Customs brokers commend NPA over access road clearance
By Seun Ibiyemi
The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello KoKo has received commendation from the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) for the uncommon initiatives that cleared the decade-long traffic gridlock that had menaced the Apapa/Tin-Can Ports access roads and undermined the ease of doing business in Nigerian ports.
Leading the largest group of Customs Brokers on a working visit to the NPA headquarters recently, the National President of ANLCA, Mr. Emenike Nwokeji, in the company of ANLCA Board Chairman, Mr. Taiwo Mustapha, lauded Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko for improving the ease of doing business at the ports with the clearance of the port access roads.
Responding, Mohammed Bello-Koko said, “Breaking the jinx of the agelong traffic gridlock that was causing huge revenue losses and reputational damage to our dear country Nigeria was a product of our relentless commitment to doing what is right by entering into open-minded collaborations with the Lagos State Government and relevant stakeholders.”
Reiterating the Authority’s commitment to enhancing ease of doing business and deepening Nigeria’s balance of trade through promotion of exports, Bello KoKo added, “We are committed to fulfilling the priorities as enunciated in the Presidential/Ministerial Performance Bond which we signed and to sustain the sanity on the Port access which has resulted in the unprecedented increase in export numbers.
“We have developed a Service Level Agreement (SLA) for cargo evacuation which we would be implementing with renewed vigour going forward to sustain the growth in exports in order to achieve the national trade surplus required to grow the domestic economy.”
Recall that the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its foreign trade report for the first quarter of 2024 highlighted that Nigeria recorded a N6.5 trillion trade surplus between January and March of 2024. The NBS detailed that Nigeria’s exports totalled N19.1 trillion and total imports stood at N12.6 trillion — indicating a trade surplus of N6.5 trillion.
A trade surplus is an economic indicator of a positive trade balance in which the exports of a nation outweigh the country’s imports.
