The Nigerian government is making efforts to plug all revenue leakages in the operations of the nation’s ports, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority, Hadiza Usman, said on Friday.
She made the remark during a tour of the ports in Port Harcourt and Onne in Rivers State, southern Nigeria.
According to the managing director, the era of operational lapses at the expense of revenue due to the government is over.
It was her first official visit to the sea port in Onne and she met with the members of the executives for an operational and assessment tour of the two sea ports.
In a separate meeting with members of the executives at Onne Port, the manager of the port, Mr Alhassan Abubakar, rolled out the challenges faced by personnel especially in the area of welfare.
Ms Hadiza Usman assured them that welfare of staff was a priority for her administration.
She told Channels Television that steps had been taken to ensure all revenue leakages were blocked and duly paid to the consolidated revenue account.
“One of the things we are doing in Onne Port is to ensure that all revenue due to the Federal Government is duly paid. We have developed a payment system that will guard against leakages,” she explained.
The General Manager of eastern ports of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Abdullahi Goje, hinted that the port was sitting on a land area of over 2,539 hectares and still expanding and was home of the nation’s oil and gas free zone, regarded as the fastest growing in Sub-Saharan Africa, with over 200 companies operating within the port.
At the end of the tour, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Ports Authority addressed journalists on the need to review the lease and concession agreements with operators to ensure the area is put to maximum use for the benefit of business and the economy.