NPA revealed that, in response to the need for the country to support the naira, it promoted exports, particularly non-oil exports, which deepened Nigeria’s trade balance.
The management stated that NPA started offering Barge Operations services in order to foster multi-modalalism and generate new business in accordance with international best practices as advised by the International Association for Ports and Harbours (IAPH).
In addition to relieving traffic on the roads, this service has grown to generate N2 billion in revenue annually from direct investment and related externalities.
“Movement of cargo by barge has greatly enhanced port-hinterland connectivity as evidenced by the meteoric rise in numbers from a total of 80,244 TEUs in 2022, which by 2023 had grown to 118,046 TEUs.
“The NPA, during the period under review, licenced 10 Export Processing Terminals to facilitate exports at Nigerian Sea Ports.
“This move, which provided a one-stop shop for export processing, where quality control, cargo assessment and statutory checks by all government agencies were carried out, was geared towards eliminating all bureaucracy and attendant delays that hitherto undermined the competitiveness of Nigerian exports in the International market place.
“The resultant effect of this initiative was a quantum leap in the numbers of Nigerian export-laden containers from 156,790 Twenty Foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in 2022, to 226,456 TEUs in 2023,” it said.
Besides, NPA said it had grown the number of ship calls sequel to the consistent dredging of channels, installation of buoys, and improved security at the port channels. It said the number of ship calls grew from 1,997 in 2022, to 2,179 vessels by the end of 2023.
NPA disclosed that the Lekki Deep Seaport, which doubles as Nigeria’s first fully automated port at take-off, processed 6,076 TEUs of transhipment cargo.
It explained it represented a swift move that signposted NPA’s readiness to cater to the maritime needs of Nigeria’s landlocked neighbouring countries, and win back cargo hitherto lost to maritime neighbours.
“To maximize the distinctive advantage of economies of scale that the Lekki Deep Seaport with its capacity to berth super post panamax vessels, the Authority in 2023 acquired and deployed two units of first-of-its-kind in Africa Azimuth Stern Drive (ASD) 8213 model 80 Ton Bollard Pull Tugboats to enable the berthing of very large vessels of 300 metres LOA and above.”
The management also stated that the Authority sustained its revenue performance during the period under review by looking beyond the sole dependence on earnings from core port operations.
It said the Authority had set Public Private Partnership modalities in motion to derive revenue from Ports Independent Power Production, Bunkering Stations, Fallow Lands for Logistics, Fresh Water Provision and Ship Repairs and Maintenance, and to insulate its income from leakages, even as it firmed up its Revenue Invoice Management System (RIMs) to the cutting edge version of RIMs 2.0
NPA also announced that it collaborated with the NLNG Ship Management Limited to deploy the Vessel Traffic Service (VTS) to complement the newly-equipped control towers across its locations.
“This in order to assure stakeholders of its domain awareness capacity for enhanced security and response to emergent threats and vulnerabilities.”
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