By Godfrey Bivbere

In a bid to ensure the continuous patronage of Nigerian seaports by land-locked countries, management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has concluded plans to fastrack clearance of goods designated for these countries.

Managing Director of the NPA, Omar Suleiman, who disclosed this when a delegation from the embassy of Finland recently paid him a courtesy call at the Marina Corporate Headquarters of the organisation , said a lot has already been put in place in terms of capacity to ease trans-shipment and the logistics of cargo clearing.In a press statement signed by the General Manager in charge of Public Affairs of the authority, Chief Micheal Ajayi, Suleiman was quoted to have revealed that there are ongoing efforts to ensure safety of our channels through the removal of wrecks and regular capital and maintenance dredging. He also noted that management is working on strategies to ensure the security of port channels.

The NPA helmsman pointed out that the recent drive towards “Deep Sea Port development is part of efforts being made by the management of NPA to improve capacity and ensure that the vision to be the hub in West and Central Africa is achieved. In his opening remarks, the head of the delegation Mr. Olu Raheem,while commending the rebranded NPA Journal ‘Nigerian Ports Today’ which he considered a veritable source of information, said that they were at the NPA to explore ways of collaborating with the authority to improve trade relations with Nigeria.Consequent upon this, Mr. Raheem said that a trade centre in Abuja has been opened and plans are on to open another one in Lagos being the nation’s commercial centre.The Managing Director NPA, Omar Suleiman commenting on the trade facilitation initiative by the government of Finland said that NPA was working with the Nigerian Custom Service (NCS), to ensure fast clearance of cargo through the development of the one- stop- shop cargo clearance procedure.

In addition, Suleiman said that in order to fulfil one of the protocols of the Ports Management Association of West and Central Africa, (PMAWCA), the Management of NPA is working hard to ensure the early kick-off of the ship tracking system.