By Steve Agbota
The Acting Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Muhammed Bello- Koko, has solicited the support of the NPA board to drive the process of alternative revenue sources in addition to revenue from traditional port operations to fix the challenge of decaying port infrastructure.
According to him, due to the increasing pressure to remit more revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the federation, it has become very difficult for NPA to have sufficient funds to attend to these decaying facilities.
Bello-Koko, who disclosed this at the just-concluded retreat for the reconstituted Board of Directors of the Authority, said unlike the practice in other sister francophone countries where the government funds dredging of ports, the NPA is responsible for funding dredging of ports, thereby putting a lot of strain on the Authority’s resources and capacity to invest in critical port infrastructure.
“We are facing decaying port infrastructure. For example, sections of the quay aprons or walls at Tin Can Island Port, Onne, Delta and Calabar ports are collapsing and require huge funds to repair them. With the increasing pressure to remit more revenue to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) of the federation, it has become very difficult to have sufficient funds to attend to these decaying facilities, hence the need to explore alternative funding sources outside the traditional port service offerings,” he said. He added that the Authority’s management has begun to explore smart ways to boost the revenue performance of the organisation, adding that the Authority is blessed with prime real estate which could serve as alternative funding sources outside the regular budget.
“NPA has a lot of high value landed properties in Onne, Snake Island, and Takwa Bay that are designated free trade zones and mostly allocated but with poor arterial road network and other infrastructure to make them attractive for private investments which would bring good revenue to the Authority and Federal Government.
“Management will need the support of the Board to drive the process of alternative revenue sources to actualize the lofty aspirations of the Authority,” he said.
He said that the management has opened correspondences with some multilateral financial institutions like the French Development Agency (AFD), African Development Bank (AfDB), European Investment Bank (EIB) and Sanlam Infraworks (a Central Bank of Nigeria approved fund manager for InfraCorp), all part of plans to access long term low interest credit, for port i