STOAN Urges NPA To Regulate Human Traffic At Seaports

The Seaports Terminal Operators of Nigeria (STOAN) has called on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to beef up security and regulate the movement of people in and around the port.
This followed last month’s attacks on the NPA headquarters by miscreants who hijacked the EndSARS protests in Lagos State.
STOAN made the call in a statement, shortly after a visit to the NPA management, recently.
Speaking during the visit, Managing Director of PTML Terminal, Ascanio Russo, said the situation at Tin Can Island was still very precarious, as there were too many people walking around the port without a clear-cut mission.
“We appeal to the NPA to look into this and check every movement of persons to the seaports”.
He assured the NPA management that STOAN would support by replacing some of the items lost to the recent attacks by suspected hoodlums.
Also speaking, Chairman, STOAN, Princess Vicky Haastrup, described the attack as sad to the maritime industry.
“We are most saddened by what we have seen. It’s actually beyond anybody’s comprehension that so much carnage and destruction could be done to a government property, particularly NPA.
“I can imagine what the NPA management has gone through. It must be a very difficult and sad period for you because you put together so much and then some hooligans somewhere can just come and carry out this level of damage to the property.
“We sympathise with you and that is why we all decided that we want to pay you a courtesy visit to let you know that we are with you and we are equally very sad because this is a government establishment where we all benefit from and are a part of and as well enjoy support with your team of management.
“We will do all we can, within our power to support you. I have the assurances of my colleagues that we will support you. We are not going to wait for insurance. We have come and we have seen the level of damage. This is the time we need to support the NPA. They have always had our back and this is the time we need to have their back”, Haastrup said.
Earlier, the Managing Director of NPA Hadiza Bala Usman, had said NPA was going through a difficult period but assured that the Authority would remain resilient.
“We are keen to bounce back and we have commenced work. Luckily, our IT infrastructure was not damaged.
“We have insurance cover for literally everything, so we are trying to recover as much as we can through our insurance process to see how we can replace some of our equipment within the shortest possible period so that we can get back to work. It is a tough period for us but we will remain resilient and we will continue with our work”, he assured.
Usman promised to liaise with the Lagos State Government to dislodge miscreants loitering around the Tin Can Island Port Complex to avoid future occurrence.

By: Chinedu Wosu