By Moses Ebosele, ebosele@hotmail.com –
Gradually, Hadiza Bala Usman has consolidated her role as Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
At the outset of her assumption of office, not many believed that she had the capacity to pilot the affairs of the strategic agency.
Indeed, immediately the appointment was made public in July, 2016, there were arguments for and against.
But, Bala-Usman kept the ball rolling. She announced repeatedly her resolve to stand firm, put Nigeria first, encourage transparency, boost productivity and improved welfare of staff on a sustainable basis.
To demonstrate her resolve to do things differently and in a transparent manner, Bala-Usman signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with BudgIT, an information technology network firm to provide Nigerians with all the necessary information during its budget preparation and implementation.
Under the arrangement, the MoU will assist NPA in promoting transparency and accountability in all its operations.
According to the MD, the partnership became necessary for the development of an open budget system platform and implementation of a public data dissemination programme that would help the agency in blocking revenue leakages thereby boosting revenue profile.
Also within the first few months in office, Bala-Usman unveiled the harmonised Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and Port Service Support Portal (PSSP) designed to stem corrupt practices and ensure a user-friendly seaport.
The SOP is a collation of operational procedures of all maritime government agencies, shipping companies, terminal operators, freight forwarders, associations and other stakeholders.
Meanwhile, the PSSP is a complaint management portal for operators to lodge complaints if any agency fails to follow the SOP.
To follow through the process, Bala-Usman took time out to visit all seaport locations as part of measures to ascertain challenges confronting the workers in the discharge of their responsibilities.
Speaking on Saturday in Lagos at a ceremony to mark the 2017 long service award, Bala-Usman commended all staff for their contributions and dedications.
The MD added: “On behalf of management, I want to thank you, our colleagues for keeping faith with us. While we are not at that place where we hope to be, we certainly are not where we started from. So, I take the opportunity that this rare event presents to commend you for your commitment to service and all the sacrifices that you have all had to make.
“Someone said that the reward for hard work is more work. At the NPA, we know that this is not the exact situation. There is of course always more work for us because we want to improve on our last performance, never resting on our oars, but can also assure you that welfare will continue to be of utmost priority to us.
“In the coming year, we assure that we will do our best to improve the condition of service of staff and raise the morale of our people”.
One major test which confronted the Bala-Usman led administration in the outgoing year was the face-off with Intels.
In responding to the crisis, the Bala-Usman led management team reinterated resolved to “put Nigeria first and ensure level playing field for all operators”.
Also within the outgoing year, the Managing Director campaigned vigorously for improved infrastructure such as ports access roads.
In partnership with firms operating at the ports, NPA deployed resources for road construction, ensure detail implementation of the ease of doing business as directed by the Federal Government.
In a chat with City BusinessNews (www.citybusinessnews.com) at the weekend, an economist and maritime expert, Matthew R. Otoide, commended Bala-Usman “for the success recorded in a very short time”.
