By Adaku Walter
Belgium has expressed its willingness to partner the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in its quest to develop and modernize the country’s seaports to make them more efficient and user-friendly.
Speaking during a one-day working visit to the Marina, Lagos corporate headquarters of the NPA, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Nigeria, Daniel Bertrand, said he was pleased with the recent reforms being carried out by the management of the authority at the seaports, which have tremendously enhanced efficiency.
Recall that the current management of NPA had intensified efforts to automate the port systems, improve traffic flow in and out of the ports as well as the introduction of multimodal transport system in the movement of cargo through the use of barges to move laden and empty containers to enhance speed.
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The Managing Director of NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, who was on ground to accord a warm reception to the Ambassador, assured that the management, under his watch, is poised to transforming Nigeria’s port system to make the seaports globally competitive.
Bello-Koko also assured the visiting Ambassador that the authority and the Federal Government are open to partnerships and synergies towards developing the seaports, arguing that no man can possibly be an island unto himself.
It is on record that Port of Antwerp, Europe’s second largest seaport after Rotterdam, is one of the most efficient seaports in the world and is owned by the Kingdom of Belgium. Nigeria’s landlord port model adopted after the port reform programme in 2006 is fashioned after that of the Antwerp Port.
