.By Victor Ahiuma-Young
SENIOR Staff Association of Communications, Transport and Corporations, SSACTAC, has petitioned President Jonathan, alerting him of how a few privileged, greedy and unpatriotic Nigerians are acquiring land and other assets belonging to the Nigerian Ports Authority principally at the East Mole and Tarkwa Bay areas of Lagos State.

This came even as the body has called on the President to exclude NPA from the Procurement Act, saying the Act posses a grave danger to the organisation in its bid to meet its obligations to the concessionqires and other Port users.

IN a petition by SSACTAC’s President-General and General Secretary, Comrades L. A. Adesunkanmi and Chile Ekeke, respectively, the association said: “It has come to our notice that a few privileged but otherwise greedy and unpatriotic citizens of Nigeria are engaged in the heinous activity of acquiring land belonging to the Nigerian Ports Authority principally at the East Mole and Tarkwa Bay areas of Lagos State respectively.

“Such acts need to be checked urgently before they foreclose any further development of the Lagos Ports which are still expected, given the increasing maritime activities in Nigeria and the Economic Community of West Africa States, ECOWAS, region to meet the enviable infrastructural standards of the Port of Alexandria in Egypt which sits on both sides of the Nile estuary.

It is therefore our prayers that all such sales be revoked immediately and the properties, reverted back to the Nigerian Ports Authority to enable it meet its future developmental needs as envisaged in its plans.”
On Procurement Act, SSACTAC said:

“The current Procurement Act as it affects the Nigerian Ports Authority poses grave circumstances to the organisation in its bid to meet its obligations to the concessionaires and other Port users. It has led to delays in maintenance of the necessary infrastructures in the Ports especially in the Tin Can, Lagos and Warri Ports leading to delays in service delivery which in effect contribute to congestion at the Ports.

“In order to halt this ugly trend in the operations of the gateway to our national economy, the Nigerian Ports Authority, we as the recognised trade union body organising senior workers in the Authority advise an urgent review of the current Procurement Act with the immediate upgrading of the NPA as an essential service provider.

It will indeed be more beneficial to all genuine stakeholders as it will enhance development in the Ports if the relevant Federal Government authorities allow the Nigerian Ports Authority operate the same Procurement policy as other operators of essential services in the country which includes the Armed Forces, the Police and a host of others.”