Three months after appointing the governing boards of the Nigerian Ports Authority and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, the Federal Government on Friday inaugurated the boards.
While inaugurating the boards of the two government agencies, the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, called for harmonious working relationship among its members.
He advised further that members of the boards should work in harmony with management of the agencies towards promoting security and economic activities in the maritime sector.
Amaechi enjoined members of the boards of both agencies to bear in mind that they were not management of the agencies and so must find a way to work well with the managements, adding that their duties were to make policies while the managements would execute them.
Speaking about the coronavirus pandemic, the minister said, “We are in unusual times but we can’t afford to shut our seaports. The activities must continue so that the trade can take place and the people can feed.”
He further directed the board members to fashion out ways to move forward with the issues of trade facilitation and seaport management.
Responding on behalf of the members of the NPA board, the Chairman, Chief Akin Ricketts, noted that the major issue was the congestion of the ports with the eastern ports being underutilised as well as the inefficiency of the Lagos ports, occasioned by inadequate evacuation corridors.
