Despite all arrangement put in place by the government to address the multi-million-naira extortion at the Lagos ports, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has raised the alarm on increasing extortion along the access roads of the Apapa and Tin Can Island Port complexes.
This is coming on the heels of the clearance operations the authority and the Lagos State Government undertook from July 16 to 18 to rid the port corridors of shanties and illegal erections, which harbor the criminal elements.
Recall that the Port Standing Task Team (PSTT) recently claimed that it reduced all forms of alleged official impunities, abuse of power, extortion and other suspected sharp practices along port corridors.
An estimated N900 million is lost daily by shippers, truckers and clearing agents to arbitrary charges and extortion at various checkpoints at the port corridors mounted by state and non-state actors.
The NPA’s investigation identified flash points of extortion ranging from N500 to as high as N5,000.
The Managing Director, NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, lamented that the acts of extortion and allied illegalities are injurious to trade facilitation, which is the authority’s core function.
He said the authority could not allow the nefarious characters to make nonsense of the gateways to the national economy, which the ports constitute.
Bello-Koko said the authority had, in the past, imposed punitive measures on its staff who were complicit in such unethical practices.
“I want to reiterate that once we are confronted with evidence of any of our staff involved in these acts of sabotage, we would sanction them in line with the public service rules and our conditions of service which have zero tolerance for such malfeasance,” he stated.
Bello-Koko, while receiving the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, earlier this month at the NPA Headquarters, enlisted the support of the police in tackling the extortion menace.
He had specifically cited that the jurisdictional rule that restricts the powers of the Port Authority Police Command (PAPC) to the port premises, is the more reason why NPA is calling for increased synergy between PAPC and officers of the Lagos State Police Command.
The NPA had earlier met with the leadership at various levels of the Nigerian Army, the Navy, the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC) and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), stressing the pressing need to collectively nip the menace of extortion in the bud.
Bello-Koko said the authority had completed the perimeter fencing of the Tincan Island Port to curb unauthorised access to the port premises, noting that the sanity achieved by this measure is localised within the ports.
He said the majority of these illegalities happen along the port access road, which is not within the NPA’s purview.
He, however, solicited the collaboration of sister government agencies operating along the port corridor to sustainably tackle this menace that is impeding the ease of doing business around our ports.
