Amaechi Inaugurates NPA, NIMASA Board Members, Charged Them To Improve Trade Facilitation And Sea Port Management

Today the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi today Thursday, 21 May 2020 inaugurated members of the board of Nigerian Port Authority(NPA) and has called for the harmonious working relationship amongst Members of the Board of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Management of both agencies in order to promote security as well as economic activities in the maritime sector.

The Minister who made the call today while inaugurating the two boards at the Federal Ministry of Transportation’s Headquarters, Abuja, enjoined the Members of the Board to realize they are not Management and must find a way to work harmoniously with them.

He reiterated that as Members of the Board, their duty is to make policies while the Management executes them.

Furthermore, in reference to the coronavirus pandemic, the Minister says: “We are in unusual times but we can’t afford to shut our seaports. The activities must continue so that the trade can take place so that the people can feed.” He further, directed the board members to fashion out ways on how to move forward with the issues of trade facilitation and seaport management.

Responding on behalf of the Members of NPA Board, the Chairman Chief Akin Ricketts, noted that the major issue is the congestion of the ports with the Eastern ports being underutilized and the inefficiency of the Lagos ports occasioned by inadequate evacuation corridors. He assured that the Board would work with all the relevant stakeholders with a view to ameliorating the suffering of port users.

In his charge to the NIMASA Members of Board, the Minister disclosed that he is particularly interested in making sure that the Deep Blue project which took the Federal Government about three years to approve succeeds, as it is geared towards addressing high incidences of kidnapping at sea as well as boost the economic base of the country.

Also, responding on behalf of the NIMASA Board Members, the Chairman, Honourable Asita, while expressing concern over the spate of insecurities in the Nigerian maritime waterways, assured that the Board will work assiduously to curtail the menace which this trend poses to the economy.

It may be recalled that the Boards which were appointed on February 10, 2020, could not be immediately inaugurated due to the onset of the coronavirus.

Nigeria Port Authority, NPA Board Members 2020:

a)       Chief Akin Ricketts                                          Chairman

b)      Muhammed Koko                                            Executive Director

c)       Prof. Idris Abdulkadir                                      Executive Director

d)      Onari Brown                                                       Executive Director

e)      Ghazali Muhammed                                       Member

f)        Sen. Binta Masi Garba                                    Member

g)       Alh. Mustapha Aminu Dutse                        Member

h)      Abduwahab Adeshina                                    Member

Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency NIMASA, 2020

         i.            Hon Asita                                                 Chairman

       ii.            Bashir Jimoh                                            Director-General

     iii.            Victor Ochei                                             Exec. Director (Cabotage)

     iv.            Chudi Offordile                           Exec. Director (Admin. & Finance)

       v.            Shehu Ahmed                            Exec. Director (Operations)

     vi.            Adekola Adefemi                                             Member

    vii.            Muhammed D. Abubakar                             Member

  viii.            Hassan Rasq Mahmud                                    Member