A damning half year performance report has been presented, which accused parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Transport of performing below average in the first half of 2014.
A damning half year performance report has been presented, which accused parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Transport of performing below average in the first half of 2014.
Called‘Key Performance Indicators (KPI)’, the report which was presented to a recent meeting of the peer review team by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Engr. Nebolisa Emordi, admitted that, even though the 2014 budget was predicated on consolidating and sustenance of the gains and performance s of 2011, 2012, and 2013 budgets by focusing on the completion of on-going projects, the agencies have scored below 50 percent.
Presiding over the peer review team’s report which was made available to Shipping Position Daily, was one of the last assignments of the immediate past Head of Civil Service of the Federation; Alhaji Bukar Goni.
Our sources confirmed that the agencies that were reviewed included: Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Maritime Academy of Nigeria (MAN), and Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT).
One source told our correspondent that, “these are the agencies that implement the mandate, policies, programmes and projects of the Federal Ministry of Transport, but they all collectively performed below what is expected of them as far as the 12014 budget is concerned.
A copy of the report which was sighted by a correspondent of Shipping Position Daily indicated that, although under the 2014 budget, the ministry had proposed recurrent and capital expenditure of N15.7 billion, but it got N13,089bilion
In the report, only N3.6 billion was released, while N1.5 billion was utilized on capital expenditure, which confirmed a12 percent performance ratio.
Also, a 27 percent implementation ratio was achieved on overhead appropriation of N297 million, and out of it, only N140 million was released while N81 million was expended.
The peer review report however, frowned that there is not much difference between the performance of both the 2013 and 2014 budgets.
In 2013, only 51 percent budget implementation ratio was achieved; a total of N13,314,411,599.53 was released for capital and overhead expenditure, but only N10.7 billion was utilised.
Specifically, however, the ministry’s permanent secretary, Engr Nebolisa Emordi, while presenting an agency by agency report said that, the NPA in 2014 got approval for Lekki deep sea port, while the other proposed deep sea ports in Ibaka, Olokola, Badagry and Ogidigbe / Escravos deep sea ports were still being considered.
He listed the: East and West Moles, Lagos; 1.6 kilometre dual carriageway within Apapa Port Complex; Julius Berger Terminal C, Warri Old Port; AMS Terminal B, Warri Old Port; rail rehabilitation in the Apapa Port Complex, as projects that had been completed and waiting to be commissioned, even though he acknowledged that most of these project were 2011,2012 to 2013 projects for which appropriations were made.
According to him, “the continuous dredging of the harbours in Lagos and Bonny to accommodate large ocean liners as West African Maximum (WAFMAX) Jumbo cargo vessels that carry 4,500 TEUs instead of conventional vessels of 2,500 TEUs is providing opportunities for transshipment to other ports in Nigeria and neighboring countries,.
While trying to justify the appropriation to and utilisation of same under the National Inland Waterways Authourity, the permanent secretary told the meeting that, the Makurdi River Port is in the pipeline for construction as construction of jetties at Buruku, Idah, Agenebode, Pategi, Igbokoda , Degema and Yenogoa are at various stages of completion.
Under NIWA, he added that, the Onitsha River Port has been reconstructed and commissioned with modern cargo handling equipment; Baro and Oguta River Ports are to be completed by the end of 2014 while Lokoja River Port is expected to be completed in 2015, and upon completion the river ports will be concessioned to private operators.
He disclosed that, under the 2014 fiscal period, the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), had a ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of the Nigerian Maritime University and the shipyard / dockyard facilities at Okerekoko, and Kurutie in Delta State.
The report was silent about the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC),but stated that within the first half of 2014, the agency has got approval to operate as the interim economic regulator for the ports
Discussion about this post