.L-R: The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman exchanging pleasantries with the immediate past Chief of Naval Staff, Vice Admiral, Ibok Ekwe Ibas (rtd.) with another dignitary during the pulling out parade of immediate past Chief Of Naval Staff in Lagos last Friday
Following the destruction of the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) corporate head office building during last year #EndSARS protest, during which parts of the building were also set ablaze by hoodlums, there is a likelihood that the building will soon be up again.
Four months after the destruction, the spokesperson of the NPA, Mr Ibrahim Nasiru in an exclusive chat with our correspondent, confirmed that reconstruction of affected parts of the building will soon begin and will be ready in 20 weeks, which is approximately about five months from now.
He said, “the destroyed part of the building will be ready in 20 weeks, the insurance companies have done their part, so the construction will begin and will be ready in 20 weeks”.
Our correspondent also gathered that the NPA may take delivery of new vehicles on or before the expiration of the 20 weeks allocated for the rehabilitation of the burnt building, this is even as checks by Shipping Position Daily reveal that the burnt vehicles may have been sold as scraps.
Even though no one was forthcoming about the actual cost of rehabilitation of the burnt building, there are reports that, it may gulp as much as N800 million, owing to the level of destruction.
Apart from the valuers’ reports, the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman, had also said during the agency’s 2021 budget defence before the Senate Committee on Marine Transport, that the agency earmarked N807 million for the rehabilitation the affected building.
According to the NPA boss, the N807 million was different from monies to be spent on replacement of 27 vehicles set ablaze by hoodlums and the three stolen during the violence.
She had said: “These vehicles, being operational ones, need to be replaced as soon as insurance companies come up with the aspect of losses to be shouldered.
“Cost of replacement will be above a billion naira when added to the N807 Million already estimated for rehabilitation of the burnt building,” she said.
It is however unclear who bears the cost of the rehabilitation and the replacement of the burnt vehicles if either it’s the insurance company or the government.
Efforts to get an answers to the above were rebuffed.
Meanwhile, the Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman had informed earlier that all properties belonging to the agency were insured and that insurance companies will take stock to know the level of damage done.
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