EXCLUSIVE: Minister Of Blue Economy,NPA MD,NIIMASA DG,Others To Grace NPCC Quarterly Meeting In Lagos

EXCLUSIVE:
Minister Of Blue Economy,NPA MD,NIIMASA DG,Others To Grace NPCC Quarterly Meeting In Lagos

Minister Of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola

By Frank Odinukaeze

The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy,Honourable Adegboyega Oyetola,will lead other eminent dignitaries at the Second quarterly meeting of the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council ( NPCC),scheduled for Tuesday ,July 23, 2024 at the Federal Palace Hotel , Victoria Island Lagos.

The Quarterly Meeting is a forum where stakeholders,captains of industry , government agencies and others converge to engage in robust discussions on the way forward for the industry ; review ,assess and proffer solutions to the challenges in port operations and the industry at large.
” We’ve invited all the major authorities , the stakeholders and extended invitations to our Minister and am sure he will honour us and be there. The major house Committees, and other stakeholders within the industry, the Police, the Navy and all others have been invited. So we are expecting to have a full house for a robust meeting” Sunmola informed.
Recall that the NPCC first Quarterly Meeting for the year ,which saw the election of a new chairman of the Council , Mr Bolaji Sunmola emerge,after the death of the former chairman ,late Otunba Kunle Folarin,took place on January 25 ,2004.
In an interview with the Chairman of the Council,Mr.Bolaji Sunmola,shortly after a meeting of the Council in Lagos, Mr Sunmola said the meeting deliberated mostly on issues bothering on port operations,logistics ,port organisation,and efficiency.
” We had major discussions and issues pertaining to Port operations, Organizing our Port, and Port Efficiency. “These are majorly what we have discussed here today. And that is what PCC stands for, and you can see we have put in place a Small Ad-hoc committee to address some of the pressing issues that are there, which involve traveling outside Lagos. We are serious about the issue of our Port Efficiency and taking the part to the next level by the Nigerian Port Consultative Council ,and that is my goal” Sunmola said.
He said the Quarterly Meeting would dwell more on the single window operation,which he noted that Nigeria is the only country in the World that has not fully operationalised the single window program,and this ,according to him is very disturbing.
” The single window issue is Very very disturbing .I think it’s going to six months now that we heard about the committee being in place and later we heard that the start up has been domiciled with the Nigerian Customs and we’ve not heard anything again after that.
“So the PCC wants to go into this and write to all that are involved to ensure that this commences. We are going to get so deep into this and this will be the talking point of the Quarterly Meeting.
“As a matter of fact,we are going to write the Nigeria Customs Service to present a paper on this single window issue” NPCC chairman affirmed.
He gave further insights as to what will transpire at the Second Quarterly Meeting
He said,”We want to showcase what has transpired since we met in January in terms of Port Operations and be able to meet the threshold that has been set, the NPA has their threshold, NIMASA and Shippers Council too. All the stakeholders have issues to discuss and we expect them to give us reports and be able to look at the Problems together and find solutions”