The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said a total of 1,992 ships, with an aggregate Gross Registered Tonnage (GRT) of 60.2 million tons called at the nation’s port in the first half of 2022.
Managing Director of NPA, Muhammed Bello-Koko who disclosed this in the authority’s half year report, also said that the authority achieved total cargo throughput of 38,672,392 metric tonnes and 849,175 TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of container traffic while 132,543 units of imported vehicles passed through the ports during the period under review.
“Also, the average turn-around-time (TAT) of vessels, indicating port efficiency, stood at 5.16days. This is an improvement and we are strategising to perform better in the second half of the year,” he said.
The NPA boss also disclosed that the authority generated a revenue of N172.28billion from its operation within the review period while it remitted N78.49billion to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) account.
Giving a breakdown of the money remitted, Bello-Koko said, “A breakdown of the figure indicates that N50,255,925,779.20 represents cash remittances, the compulsory deduction of 25% of revenue generated and other sundry payments for the absolute period of January-June 2022.”
He added that the remaining sum of N28,241,041,083.00 relates to the remittance concerning other periods.”
Bello-Koko described the performance of the authority as encouraging amidst global economic and inflation crises.
According to him: “Global economic and inflation crises, global reduction in household incomes and purchasing power and scarcity of foreign exchange all of which has negatively affected business environment, affected government revenue and constrained expenditure.
“In the face of these harsh macro-economic indices, the NPA has forged on to deliver port and harbour services to the teeming operators in the export and import businesses across the country.”
Bello-Koko said that it was important to note that “Port remains the gateway of the national economy, and thus represents the barometer by which we measure the pulse of the economy.
He assured that the authority remained committed to providing improved services to increase efficiency at the nation’s ports.
