We Have Exceeded Our 2017 Revenue Target—NPA MD

Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has met and surpassed its revenue projection for 2017, so says its Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman. 
She gave this indication at a recent event in Lagos, even as she added that the organisation had also introduced a performance audit for all its personnel, attributing the feat to this move and blockage of areas of leakages. 
Shipping Position Daily findings showed that in one quarter, NPA netted N118billion revenue to the government coffers. 
Speaking further on the revenue haul, she said: "We were able to meet our revenue projections for 2017, but I would not give the exact amount, I would wait till end of the year, our revenue projections have been exceeded marginally, but 2018 would be a better year for Nigeria and the port authority as we seek to entrench implementation of the executive order, particularly as it concerns entry and exit of cargoes at the port including palletisation of cargoes,  access into all our ports would also be rehabilitated, not only in Apapa but at all other ports". 
The NPA boss also disclosed that the agency has offered to assist the Federal Ministry of Works Power and Housing to complete the construction of a truck holding bay which has been abandoned around the Tin Can Island Port for several years.  
Unman said that the NPA  has communicated to the ministry which is  headed by Mr. Babatunde Fashola, to allow NPA take over the remaining part of the construction work at the holding bay. 
Shipping Position Daily recalls that Fashola had at a recent event in Lagos assured that the truck holding bay was already 95 percent completed and that all that needed to be done was construction of the shorelines to protect the holding bay from being waterlogged. 
However, speaking on the project, the NPA MD stated that: "We believe that the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Works, Power and Housing needs to strengthen its capacity around the access road, the ministry needs to do more to ensure the roads are rehabilitated" 
"A critical example is the incomplete trailer park at Tin Can Port which is a very critical solution that would greatly assist us, the Nigerian Port Authority has offered the federal ministry of Works, Power and Housing that we would conclude the work required for the trailer park to be functional" 
"We have communicated that to the ministry and we are hopeful that they would grant us permission. so that we can conclude it" 
On the agency’s revenue and the staff audit, she added that, "We felt the need to introduce a performance audit, the federal ministry of transportation has decided to do a performance audit of all agencies in the maritime sector to determine how far we have gone, what we need to improve upon, to audit ourselves and out in new measures and target for us to achieve.
We have also introduced a performance based assessment for our personnel, they would now be evaluated based on key performance indicators".