The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Malam Habib Abdullahi has applauded the contribution of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE) while stating that the port concession is a huge success.
The Managing Director gave this commendation when the Director General of the Bureau of Public Enterprise (BPE), Mr. Benjamin Dikki, paid him a courtesy call in his office at the NPA headquarters in Marina.
Malam Habib stated that while the port concession has brought about efficiency in the port, it has also curbed excess beaurecracy and provided the opportunity the Nigerian Ports to improve its assets and facilities.
He explained that as a result of the concession, the depths of our channels have been deepened, and port operations have greatly improved.
In addition the MD said, more employment opportunities have been created by the terminal operators. He invited the Director General of BPE to visit the ports in order to appreciate the level of development done.
Earlier, in his statement, the Director General of BPE had commended the commitment of the NPA towards monitoring of the concession programme in a bid to ensuring that its objectives are met.
He affirmed that as a technical regulator, NPA had done well while appreciating the efforts of the authority in also carrying out commercial regulation even though the legal backing to enforce rules has not been put in place.
He explained that as soon as the Ports and Harbours bill is put in place, the economic regulator will play its role. He emphasized the need for NPA and BPE to continue to collaborate on the technicalities, in order to proffer solutions to issues that arise from time to time.
Present at the meeting were the Executive Directive Finance and Administration, NPA, Mr. Olumide Oduntan, and Mr. Buhari Shamaki, Special Assistant to the Managing Director, while the BPE had Director, Post Privatisation Monitoring. Ibrahim Muhammad Kashim and the Project Manager Marine Transport, Audu Uba Mohammed.
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Press Release, November 18, 2013