NPA donates Agura Hotel as Isolation Centre for COVID-19 — Asks Terminal Operators to suspend demurrage charges for 21 days

The Nigerian Ports Authority as majority shareholders alongside other shareholders of the Agura Hotels, Abuja, have agreed to donate the 130-bed fully furnished hotel as isolation centre for COVID-19 in Abuja.

According to a press statement signed by Adams Jatto, the General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, NPA, the gesture was part of the agency’s social responsibility initiative aimed at supporting efforts of the Federal Government to contain the spread of the virus in Nigeria.

“The Authority encourages all Nigerians to follow all advisories issued by the National Centre for Disease Control and be confident that Nigeria shall overcome” the agency said in a terse statement.

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has called on terminal operators to suspend storage fees on consignments for initial period of twenty one days as a result of pressure on business activities across the globe owing to the raging Covid- 19.

This is according to a press release signed by Jatto Adams,
General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications of the agency and made available to our correspondent.

The Authority stated that the initiative was necessary to relieve burden on customers.

The agency added that the move is also aimed at helping to achieve the objective of the federal government’s Ease of Doing Business policy even at this critical period.

The release read, “The Nigerian Ports Authority has directed all Terminal operators to suspend all applicable terminal storage fees on consignments (demurrage) for an initial period of twenty-one days effective March 23, 2020.

“This gesture is in recognition of the pressure that the COVID-19 pandemic imposes on businesses, the responsibility imposed on the Authority to relieve this burden on its customers as well as attaining the objective of the Federal Government’s Ease of Doing Business Policy at this trying period.

“The Authority recognises the financial implications of these policies on the terminal operators and will consider a shift in our operational charges to ameliorate the situation of stakeholders.

“The NPA thanks all stakeholders for their cooperation,” the statement concluded.

Editing by ‘Biodun Soyele