Eromosele Abiodun
The National Assembly yesterday in Lagos pledged its support to the management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in its efforts to rebuild the damaged NPA infrastructures from recent attack and vandalism by hoodlums.
Speaking during a visit by the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committees on Ports and Harbour, the legislators assured NPA of their cooperation in budgetary amendments to accommodate cost of repairs and replacements
Addressing journalists, Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Danjuma Goje, assured the NPA of cooperation to ensure that its operation is not affected.
Represented by a member of the committee, Senator Tolu Odebiyi, he said: “We are here on behalf of the Senate to extend our sympathy and commiserate with the NPA. We have seen the extensive damage that has been done. We also talked with them to see what alternative measures will be put in place to make sure that there is no disruption of operations because the NPA is the economic lifeline of the country.”
On his part, Chairman of the House Committee on Ports and Harbour, Hon. Garuba Datti Muhammed, decried the huge damage done to the NPA head office in Lagos, stressing that what happened was share criminality
“We are here to assess the extent of the damage that was caused by hoodlums and arsonists. We have gone round and seen the extent of the damage to the building and cars. As a National Assembly, we will cooperate with the NPA to assist them to rebuild this building.”
“The NPA is about to bring its budget to the National Assembly. We have advised them to readjust the budget to accommodate the cost of rebuilding the head office,” he said.
Also speaking, the Managing Director of NPA, Hadiza Bala Usman, said the actual cost of the damage done to the NPA headquarters building is yet to be fully ascertained, as insurance companies concerned with the facility are still evaluating cost from the damage and theft.
She added that insurance firms are not expected to bear the full cost of the damage to the building and other properties of NPA.
In a related development, the Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, yesterday visited the NPA over the incident.
The governor, who didn’t speak to journalists during the visit, was conducted round the affected parts of the building and burnt vehicles by NPA Managing Director, Usman.
A visibly shocked El-Rufai was moved by the extent of the damage before he was ushered into the MD’s office with members of his entourage for a closed door interaction.
