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Tag: NPA

  • NPA pays stevedoring firms N500m to avert labour crisis

    NPA pays stevedoring firms N500m to avert labour crisis

    The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has paid N500million to stevedoring companies to pay salaries and wages of their workers, it was gathered yesterday.

    The Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) had threatened to shut down seaports next week Monday, if the NPA  failed to pay six months outstanding salary arrears to its members.

    Its President-General, Mr Tony Nted said the workers, including tally clerks and on-board security men were aggrieved over the unpaid salaries.

    It was also gatherd that the money was paid by the NPA after a meeting held at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity in July this year, to resolve the issue when the dock workers threatened to down tools.

    Aditional payment to the steveoring companies, sources close to NPA said, was undergoing internal processing before it was caught up by the Treasury Single Account (TSA) deadline of September 16, by the Federal Government.

    Contacted, its General Manager Public Affairs, Capt Iheanacho Ebubeogu said NPA, as a law abiding  corporate  organisation has not reneged on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) it singned with  labour in July.

    “Well, the attention of the management of NPA has been drawn to a publication by various media on the threat by labour to go on strike from Monday October 5, predicated on  the premise that NPA has reneged on payment of the stevedoring contractual sum, from where invariably, the wages and salaries of the dick workers are paid by their employer

    “We need to clarify at this juncture that these tally are employees of the stevedoring companies who ordinarily have direct obligations to pay their workers and not the NPA

    “We agree that there were delay in fulfilling our obligations to these labour contractors who are the stevedores because the issue of clarification and validation came up early in the year.

    “However, this was concluded at a meeting held at the Federal ministry of Labour and productivity in July this year, to resolve the issue when the labour threatened to down tools

    At this meeting mode of payment was agreed upon in a Memorandum of Understanding ( MoU).

    “The NPA followed the process in compliance with the terms as stated in the MoU singned

    “We wish to state also that all payment that have been dully processed and amounting t o over half a billion naira has been paid to the stevedoring companies.

    “We wish to also state that additional payment undergoing internal processing were caught up by the Treasury Single Account (TSA) deadline of September 16,” the image maker said.

  • Comply with court order, group urges NPA

    Comply with court order, group urges NPA

    A rights group, Access to Justice (A2J), has urged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to obey a Federal High Court judgment which directed it to reinstate and redeploy its dismissed workers.

    Justice Okon Abang, on May 22 last year held that the NPA should deploy to their departments, several of its trainees/employees from its technical centre who had successfully completed their technical training in 2007.

    The court held that by their conditions of service, they were established staff, and that NPA’s continued refusal to deploy them and pay their salaries for over 10 years was unlawful, wrongful and illegal.

    The court ordered that the trainees/employees be deployed and paid their salaries forthwith.

    Despite the judgment, NPA is yet reinstate or pay the workers who have waited 11 years for justice to be done.

    A2J, in a statement by its Director Joseph Otteh, said: “The lives of these trainees/employees have been broken and have remained so over a long, endless period now. Many of them are now destitute, and live from hand to mouth, and then only from the charity of friends and relatives.

    “Among them are many whose families have disintegrated due to privations and hardships, and those whose children have long been out of school because of the circumstances of their parents.

    “The extent and ramifications of what these trainees have endured is hard to imagine. It is extremely inequitable, unjust and unfair to make these Nigerians wait a day longer before the injustices against them are remedied.

  • How NPA can bail out economy, by Ministry official

    How NPA can bail out economy, by Ministry official

    The Federal Government has been urged to support the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in its bid to boost the economy.

    NPA, it was gathered, is set to double its revenue next year, after achieving 95 per cent of its target in the 2013 and 2014 budgets.

    A senior official of the Federal Ministry of Finance, who craved anonymity, said at the weekend that things were expected to look upward, with the automation of NPA’s operations and its adoption of Revenue Invoicing Management Systems (RIMS).

    The officials said under this arrangement, revenue leakages will be blocked and operational revenue improved.

    With the port reforms, NPA is able to monitor terminal operators to track revenues through the automation platforms set up by its finance department.

    “With the introduction of RIMS, the NPA management under the leadership of Mallam Habib Abdullahi will be able to track where the revenue is leaking and it was based on his commitment that they have been able to achieve over 95 per cent of their annual budget in the last three years.”

