National Maritime Transport Policy would support local content development - Hadiza

Segun Oladipupo |

The Managing Director (MD) of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala Usman has said that the National Maritime Transport Policy has the potency to unlocking the huge potentials and vast opportunities in the nation’s blue economy.

This is contained in a press statement made available to the public by Ibrahim Nasiru, Assistant General Manager
Corporate and Strategic Communications of NPA.

In the statement, Hadiza stated that the National Maritime Transport Policy would support local content development, create good value jobs and attract high impacting direct foreign investments within the context of the Federal Government’s Economic Growth and Sustainability agenda.

She said “We look forward to a policy with clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) that would guide our various operations, that would be strengthened by critical legal framework and legislation from the National Assembly”

“The policy should engender a competitive maritime domain with clear rules on institutional governance, service capacity and accountability.”

The MD of the apex maritime agency who was one of the parastatal heads in attendance during the stakeholders’ validation workshop hosted by the Federal Ministry of Transportation, called for greater synergy and collaboration between the public and private sector stakeholders to advance the interest of the maritime industry in Nigeria.

On the recently launched Electronic Call–Up System for Trucks, ETO, by the Authority, Hadiza said: “The web application would control the movement of trucks in and out of the ports in an orderly and safe manner, on a first-come, first-served basis.

She listed some of the benefits that would accrue to the sector and the country to include, quick truck turnaround time, reduction in port cost, transparent traffic management system and above all, a business-friendly and globally competitive port system in Nigeria