Don't Expect The Apapa Gridlock To Go Too Soon - NPA MD, Hadiza Bala Usman

The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman has said that truck queue and traffic congestion in Apapa will not reduce unless there is a concerted effort by concerned authorities to provide trailer parks.

Speaking on a radio program recently in Lagos, Usman expressed displeasure over the delay in the commissioning of the Tin Can Island trailer park ten years after the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing took over the project.

She said, “I want to use this opportunity to call on the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing to conclude the trailer park inside Tin Can Island. There is a trailer park there that the Ministry of Works has been constructing for the past ten years.

“I have held discussions with the Ministry since I assumed office two and half years ago and made a request that they should hand over that trailer park to the Nigerian Ports Authority so that we can conclude the shore protection and have it ready since December 2017 yet we are still here, it has not been finished, it has not been handed over. The traffic situation in Apapa will not reduce unless there is a concerted effort in providing trailer parks.”

The NPA Managing Director said the construction of more truck parks outside the port environment will go a long way in decongesting the Lagos ports access roads.

“The gridlock in Apapa has been lingering for too long. The Nigerian port in the last three weeks withdrew the lease for Lilypond as a terminal and converted it into a trailer park. I would also call on the Lagos and Ogun State governments to look at land allocations and cancel them for overriding public interest and make them trailer parks outside of the port environment where those trailers can sit.

“We must have trailer parks and holding bays for trucks to enable us to manage the traffic. We can’t have a situation where all trailers do not have designated parks.

“You must have as a state and local government, designated locations for trailers to park. NPA intends to now have call-up systems that will be deployed in these trailer parks.

“Lilypond is a transit park into the port but we need to have a large size trailer park that will house the trailers on the roads. It is a big challenge that we have and we will continue to see what we can do to decongest the bridges to ensure seamless inflow and outflow,” she stated.

Usman also lamented the absence of functional scanners and single window platform in cargo clearance at the port, saying that physical examination of cargo at the port hampers efficient cargo delivery.

“One of the concerns we have is that when cargo comes into the port, we do physical examination. There is absence of scanners at the port and the Customs have not deployed the scanners that are required.

“An additional tool we need to deploy for trade facilitation is the single window. That is also another issue that ports in neighbouring countries have, so cargo clearance is fast and seamless. If you deploy single window, every agency will now key in there.

“No agency is supposed to stop any cargo once they have done examination inside the port but we have seen where Customs insist on having another examination outside the port. These are some of the challenges we are facing on the ease of doing business,” she added. 

11 Years After, NPA Commissions Simulation Facility In Lagos, Saves $1million Annually

After 11 years, the NPA Simulation Facility comes alive in Apapa, Lagos.

 In a bid to conserve foreign exchange, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has partnered its joint venture partners to build a simulation centre for the training of pilots locally.

Speaking at the inauguration of the simulation centre in Lagos yesterday, the Managing Director of the NPA, Hadiza Bala-Usman, said training of pilots locally would save the federal government over $1 million (N366 million) annually spent in training pilots in the United Kingdom, other Europe countries and the United States of America.

The Simulator will be used to train pilots and for research and other purposes. The Simulator has software that realistically simulates the behavior of a vessel and its systems in a simulated maritime environment and has an interface that allows the person using it to control the ship & interact with its simulated surroundings.

The idea which was conceived 11 years ago has the Honourable Minister of Transportation Rt. Hon. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi commissioned the NPA Simulation Facility.

According to NPA, the Centre has in the last 8 months trained 98 Nigerian pilots that hitherto would have been sent abroad, saving the country a significant amount of foreign exchange. With this commission, the Authority is expected to save an average of One Million US Dollars ($1,000,000) annually from the training pilots overseas yearly.

These are images of the centre and also from the commissioning in Apapa, Lagos.

Images of the facility...

Massive Construction Work At Lekki Sea Port, Lagos - Photos

It was earlier stated that The Federal Government recently announced plans to embark on the massive exportation of goods using the Lekki Deep Seaport when it becomes operational in 2021.

The development of the Lekki Deep Seaport was critical to the creation of special economic zones, which would serve as models for others across the country.

According to the project handlers, the project is targeting about 1.5 million 20 feet equivalent unit container capacity annually, which we expect to grow to about 2.7 million and 4.7 million TEUs when the project operations commence.

With this feat, the Lekki Deep Seaport will be one of the largest deepwater seaports in the region and serve as a hub for port operations in the whole of West Africa.’

The Lekki Port was officially commissioned March 29th, 2018 and we can tell that works have begun in earnest as these are visuals from the site of this masterpiece.