The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has raised the alarm on increasing extortion along the roads leading to Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports.
This is coming on the heels of the clearance operations which the agency undertook on recently to rid the Port corridors of shanties and illegal occupation which harbor the criminal elements and encourage extortions.
On the eve of the port corridor clearance operations between July 16 and 18, which was carried out in collaboration with Lagos State Government, the Managing Director, NPA Mohammed Bello Koko had lamented that “these acts of extortion and allied illegalities are injurious to trade facilitation, which is our core function and we cannot allow these nefarious characters make nonsense of the gateways to the national economy which the ports constitute”.
Speaking further, Bello Koko had said, “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”.
Koko had also while receiving the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Idowu Owohunwa earlier this month at the NPA Headquarters, enlisted the support of the police in tackling the extortion menace, even as he specifically cited that “the jurisdictional rule that restricts the powers of the Port Authority Police Command (PAPC) to the Port premises, is the more reason we are calling for increased synergy between PAPC and officers of the Lagos State Police Command”.
The NPA MD had earlier met with the leadership at various levels of the Nigerian Army, the Navy, the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) stressing on the pressing need to collectively nip the menace of extortion in the bud.
The Nigerian Ports Authority under Koko had completed the perimeter fencing of the Tincan Island Port to curb unauthorized access to the port premises. However, the sanity achieved by this measure is localized within the Port, whilst majority of these illegalities happen along the port access road which is not within the NPA’s purview.
It will be recalled that the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) had in March, 2023 published a video footage showing the assault these extortionists visit on trucks inbound and outbound the port corridor.
The NPA’s fact finding has identified flash points of extortion ranging from 500 Naira to as high as N5,000 and the mode of perpetration.
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