By RICHARDS ADENIYI
THE Nigerian Ports Authority has so far registered and certified a total of 1,500 trucks in its recent efforts to enforce minimum standard for trucks operating at the nation’s ports.
This was disclosed by the General Manager, Western Ports of NPA, High Chief Michael Ajayi. The NPA GM who has reached out to the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), appealed to the associations to help sensitize their members and solicit their cooperation in order to achieve the objective of the exercise. He made the appeal when he visited the headquarters of both associations in Lagos yesterday.
The truck certification exercise, which commenced on February 1st, will end on February 29th. “This exercise will afford NPA the opportunity of data collation for traffic and infrastructure planning process and to prevent sharp practices like theft and to serve as security measure to prevent any threat to security in the ports in compliance with the International Ships & Ports Facility Security Code (ISPS Code).”
He also informed the agents that plan there was a plan by Dangote to construct some parts of the road leading to the ports with the support of NPA.
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In his response, the National President of ANLCA, Prince OlayiwolaShittu lamented the proliferation of touts at the port saying that the negative image often associated with clearing agents was as a result of unwanted persons loitering around the port environment unchecked.
He blamed the situation on the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders (CRFFN) whom he said deceived NPA to issue port pass to individuals registered by the council to have access to the port. “Why NPA should be issuing us annual license which we pay for if at the end of the day you don’t recognise the people you have licensed. That is the reason why there are touts in the ports,” he said.
The National President of NAGAFF, Chief Eugene Nweke who received Ajayi and his team at the NAGAFF headquarters in Apapa, appealed to NPA to prevail on truck operators to adopt uniform charges in their operations.
While commending NPA for embarking on truck certification to ensure that only roadworthy trucks are allowed into the ports, he also called for action to curtail alleged extortion by security operatives.
He also requested that further palliative measures be put in place to fix other bad portions of the access roads.