- Safiu Kehinde
The Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) has declared a 15% hike in tariff across all rates and dues.
In what it claimed to be its first upward review 1993, the NPA explained that the necessity of the tariff increment in an effort to address the undesirable reality of aged and weak Infrastructure, obsolete equipment and slow Port capacity expansion.
As contained in a statement issued on its official X handle on Thursday, the NPA claimed that Port Authorities across the globe depend on revenue from operations to stay alive to their responsibilities which includes construction, dredging of channels, and maintenance of Port infrastructure amongst others.
The authority held that the NPA tariff is still amongst the lowest in Africa region despite its increment.
The statement read in part; “Compelled by the exigency of bringing Nigerian Ports up to speed with those of its peers in terms of infrastructure and equipment, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has secured necessary approvals for an upward review in its tariffs which was last reviewed in the year 1993.
“The 15% upward increase which is to cut across all NPA Rates and Dues is premised on the urgent need to address the undesirable reality of aged and weak Infrastructure, obsolete equipment and slow Port capacity expansion which has continued to diminish the performance and indeed competitiveness of Nigerian Ports.
“Globally, Port Authorities depend on revenue from operations to stay alive to their responsibilities which includes construction and maintenance of Port infrastructure, dredging of channels, provision of aids for safe navigation, provision of modern marine crafts for efficient harbour services, automation and digitization of port transactions, port security, energy efficiency and training and retraining of its employees.
“The global index of Port rating and competitiveness which the international trade community relies on for its choice of countries to do business with, derives its data from how well the aforementioned responsibilities are addressed.
“Coming at this period of global economic upheaval and scramble for markets, this belated Tariff review borne out of necessity constitutes a critical success factor in Nigeria’s quest to win back cargo handling business and it’s accompanying benefits including job opportunities it had lost to it’s maritime neighbors.
“Contrary to the popular but erroneous notion that attributes high Port costs to NPA relative to its peers, verifiable data shows NPA Tariffs are amongst the lowest in the region.
“The high incidence of unreceipted costs due to unduly high human interface, bureaucratic bottlenecks, functional overlaps resulting from absence of a Port Community System (PCS) and its corollary the National Single Window (NSW) are responsible for this contrived falsehood.”