Between January and September 2021, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) attained N256.28billion revenue as against the expected N214.65billion.
Acting Managing Director of NPA, Mohammed Bello Koko, in documents presented to the House of Representatives Committee on Ports and Habours revealed that, as at the end of September 2021, the NPA has actually cut down its operating costs by N10.39Billion, which is about 85% performance of the approved budget of N87.32bn.
He explained to the Committee that, actual spending was reduced to N55.10bn from the budgeted figure of N65.49bn, comprising employees’ benefits, pension costs, towage services, supplies, repairs & maintenance and other administrative overheads.
Furthermore, in compliance with the quarterly remittance of its operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and provisions of the Finance Act 2020, the Authority said it has remitted the sum of N62.66b to CRF for the year 2021 as at October 31, 2021, while a cumulative sum of N89.9bn has been transferred to the CRF in the last six months.
At the current state of increased revenue drive, it is projected that the Authority will exceed its 2021 revenue projections and the projected transfer to the CRF for the year 2021 which is expected to be over N80bn, “which would be the highest in the history of the Authority”.
The NPA’s helmsman also informed the House Committee that contrary to news reports insinuating that Nigerian ports are the most expensive in the sub-region, a study commissioned by the Authority with the support of UKAid in 2019, actually revealed that it is cheaper for general and container vessels to berth in Nigeria than in Ghana or Togo.
He explained that a huge chunk of what cargo owners spend to clear their consignments are expended on terminal and freight charges which are paid to terminal operators and shipping companies. Others are: Payments for customs duty, inspection services, haulage, insurance and other sundry trade levies and fees. These costs are not such that NPA could interfere with because they are outside the purview of the Authority.
To justify the competitiveness of Nigerian port costs, Bello Koko explained that, apart from towage dues which were reviewed in 2015, Port tariffs in Nigeria have remained the same since 1993.
A statement explained that the IT platforms that are currently in use by the NPA and which have positively enhanced the Authority’s performances are:
• Oracle Financials and Human Resources Planning
• Enterprise Resource Planning ERP
• Revenue & Invoicing Management System (RIMS)
• e-Ship Entry Notice (e-SEN)
• customs portal for online submission of bills
• Hyperion budgeting
• 3CI (Command, Control and Communication & Intelligence)
• Truck Call-Up Access Control
• Harbours System Linked with the 3CI for harmonization of vessel operations
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