    Findings however, revealed that a major impediment to NPA revenue drive is trade facilitation, while the management is working towards making the nation’s sea ports a hub in West Africa.

    “To double its revenue and surpass the budget target, what NPA needs now is the trade facilitation role of other government agencies. NPA has put its house in order with the cadre of the people that are currently leading the agency. But there is need for the Federal Government to ensure that the role of other agencies makes it very easy for any of the land-locked countries in West and Central Africa to know that the goods that are passing through Nigerian ports are safe, secured and will be delivered wherever they are needed,” the official said.

    Speaking with The Nation after launching RIMS, NPA Managing Director Abdullahi said the authority had “fully automated” the ports operations nationwide.

    He said the NPA would continue to introduce initiatives in line with best practices to ensure that it remains efficient, transparent and accountable to stakeholders and the people.

    “In February and September last year, we launched the Electronic Payment System and the Electronic Ship Entry Notice (E-Sen) as a first step towards full automation of our processes. This has tremendously improved efficiency in port operations as well as giving value to our esteemed stakeholders.

    “The Revenue Invoicing Management System and Customer Portal which we have just introduced are fully convergent and real time platforms for our processes, which will lower operational cost and shorten the time for documentation. These platforms fully integrate the electronic flow of information for business–to–customer and business–to–business with higher availability and flexibility. The platforms are also fully integrated with all our existing solutions such as Oracle Financials, Oracle Human Capital Management, NPA Pay direct via Inter switch and Electronic Ship Entry Notice (eSEN).

    “The introduction of this system has the potential to improve our service offering, improve our relationship with stakeholders, create efficient payment method, maximise revenue and minimise loss associated with fraud and revenue leakage.

    “The Customer Self Service Portal (CSSP) on the other hand, provides a platform for our customers to initiate and conclude their business process with us and also communicate with NPA.

    The benefits accruing from this portal, according to him, are: Improved customer service delivery; easy access to customer accounts status; view of all transactions and status in respect of bills; electronic upload of manifest; e-invoice and e-receipt generation.

    “Similarly, our Billing Applications which are already operational in all port locations, will soon proceed to the next stage. Currently, it covers payment processes in areas such as Lease Fees, Service Boats, Passenger boats, General Bills (Jetties and Trawlers), and Oil Terminal Dues (OTD)/Compulsory Pilotage Rates (CPR). The next stage will cover Throughput Fees, Estate Bills and Provisional/Final Bills.

    “The introduction of these measures will facilitate business growth with high performance and unlimited scalability of the operations of the authority. This is evident from statistics which have shown that cargo throughput increased from 46,150,518 metric tonnes in 2006 to 86,603,903 metric tonnes in 2014 indicating an 87 per cent increase during that period which is due in part to continued efforts at improving processes.

    NPA’s Executive Director Finance and Administration Mr Olumide Oduntan said that RIMS solution will improve cargo-based revenue by 52 per cent within a year and 65 per cent subsequently.

    Oduntan also said that the e-ship entry notice initiative introduced by the NPA has improved Gross Tonnage (GRT) based revenue by 38 per cent between 2014 and 2015.

    His words: “The deployment of e-SEN and RIMS Solution by the NPA has blocked all leakages in our operational activities by 95 per cent and the remaining five per cent would be blocked upon the launch of a command and control centre which is expected to go on stream by the end of November, this year.”

    Oduntan added that before the end of November this year, “operational leakages would be a thing of the past in NPA.”

    The National Vice President, Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACCIMA) and Chairman – Dala Inland Dry Port, Kano, and Ahmad Rabiu said that they were happy with the giant stride so far taken by the NPA in its revenue drive..

    “Nigerian Shippers, Cargo owners and shipping lines have a lot to benefit from the Revenue Invoicing Management Systems (RIMS) introduced by the NPA. It is an excellent initiative that will improve efficiency and save so much time and costs. NPA needs to keep it up.

    “We are proud of the NPA and as we know that some of the operators’ ports of the neighboring countries like Cotonou are already crying due to the forex control measures. We must support the NPA and do more as Nigerians to block revenue leakages and distortions, improve efficiency and block channels for corruption in our ports.

    Other stakeholders who spoke with the paper agreed that the introduction of the e-platforms by the NPA would boost their revenue base and make the agency contribute meaningfully to the economic calendar of the Federal Government.

