Terminal operators back review of port concession agreement

Port terminal operators in charge of cargo handling at the nation’s seaport have thrown their weight behind the move by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to review the port concession agreement signed with the Federal Government in 2006. 

Vicky Haastrup, chairman, Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN) said on a live national television broadcast on Thursday that terminal operators are proud of their investments at the port, which have resulted to the modernisation of the various terminals they run.

According to her, port concession agreement provides for periodic review, which is long overdue. “Despite daunting challenges, terminal operators have succeeded in raising the ante of port operation in the country, a position which was corroborated by the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman, who also featured in the television programme.

“We have developed the ports, we are fully equipped and we have been able to make money for the Nigerian government because we do the job and in the concession agreement, there is the payment of lease fee, there is even the payment of royalty, whereby NPA gets a portion of the money we make. That is a very good agreement because we do the job and government makes a lot of money from us, which is really good for both sides,” she said. 

“A lot of developments have been carried out. Dockworkers’ problems have also become a thing of the past. Like in other countries of the world; they are usually very violent in nature and we have been able to take care of their welfare, they have been adequately taken care of.

Bala Usman, while speaking on the programme said, “Our port concessioning has been a success story; we need to acknowledge that the landlord model put in place over the last 11 years has been successful.

“We are working to review the concession agreement as we’ve said. Both of us (NPA and operators) are in agreement on the need to review the concession agreement, and we are working to do that in 2017.

“The revenues that are being raised by these terminal operators are beyond what the NPA was raising when it was operating the terminal. So, concession is a success story but there are areas that need to be addressed,” she said.

Uzoamaka Anagor-Ewuzie