NPA partners Port of Antwerp to develop manpower

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Port of Antwerp in Belgium have concluded arrangement for collaboration in the areas of manpower development for the nation’s port industry as well as the enhancement of the global transport chain.

Habib Abdullahi, managing director, NPA, and Marc Van Peel, president, Port of Antwerp, held a meeting in Lagos recently on ways of strengthening the existing cordial relationship between the two ports, according to a statement signed by Musa IIiya, assistant general manager, public affairs, NPA, which was made available to BusinessDay.

The statement further revealed that the NPA boss recalled that the Port of Antwerp, which was where Nigerian port adopted the current landlord model of its concession regime, played a vital role at the beginning of the nation’s port reform, saying the current partnership between the two ports would afford NPA the opportunity to consolidate the gains of eight years’ relationship with Port of Antwerp.

Being one of the biggest ports in the world, Abdullahi said the NPA would explore its existing relationship with Port of Antwerp to build manpower for the nation’s port.

While commending the training programmes run by the APEC, the Port of Antwerp Training School, he noted that several officers of the authority had in the past benefitted from the school’s rich training programme.

On his part, Peel expressed satisfaction with the level of activities in the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) eight years into the concession regime. He was also confident that new collaboration between the two ports would be of immense mutual benefits for the both.

The port delegation is part of a 60-man Belgian trade mission to Nigeria under the auspices of the Embassy of the Kingdom of Belgium.