Business
FG Set To Evaluate Ports Concession
The Minister of Transport, Alhaji Yusuf Suleiman, said on Wednesday that the Federal Government would next week inaugurate an audit committee to evaluate the concession of ports.
Suleiman announced this when the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarders in Nigeria paid him a courtesy visit in Abuja.
He noted that the committee was not for witch-hunting, but to fine-tune ports’ activities, adding that the government had been on the process for about five years.
According to him, the Federal Government’s effort in reforming the nation’s seaport was meant for efficient service delivery at the ports.
He added that government decided to give out the ports on concession to make them operate in line with global standards.
“The Federal Government has set up an audit team to evaluate the effectiveness of the concession,” the minister said.
He added, “When government decided to give out the ports on concession, it was not because we wanted to keep them as public institutions, but we felt that it should be in line with the best global practices.
“Since 2006 when we did that, we have not been able to go back as government to assess the situation, but recently, we constituted a team that would give us an audit of what the concession had done so far.”
Earlier, the Council Chairman, Mr. Tony Nwabunike, noted that they were in his office to brief him on the activities in the freight forwarding industry.
He said that the council had so far registered the forwarders and done the verification, adding that the move was geared towards professionalism.