     

  • NPA introduces system to block leakages, improve revenue

    NPA introduces system to block leakages, improve revenue

    The Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has introduced a system to block leakages and improve revenue.

    The system is known as Revenue Invoicing Management System and Customer Portal.

     Its Managing Director, Habib Abdullahi, on Wednesday said the authority embarked on it to further improve port business and make it attractive for users.

    He spoke in Lagos at the unveiling of the portal.

    He said: “We are presenting the Revenue Invoicing Management System and Customer Portal that are fully convergent and real time platforms for our processes, which will lower operational cost and shorten the time for documentation.

    “These platforms fully integrate the electronic flow of information for business–to–customer and business–to–business streams real-time, with higher availability and flexible architecture.”

    The company behind the portal,  Soft Alliance and Resources Limited, described its introduction as a pragmatic move that would promote efficiency and enhance transparency in the organisation.

    Its Managing Director, Mr. Tunde Badejo, expressed his delight while speaking with reporters.

    He said: “From any angle one chooses to look at it, the Revenue Invoicing Management System and Customer Portal will bring revenue to the country, block leakages and promote efficiency. Soft Alliance and Resources Limited is excited to work with NPA on this, having seen the vision long ago that the way to build a new Nigeria is through innovative ideas that will make us be part of a global revolution. As a people, we must support the clamour for change and buy into President Buhari’s developmental approach.”

  • NPA unfolds plans to block revenue leakages

    NPA unfolds plans to block revenue leakages

    The reinstated Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi has unveiled a fully Integrated Revenue Invoicing Management System (RIMS) to block all revenue leakages of the agency, lower operational cost and shorten the time for documentation.

    Speaking at one day sensitization forum organised for the stakeholders in Lagos Wednesday, the NPA boss also said  that the RIMS was introduced to improve efficiency in port operation, reduce the costs and time of clearing cargoes from the ports and give value to all stakeholders.

    The Managing Director said the Electronic Payment System and the Electronic Ship Entry Notice (E-Sen) that were introduced by the NPA in February and September last year, was the first step towards full automation of its processes.

    “As you are aware Ports operations involves a network of processes and documentations along the chain of activities from the port of loading to the port of destination. Effective coordination of the activities makes the integration of the processes through automation absolutely necessary in order to facilitate seamless operations thereby reducing both costs and time.

    “You may recall that sometime in February and September last year, you graciously accepted the invitation of Nigerian Ports Authority to the introduction of the Electronic Payment System and the Electronic Ship Entry Notice (E-Sen) respectively as a first step towards full automation of our processes. You will agree with me that these have tremendously improved efficiency in Port operations as well as giving value to our esteemed stakeholders.

    “Today, we are presenting the Revenue Invoicing Management System and Customer Portal that are fully convergent and real time platforms for our processes, which will lower operational cost and shorten the time for documentation. These platforms fully integrate the electronic flow of information for business–to–customer and business–to–business streams real-time, with higher availability and flexible architecture. The platforms are also fully integrated with all our existing solutions such as Oracle Financials, Oracle Human Capital Management, NPA Pay direct via Interswitch and Electronic Ship Entry Notice (eSEN).

    “Permit me to say that with the focus of the President of the Federal Government of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, for monumental change in the country, the Authority will continue to introduce initiatives in line with best practices that will ensure that we remain efficient, transparent and accountable to our stakeholders and the good people of Nigeria.

    “Once again I welcome you all and wish you a happy viewing of our presentation,” Abdullahi said.

    Other stakeholders at the forum promised to key into the system to boost the economy of the country and to enhance quick cargo clearance from the ports.

  • For new NPA boss, the triumph of principle

    For new NPA boss, the triumph of principle

    Fate works in mysterious ways. That much was demonstrated in President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-appointment of the erstwhile Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mallam Habib Abdullahi, penultimate Thursday. His reinstatement as the NPA boss has more or less turned the seat into a musical chair between him and the immediate past managing director of the all important agency, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Ado Bayero.

    Abdullahi had been relieved of his seat by former President Goodluck Jonathan towards the end of his tenure for reasons observers believed had to do with punishing him for insisting on principles that ran contrary to the reckless spending embarked upon by the Jonathan administration in the build up to the 2015 presidential election. While the ex-president was said to have seen the NPA as one of the juicy agencies of government that would supply the funds for his re-election bid, Abdullahi was said to have refused to the key to the agency’s treasury to Jonathan’s presidential campaign team like his counterparts in other ministries and parastatals were doing.

