Despite the impact of Covid-19 pandemic, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said it has raised its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) between January and September 2021 by a significant 120 percent.
While presenting details of NPA’s performances since his appointment, the Acting Managing Director, Mohammed Bello Koko, told the House of Representatives Committee on Ports and Habours, that in compliance with the quarterly remittance of its operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and provisions of the Finance Act 2020, the agency has remitted the sum of N62.66bn to CRF for 2021 as at October 31, 2021, while a cumulative sum of N89.9bn has been transferred to the CRF in the last six months.
In the presentation, the Acting Managing Director said that, as at the end of September 2021, the NPA earned N256.28bn in IGR as against the expected N214.65bn (approved estimate N271.70bn) for the same period, representing a performance of 120% or 95% of its total annual budget for 2021.
Giving details about NPA’s operating expenses, Mohammed Bello Koko revealed that, as at the end of September 2021, the NPA has actually cut down its operating costs by N10.39Billion, which is about 85% performance of the approved budget of N87.32bn.
He explained to the Committee that, actual spending was reduced to N55.10bn from the budgeted figure of N65.49bn, comprising employees’ benefits, pension costs, towage services, supplies, repairs & maintenance and other administrative overheads. This, he said is actually a “savings” of N10.39bn.
The NPA MD also hinted that, “given the current state of increased revenue drive, it is projected that the Authority will exceed its 2021 revenue projections and the projected transfer to the CRF for the year 2021 which is expected to be over N80bn, which would be the highest in the history of the Authority”.
Read Also: At Last, Nigeria’s Paul Adalikwu Emerges Secretary – General MOWCA
The NPA’s helmsman also informed the House Committee that contrary to news reports insinuating that Nigerian ports are the most expensive in the sub-region, a study commissioned by the agency with the support of UKAid in 2019, actually revealed that it is cheaper for general and container vessels to berth in Nigeria than in Ghana or Togo.
He also explained that “a huge chunk of what cargo owners spend to clear their consignments are expended on terminal and freight charges which are paid to terminal operators and shipping companies. Others are: Payments for customs duty, inspection services, haulage, insurance and other sundry trade levies and fees. These costs are not such that NPA could interfere with because they are outside the purview of the Authority”.
To justify the competitiveness of Nigerian port costs, Bello Koko explained that, apart from towage dues which were reviewed in 2015, port tariffs in Nigeria have remained same since 1993.
Kindly like us on Facebook
Discussion about this post