NPA fails to review port concession agreement three months after

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has failed to meet its self-imposed three-month deadline for the review of port concession agreements it signed with private terminal operators at the nation’s seaports.

NPA Managing Director, Hadiza Bala-Usman, while presenting a paper with the topic “Ports Governance Models – Our Experience” at a regional conference of the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) on Tuesday September 18, 2018 in Abuja, had said that the organization would complete the review of ports concessioning agreement “within the next three months”.

She had said at the time that NPA was meeting with terminal operators to get their inputs on the review of the 12-year old agreement.

“We have an inter-agency which has all the agencies of government that are part of the concessioning process.

“Also included in the review of the concession process are the Office of the Attorney-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Transportation, NPA and technical support from the World Bank.

“Nigeria should expect a supplementary agreement that will be signed with the concessionaires,” the NPA MD had explained then.

However, almost four months after setting the three-month deadline, NPA is yet to deliver on its promise to review the port concession agreement.

It will be recalled that stakeholders, including the terminal operators who have invested over N200bn at the ports, have clamoured for a review of the agreement, to address identified loopholes and enhance port operations. The revised concession agreement is expected to, among others, review the guaranteed minimum tonnage clause, which has been a major challenge facing terminal operators.