    His principled stance not to subject NPA’s funds to the whims and caprices of pro-Jonathan campaigners was said to have drawn the ire of the ex-president and his supporters, who promptly tagged Abdullahi an APC (All Progressives Congress) supporter and urged Jonathan to move against him. Jonathan himself found the proposal to remove Abdullahi as NPA managing director all the more appealing because he found in it an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. Bayero had contested the stool of the Emir of Kano with the incumbent emir, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, whose candidacy Jonathan had opposed for obvious reasons. A face-off between Sanusi and Jonathan over the latter’s revelations on the state of the economy had drawn Jonathan to high dudgeon and culminated in the removal of Sanusi as the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.

    The effort to humiliate Sanusi would become a huge embarrassment for Jonathan if he became the emir of Kano; a position Sanusi himself had repeatedly said he cherished more than any other in the world. Jonathan thought it expedient to raise an adversary against Sanusi in the jostle for the Emir of Kano’s stool and found one in Bayero. It turned out, however, that the kingmakers in Kano preferred Lamido to Bayero, and there was absolutely nothing the President could do about it because chieftaincy matters are handled purely at state level. Bayero lost out in the contest and Jonathan felt the best way to compensate him was to appoint him as the managing director of NPA in place of the intransigent Abdullahi.

    While President Buhari gave no reason for removing Bayero or appointing Abdullahi in his place, event watchers say it is a case of a Daniel coming to judgment. Sources at the Federal Ministry of Transport say that one of the reasons Jonathan booted out Abdullahi was the latter’s reluctance to support a certain N7 billion shore erosion control contract awarded by the administration through the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) at Akipelai, Ayakoro and Otuoke towns in Bayelsa state. It is said that while the job was not executed, there was pressure from official quarters that the contract’s sum be released to the contractor, but Abdullahi resisted.

    A ministry official commended President Buhari for reinstating Abdullahi, saying that his reinstatement will shed light on the controversial multi-billion naira contract. The official also alleged that Abdullahi was removed because he refused to release funds for the re-election bid of the erstwhile President, like other heads of the maritime agencies did.

    Abdullahi , it was gathered, had also expressed anger with the slow speed of the contractor that won the contract for the rehabilitation of NPA’s six-storey headquarters building in Marina, Lagos. The rehabilitation contract, the ministry official said, “was awarded in 2010 to Messrs Sageto Nigeria Limited for N5.billion.” The consultancy job, The Nation gathered, had earlier been awarded to AIMS Consultants Limited for an undisclosed sum. The contract was supposed to have been completed within 18 months, but more than three years after, the project had not been completed.

    Abdullahi, the official said, did a lot in the actualisation of capital projects of NPA, amongst which were:

    completion of the construction of a 1.6km road at Lagos Port Complex (LPC)

    Completion of reconstruction of terminals B&C at old Warri port

    Completion of the rehabilitation of rail track at LPC

    Continuation of the rehabilitation of the Tin Can Island Ports (TCIP) quay apron and third party projects, which includes initiation and completion of Island Berth on Lagos Channel by Oando and the completion of Eko Support Services project at Bullnose, Apapa.

    Port operators and other stakeholders in the maritime industry also said that Abdullahi had embarked on programmes designed to improve the efficiency of the ports before he was unceremoniously removed.

    Speaking with The Nation in Lagos, the President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Prince Olayiwola Shittu, questioned Abdullahi’s removal, saying that the latter had the desire to make the nation’s seaports the leading and the most efficient ports in Africa.

    Before his sudden removal by Jonathan, Abdullahi, Shittu said, made sure that NPA was responsible for port planning and development, maintenance of common user facilities, regulation of safety and security of the port environment, ownership of port land and quick payment of government dues by the terminal operators.

    This, the ANLCA chief said, was in line with the concession agreement to bring efficiency to the ports and transfer investment costs from the public to the private sector.

    “Stakeholders were miffed by the sudden and unfathomable removal of Abdullahi. To most of the operators and stakeholders, he was doing creditably well in terms of performance and was charting a good course for the NPA’s greatness in terms of port operation and global best practices before he was removed. Most of us did not understand why the last government abruptly decided to replace him with somebody who had little or no knowledge of port operation and failed to give any reason for his removal. Many of us felt that the NPA top position had become a cartel for political patronage before Bayero was removed by President Buhari.

