By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has raised the alarm on increasing extortion along the access roads of the Lagos and Tin Can Island Port Complexes, reiterating that it is going to clamp down on the actors.
In a statement, Mr Mohammed Bello-Koko, the Managing Director of the NPA, said this is coming on the heels of the clearance operations earlier carried out this month to rid the port corridor of shanties and illegal erections.
He added that those shanties and illegal erections harboured criminal elements who perpetrated acts of extortion, and the authority undertook this destruction from July 16 to 18.
“On the eve of the port corridor clearance operations carried out in collaboration with Lagos State Government earlier this month, I lamented that “these acts of extortion and allied illegalities are injurious to trade facilitation, which is our core function.
“We cannot allow these nefarious characters make nonsense of the gateways to the national economy which the ports constitute,” he said.
Mr Bello-Koko added that they had in the past, visited punitive measures on their 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 will sanction them in line with the public service rules.
“Our condition of service has zero tolerance for such malfeasance,” he said.
Mr Bello-Koko said that whilst receiving the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Idowu Owohunwa, earlier this month, his organisation enlisted the support of the police in tackling the extortion menace.
He added that he had specifically cited that “the jurisdictional rule that restricts the powers of the Port Authority Police Command (PAPC) to the Port premises was the reason they are calling for increased synergy between PAPC and officers of the Lagos State Police Command.
The NPA boss had earlier met with the leadership at various levels of the Nigerian Army, Navy, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), stressing the pressing need to nip the menace of extortion in the bud collectively.
The statement claims that under Mr Bello-Koko, NPA had completed the Tincan Island Port perimeter fencing to curb unauthorised access to the port premises.
However, there was a need to do more as most of these illegalities happen along the port access road, which is not within the NPA’s purview.
Modupe Gbadeyanka