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By Sunday Ani
Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello Koko, has warned against the illegal stripping of containers on the port access road, stressing that NPA would deal decisively with perpetrators.
Koko stated this when he paid an unscheduled visit to the Tincan Island Port, where he inspected the designated container stripping yards and the port access roads to ensure trucks are not loitering.
He warned that truckers caught in the act could be delisted from the Electronic Call-up System (eto) platform managed by the Truck Transit Park (TTP) Limited.
He said NPA has rolled out Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for barge operators, and that the SOP would serve as a guideline to all operators.
On concerns surrounding container stripping, also known as devanning, Koko emphasised that stripping constitutes a menace when undertaken outside the designated yards, as it provides a platform for trucks loitering around the ports access roads, which results in traffic disruptions and its attendant chaos.
He said the NPA would intensify its vigilance and monitoring to nip the negative trend in the bud.
Addressing the scarcity in some of the stripping yards, the managing director acknowledged the impact of global economic upheavals on cargo flow and reiterated that low business downturn could not constitute a justification for illegality.
He revealed that proposals for well-equipped stripping yards, referred to as devanning yards, were receiving accelerated attention, signalling a shift from illegal roadside stripping.
Regarding the sustainability of the measures, he said the NPA had collaborated with other government agencies and the Lagos State government to ensure such unhealthy practices no longer take place on the port access road
He, however, stressed that such unannounced visits would become more frequent, and would be followed by regular stakeholders’ engagements to continuously improve the seamless operations of the eto platform.
He also warned that stripping yards that violate the operational rules would face temporal shutdowns for the first time offenders, and the possibility of non-renewal of land leases, for recalcitrant offenders.
He said the foregoing stringent measures were geared towards maintaining orderliness and safety within the port environment.
