Vincent Toritseju
Lagos — THE management of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, and Renner & Renner Consulting last week resolved to reposition the Nigerian ports with a view to growing its capacity, efficiency, safety and accountability.
Speaking at a recently concluded retreat for its management staff, Acting Managing Director of the agency, Mr. Mohammed Bello Koko disclosed that the authority is currently poised to creating and sustaining competitive advantage by offering best –in class Port operations, saying that the event was designed to strategise and craft smart actionable steps.
This, according to him, is with view to ensuring growth, competitiveness and future readiness of the nation’s seaport systems, which he described as germane.
He further disclosed that as part of efforts to position the agency towards greater efficiency, safety and accountability, the management has outlined factors that would enhance such prospects as well as capacity to garner greater market share; which include infrastructural renewal and expansion, the introduction of barge operations and the automation of truck transit through the electronic call up system.
Others include improvement in the sources of revenue and collection, plugging income leakages and reducing overhead costs, elimination of monopolistic conduct, formulation and implementation of policies aimed at incentivize patronage of the Eastern Ports and encouraging competition.
The management is also keeping up with the dictates of Consolidated Revenue (Fund) and Fiscal Responsibility Act, compliance with international best practice, elimination of red tape, boosting workers’ morale and capacity building, among others.
The NPA boss also disclosed that these initiatives have laid the groundwork for some milestones with great potential for more as some of the reforms continue to transform into success evidenced by improved cargo throughput and revenue growth.
He said: “Because excellence is a moving target, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels, we must redouble our commitment to continuous improvement as an organisational culture. Surpassing internal and external stakeholders’ expectations, which constitute a cardinal objective of this management, will require your unalloyed support as heads of directorates, divisions, locations, departments, Port sections and units.
I therefore expect that this retreat churns out specific, realistic, measurable, achievable and time-bound goals and objectives by which we would be benchmarking ourselves into the next five years.
“The Authority’s vision of becoming the leading Port in Africa is achievable, but we must never forget the seminal words of organisational behaviours expert, Professor Lee Bolman that a vision without strategy remains an illusion. I say this to underscore the importance of this retreat.
The last time an event of this magnitude was held to chart a new direction for the Authority was over a decade ago where our present vision, mission and core values were crafted.
“We must therefore go beyond rhetoric to churn out implementable strategies aimed at making us equal to the exigencies of the very competitive edge and sector that we operate in”
Similarly, the Country Manager for Renner & Renner, facilitator of the Retreat, Ibby Iyama, said that the Nigerian ports have lost so much cargoes and revenue to port of neighbouring countries because of the absence of a system.
Iyalla said that NPA cannot continue to do the things the way they are used because, it is not sustainable, and something has to give way.
She stated: If we put a system a place, NPA would have been ISO certified. People are placing emphasis on buying infrastructures, people do not place emphasis on training, people not place emphasis on processes, people are the most important resource any organization can have”.
