NPA TO BE RESTRUCTURED, SAYS NEW MD

…As New Conditions of Service is Unfoldd

New managing director, Nigerian Ports Authourity, Omar Suleiman has assured that the organisation will be restructured to make it more responsive to the demands of its new status as landlord and be able to respond more appropriately to the needs of the terminal operators.
Suleiman made the disclosure at two separate occasions last week. The first was at the unveiling of a new condition of service for the organisation in Lagos. The second occasion was when he received the executives of the maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) at the organisation’s corporate head office in Lagos.
The managing director told leaders of the two house unions in NPA that almost five years after the ports were concessioned to the private sector, NPA still operates its old structure and that it is not good enough for the system.
According to him, a situation where the terminal operators are more advanced than their landlord is not good enough for the system. He stressed that NPA must be restructured to rise to the challenges of its new status as the landlord who must not be found wanting by its tenants.
Also, he told the executives of MARAN led by its president, Mr Adeleye Ajayi that his priority is to move NPA forward and ensure that it becomes a more responsive organisation, even as he confirmed that the cost of doing business in the nation’s seaports is still very high.
He equally acknowledged that ships dwell time is still high in Nigeria when compared to the internationally acceptable dwell time of maximum of five days.  He lamented that in Nigeria, vessel dwell time is still about 25 to 28 days.
On the new conditions of service, he explained that the package will enhance higher productivity and added that part of the new arrangement which is to ensure that workers promotion becomes an annual part of the organisation’s condition of service.
He disclosed that as part of the restructuring programme, NPA workers will be entitled to yearly promotion exercise which according to him, will be based on merit.   
Speaking earlier, NPA’s executive director, finance and administration, Mr Tola Atekoja had told the gathering of the organisation’s management and the workers union that the foundation for the new condition of service was laid as far back as 2007 and that new document is symbolization of the cooperation between the management and the workers’ union.
And apparently grateful for the new condition of service, the leaders of the senior staff association, the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN) took turn to commend the management even as they called for a periodic review of the package to reflect emerging realities.
The NPA branch president of SACTACC, Comrade Umar Jimoh pleaded with management to review the employees’ gratuity which according to him is not good enough.
Speaking in the same vein, the NPA branch president of MWUN, Comrade Leke Sanni called for a periodic review of the new condition of service.