- NPA Managing Director, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho
By Anthony Nwachukwu
Abuja’s position as the center of the country and its rich agro-allied potentials are basis for the Nigerian Ports Authority’s (NPA) backing of government’s efforts to grow non-oil revenue by connecting local value producers in the value chain to identified international clusters of demand for their goods.
The NPA Managing Director, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, who stated this during the “NPA Special Day” at the Abuja International Trade Fair, said this centrality is strategic to the agency’s renewed trade facilitation focus that places a high premium on port-hinterland connectivity.
According to Dantsoho, this port-hinterland connectivity presents a seamless linkage with the inherent comparative advantages that can be harnessed across regions to sustain growth in the volume and value of Nigeria’s exports.
He explained that, as Nigeria’s foremost trade facilitation platform, the NPA is always proud to be associated with the noble cause that the Abuja International Trade Fair represents, especially as trade remains the most veritable tool for actualising most of Nigeria’s economic aspirations.
Dantsoho invited the entire trading and investing public to explore the tailor-made, simplified export processes and other vistas of opportunity at the agency.
He noted that in the bid to contribute to the strengthening of the domestic economy by promoting the balance of trade, “the NPA established the Export Process Terminal (EPTs) to simplify the hitherto burdensome process of exporting Nigerian goods.”
He further explained that the EPTs were conceptualised to serve as a one-stop-shop for cargo consolidation, stuffing, documentation, packaging, certification and onward shipment through electronic call-up to the ports in quick turnaround time.
This, he noted, eliminates the duplications and bureaucratic overlaps that previously rendered Nigerian exports uncompetitive in the international marketplace.
According to him, to facilitate the port-hinterland connectivity and create pathways for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to play in the export value chain, the EPTs have been structured to have a seamless handshake with the Domestic Export Warehouses (DEWs), in synergy with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and the Inland Dry Ports.
“To align with the economic stabilisation resolve of the federal government and the theme of the year’s fair: ‘Sustainability: Consumption, Incentives and Taxation,’ we are unifying our various operational channels into a singular transaction gateway known as the Ports Community System (PCS),” Dantsoho stated.
This “lays the groundwork for the implementation of the National Single Window (NSW), which sustainably eliminates all forms of opacity and attendant delays associated with undue human interference.”
Dantsoho explained that the NSW is the global best practice for delivering the greatest value with the greatest ease by connecting all stakeholders in the trade value chain for seamless interaction at the push of a button.
To this end, the NPA has put measures in place to link value creators in the remotest part of the hinterland with the farthest clusters of demand anywhere on the globe, he added.
He assured every stakeholder that the agency’s doors remain always open for partnerships even beyond the trade fair, urging them to visit its fully interactive online real time website, www.nigerianports.gov.ng to access its growth offerings.
