Business
Port Operation: Stakeholders Seek Review Of Concession Agreement
Following the perceived failure of the concessionaires, the Federal Government has been urged to review the concession of the nation’s sea ports and adopt Ghana model on ports privatisation.
The former National Trustee of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Comrade Chris Mbonu who made the call in an interview with The Tide on Monday in Port Harcourt argued that this is the only way the federal government could address the challenges facing the management of the nation’s seaports since they were handed over to the concessionaires in the wake of the port reforms.
According to him, the port concession, which was supervised by the Bureau for Public Enterprise (BPE) seven years ago, divested the management of the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) of cargo handling, which cost over 10,000 workers their jobs.
He maintained that it was imperative for the Federal Government to consider adopting the Ghana model of privatisation ahead of the enactment of the legal framework by the National Assembly. He noted that the Ghana model has not only built confidence and created wealth but has also generated employment for Ghanaians.
The Nigerian port programme, he said, should be looked into especially now that a proper legal framework is yet to be put in place, so as to accommodate the areas of deficiency as it affects confidence building, wealth creation and employment generation in line with Section 7 (c) of No 38 of NPA Act, 1999.
He said that the Nigeria Port Act 38 of 1999 has a similar provision of port modernisation concept that can accommodate the confidence building mechanism, creation of wealth and generation of employment like that of Ghana.