    “In the area of marine operation, many of us agreed that Abdullahi acted impressively. His efforts were anchored on the need to deliver an efficient port service in a safe, secure and customer-friendly environment in accordance with international practices.

    “To achieve this, he paid attention to improving existing port infrastructure such as the rehabilitation of port quay walls and aprons, deepening of the channels, upgrading common user facilities and removal of wrecks from the channels. It was this gesture that made it possible for bigger ships to now call regularly at the nation’s ports.

    “For instance, the weekly call of the WAFMAX vessel with a length of 232.33 metres and capacity of 4,500 TEUS requiring draught of 13.5 metres to Lagos and Onne ports was a great achievement that must be given to Abdullahi.”

    The channel management and conservancy function of the NPA, Shittu said, also improved under Abdullahi.

    “Most of the nation’s sea ports recorded increase in the Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of vessels mainly due to the capital and maintenance dredging of the channel by the NPA’s Joint Venture (JV) companies like the Lagos Channel Management (LCM) company for the management of the Lagos channel and the Bonny Channel Management (BCC) for the management of the Bonny channel. The profit for the constant dredging of the channels reflected in increasing cargo throughput to 77 million metric tonnes in 2013 from 44,953,073 metric tonnes in 2005 excluding crude oil and gas,” Shittu said.

    Other stakeholders said that Abdullahi did a lot in the area of IT development.

    An importer, Mr Solomon Adebari said that Mallam Abdullahi led-NPA management scored high in the area of IT as most of its operations mostly in the area of finance are now driven electronically.

    “The introduction of IT in its financial operations was a part of his ways of improving NPA’s revenue base without compromising efficiency and comfort of customers. The e-payment initiative by Abdullahi was a very good one.”

    The benefits of the e-payment initiative, Adebari said, included:

    instant payment confirmation

    elimination of human interface in payment procedures

    improved turn-around time and

    reduction of cost of doing business in the ports which impacts positively on the nation’s economy.

  • NPA generated N162b, spent N160b – Oshiomhole

    NPA generated N162b, spent N160b – Oshiomhole

    Edo State governor, Adams Oshiomhole, on Tuesday said the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) spent N160 billion out of the N162 billion it generated in one year, while remitting only N2 billion to government coffers.

    Oshiomhole, who spoke at the 8th quadrennial delegates conference of the National Union of Road Transport Workers, also said another revenue generating agency of government failed to make remittance to the federations account from the taxes collected, claiming that money generated was not enough to fund its operations.

    The governor spoke just as the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayba Wabba, asked members of the National Peace Committee not be an obstacle to the fight against corruption and recovering of funds stolen by public officers.

    Oshiomhole, who is the Chairman of a committee set up by the National Economic Council to investigate revenue generating agencies, also blasted members of the National Peace Committee and other Nigerians for asking President Muhammadu Buhari not to investigate former President Goodluck Jonathan because he conceded defeat in the March 28 presidential election and handed over power to the President.

    He said: “Last week, somebody told us that the Nigeria Port Authority admitted that it collected N162 billion in one year and spent N160 billion out of that and remitted N2 billion naira to the Federal Government.

    “Is that Justice? Can you have peace in the face of this kind of abuse?”

     

  • NPA acquires new tug boats

    NPA acquires new tug boats

    • LCM deepens Lagos Channel to 13.5 metres

    The management of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) has ac-quired two 60-tonne bullard-pull tug boats with computerised engines to ease business in the Lagos Pilotage District.

    With the deployment of the boats, the NPA has increased its fleet in Lagos to 15 – eight tug boats, three pilot cutters and four mooring boats – in response to stakeholders’ complaints of tugs insufficiency in the ports.

    The Managing Director, Lagos Channel Management (LCM), Mr. Danny Fuchs, told The Nation that the tug boats, MT Uromi and MT Majaiya, are the strongest in the country. Each of them came with twin fire fighting pumps, which cover 300 metres and over 600 cubic meters per hour of water and foam.

    Until their acquisition, the biggest tugs in Lagos had capacity not beyond 45-tonne buller pulls, while the biggest in Port Harcourt pilotage district, was not be up to a 50-tonne. And unlike the MT Ohafia and others before it, the new tug boats are slimmer  and narrow bridges (wheel house), inclined exhausts, meaning that they could get closer to large ships without hurting either the ship or themselves, this makes them highly effective in doing their jobs. At full throttle, they can do a speed of at least 14 knots, either forward or backwards.

