Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global trade and supply chain logistics, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has raised its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) between January and September 2021 by 120 percent.
According to documents presented by the Authority’s Acting Managing Director, Mohammed Bello Koko, to the House of Representatives Committee on Ports and Habours recently, the NPA has also reduced its operating expenses by 20 percent of its budget for this year.
In the NPA Managing Director’s presentation to the Committee, as at the end of September 2021, the Authority earned N256.28bn in IGR as against the expected N214.65bn (approved estimate N271.70bn) for the same period, representing a performance of 120% or 95% of its total annual budget for 2021.
For operating expenses, as at the end of September 2021, actual spending stood at N55.10bn as against the budgeted figure of N65.49bn, comprising employees’ benefits, pension costs, towage services, supplies, repairs & maintenance and other administrative overheads. This indicates a “savings” of N10.39bn or 85% performance of the approved budget of N87.32bn.
Furthermore, in compliance with the quarterly remittance of its operating surplus to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and provisions of the Finance Act 2020, the Authority has remitted the sum of N62.66bn to CRF for the year 2021 as at October 31, 2021, while a cumulative sum of N89.9bn has been transferred to the CRF in the last six months. At the current state of increased revenue drive, it is projected that the Authority will exceed its 2021 revenue projections and the projected transfer to the CRF for the year 2021 which is expected to be over N80bn, which would be the highest in the history of the Authority.