NPA Rakes In N191bn Revenue In Six Months
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has said 1,852 vessels completed operations in the first half of 2023.
The authority said it generated N191.4bn as revenue within the period under review.
It added that N55.7bn was remitted to the consolidated revenue fund.
These disclosures were contained in the half-year 2023 performance reports released by the Managing Director of NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko.
Bello-Koko also said that going by the current momentum and recurrent trend of shipping volumes peaking from July to December, the authority was protecting over N500bn revenue by the end of the year 2023.
He said, “The Authority has completed operations on a total number of 1,851 vessels for the 1st half of 2023 with a combined gross registered tonnage of 57,870,083.
“Cargo throughput for the period under review stood at 33,895,784 metric tonnes, while container traffic was 707,985, 20-foot equivalent units.”
Bello-Koko said given the existential economic headwinds both at the micro and macro levels, these operational statistics for the first six months were reassuring.
He added that they catalysed the commendable remittances to the CRF of the Federal Government so far.
“Viewed within the context of current global economic upheavals which have affected trade volumes in all climes, our current growth trajectory is encouraging and gives us confidence to project a revenue growth of over N500bn with concomitant increase in remittance to CRF by end-of-year 2023, given that shipping activities peak around the second half of the year,’’ he said.
The NPA boss said the smart policy thrust of the new administration which was already throwing up new vistas of growth, further lent credence to the feasibility of the authority’s projections.
“The operationalisation of Lekki Deep Seaport, expected restoration of the service boat management contract, digitalisation and intensified tightening of collections mechanisms buoys our confidence at meeting and indeed exceeding the revenue projections,” Bello-Koko added.
He said the key indicator of port efficiency which was the average turn-around-time of vessels, stood at 5.16 days within the period under review.