    “The Uromi and the Majaiya are 2810 model and they are very powerful tug boats; 60-tonne-bullard-pull boats each. They are the biggest in Lagos.

    “They have been commissioned and they have begun work.They provide Lagos with the most modern and best technology in the world. The engine, a MTU, as I told you, is one of the strongest in the world. They  have German engines. They are already working 24/7. The two new built are usually devoted to the extra big ships sailing in, while the other tugs are devoted to the smaller vessels sailing in or out. It is part of the super-efficiency gains that Lagos is enjoying.

    “With the two new-built, Lagos has eight tug boats, three pilot cutters, for the movement of the pilots to meet the arriving ships, at the Fairway Buoy; and then four Mooring boats for the movement of NPA officials from Marina to Harbour Masters, and for other logistics. That brings everything to a total of 15,” he explained, expressing his joy that the towage management company, the Landfall, has preoccupied itself with capacity development.

    “Today, the Landfall alone has employed more than 200 local staff. And we are training and re-training them. We have a ratio of 1:10. About 10 per cent of staff are expatriates. And even most of the expatriate are simply coming and going.They don’t stay here all the time.

    He continued: “The Landfall is working in the light of international standards. And that explains why we need to bring in only certified captains; which we mostly cannot find here.

    “Most Nigerian staff are good. But it is not all of them that have good papers. So, we bring in those without good papers; merge them with those expatriate with good papers; and then we begin to train and retrain those without good papers. They soon become very good. You can understand why our staff are, therefore, in high demand.

    “It is not a one night affairs – we send them for mandatory training. Our pool is highly and enviably stocked.’’

    “We treat our staff with much respect. The 200 Landfall staff are working according to the condition of service, as internationally required- in respect of the boats; and as agreed between the unions and the management. We respect each party’s view,” he said, noting that his organisation’s training programme for seafarers had begun to yield results.

    “Five years ago, we started with 40 cadets, 20 engines and 20 decks. And because there was no good institution that can prepare the cadets in Nigeria for the STCW exams. We spoke with many marine consultants who advised that the best place was Ghana Regional Maritime University. So, we sent all our cadets there. They learnt the theories there. And come here for practice. It has been a theory-practical, theory-practical and, they were going back and forth.

    “But, today, we have produced seven engineers who would soon be up-graded. We have also produced five decks. Of the five decks, three are already master mariners.

    “As for the depth of the channel, we promised that we are not going to have anything less than 13.5 meters depths, even at the lowest tide; and I can assure you that more than 80 per cent of the channel meet this requirement.’’

     

     

     

  • Buhari sacks NPA Managing Director

    Buhari sacks NPA Managing Director

    … Reinstates Habibu Abdullahi as MD

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday sacked the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Alhaji Sanusi Ado Bayero.

    The termination of Alhaji Bayero’s appointment, according to a statement issued by the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the President, Femi Adesina, is with immediate effect.

    He is expected to hand over the management of the NPA and all government property in his possession to Mr. Habibu Abdullahi who has been reinstated as Managing Director of the agency by President Buhari.

    The President wished Alhaji Bayero well in his future endeavours.

     

  • Our Girls; IDPs; NPA Audit; ‘Lagos-Ibadan Stopway’;  A Buhari ‘Team Tomorrow’ today?

    Our Girls are still missing since April 15, 2014. And the deaths go on. More African migrants are forced into the holds of unseaworthy boats and die of thirst and generator fumes’ poisoning in the Mediterranean. At home, the Internally Displaced Persons, IDPs, are serviced by a Nigerians victims’ support structure represented by the well-funded but slow-to-act Victims Support Fund together with the underfunded Red Cross and Blue Crescent. These should be reinforced by able-bodied and qualified IDPs to prevent a ‘donor-beggar’ relationship. Nigerian red tape and lack of empathy must not spoil the ‘Recovery Effort’ for the IDPs. Beyond photo-ops, real people with sympathy and technical skills are needed to bring succour to IDPs with 95% of the funds spent on IDPs, not ‘administration’. The Red Cross has trained ‘20 in psychological support services’. This empowerment is an overdue service adding to the ability of the Red Cross. The Red Cross must remember that Nigeria has unemployed psychology graduates who should be empowered to offer psychological support for IDPs. To cater for the 3-4million displaced, 100-200 psychologists, many of them indigenous IDPs, need employment. All qualified Red Cross staff must get this three day course to detect Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTMS, depression and suicidal tendencies.

    Hurray, the Police Service is looking into creating a Finger Print Database. But is it serious, just rhetorical or for PR purposes or another crime fighting gimmick that is programmed to fail and will never catch a thief? The Police must request for the INEC Voters’ Register as the most comprehensive database available. It can be beefed up by the FRSC’s Drivers Licence, Immigration’s Passport and Prisons’ Databases.

    Along with NNPC, Customs, FIRS and FAAN, the Nigeria Ports Authority is also a huge fraud-riddled foreign exchange earner. It must also be forensically audited working backwards from firstly year 2015, then 2014, then 2013 back to 2005 to get quick actionable Annual Reports.

    Thinking Point: ‘California Is Sinking’ according to Dr Faunt in a CNN report. This is because of the extraction of ground water in response to a major draught. Will parts of Nigeria sink from the massive volumes of oil removed from the ground?  And what will happen to the millions who build upon sand-fills? Will floods eventually reclaim those reclaimed areas? There are worldwide floods. Take Kaduna and Lagos for example and dams are threatening to be opened. Where and what next?

    ‘Instead of development we  have perfected the ‘Abuja Jamboree’  of Conferences, Summits and Colloquia –of increasing extravagance and budgets in Ladi Kwali Hall in the Sheraton, The Villa and other high end hotels, accommodation, travel and per diem’

    The way the Nigerian transport authorities have tackled the monotonously repetitive 6-18 hour traffic stoppage mayhem on the ‘Lagos-Ibadan Stopway’ in the last few months and especially the days of Redemption Convention compounds the already horrible reputation of that apology of a track, let alone the name ‘road’ or ‘expressway’. I have longed to take a helicopter flight and do a documentary or feature film including shots down the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway during a peak ‘zero movement day’ or weekend to record and count the 5-6 lane gridlock on either side for 30-40 kilometres. Sadly, I have counted from the free side of the road, up to 10,000 vehicles in one traffic gridlock. Which journalist has adequately recorded the suffering of the hundreds of thousands of trapped travellers? We must remember that if Nigerians drove correctly or were forced by barriers and FRSC to stay in the two lanes, like in the UK, and did not illegally overtake on each side whenever there was a slow-down of traffic, the traffic jam would actually be 80-100 kilometres of two lane traffic bringing total gridlock to the entire Expressway and backed up into the city. The Expressway can be seen as a long bridge and is to Lagos what the Niger Bridge is to Onitsha. Blocked it is useless to everyone including the economy! Inadequate it is useless! The much-touted, over-politicised and as yet unbuilt Second Niger Bridge must be built by this government, even in a Public Private Partnership, PPP, with the business communities of Asaba and Onitsha as major stake or shareholders. The value of a new bridge is seen from the Fasola/Yar’Adua dream New Lekki Bridge in Lagos, saving millions of travel hours daily in a state/federal deal. Imagine how many ‘Lekki-like Bridges’ Nigeria needs nationwide, over 100, to enter the annals of modern transportation! Instead of development we  have perfected the ‘Abuja Jamboree’  of Conferences, Summits and Colloquia –of increasing extravagance and budgets in Ladi Kwali Hall in the Sheraton, The Villa and other high end hotels, accommodation, travel and per diem. Talking of dreams, China wants to build the tallest building in the world in 19 days. The Egyptians have just built a ‘Second Suez Canal’ actually a 35km one way canal in one year for $4b instead of three years. What have we built?  A few billionaires!

    Our own Nigerian dreams turn out somewhat differently. Here our dream of a Lagos-Ibadan Expressway is a four-year nightmare. Why do Nigerians never build quickly? There are 20 contractors capable of doing 10-20km segments of refurbishment in six months each. Because of this failure to dream big and act big, Nigeria has inadequate infrastructure. The East-West Road happily nears completion, 40 tears late but must be completed immediately. There are 200 old roads that must be repaired and new roads pointing in new directions needed while the railways need further modernisation.  Can Nigeria have a Buhari ‘Team Tomorrow’ today?