Crimes

NPA raises the alarm on extortion at Lagos Port roads

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has raised the alarm over the increasing extortion along the access roads of the Lagos and Tin Can Island Port Complexes.

This is coming on the heels of the clearance operations the Authority undertook on July 16 and 18, 2023, to rid the port corridor of shanties and illegal erections which harbor the criminals who allegedly perpetrate the extortion.

The NPA, in a statement issued on Tuesday, July 25, 2023, said the extortion ranged from N500 to as high as N5,000, calling for the collaboration of sister government agencies operating along the port corridor to “sustainably tackle this menace that is impeding ease of doing business around our ports”.

The Authority noted that it has completed the perimeter fencing of the Tincan Island Port to curb unauthorised access to the port premises, adding that the sanity achieved by this measure was localized within the port as majority of the illegalities happen along the port access road which “is not within the NPA’s purview”.

On the eve of the port corridor clearance operations carried out in collaboration with Lagos State Government earlier this month, the NPA Managing Director/CEO, Mohammed Bello Koko, had lamented that “these acts of extortion and allied illegalities are injurious to trade facilitation, which is our core function and we cannot allow these nefarious characters make nonsense of the gateways to the national economy which the ports constitute.”

Koko added: “We had in the past visited punitive measures on of our staff who were complicit in such unethical practices, and I want to reiterate that once we are confronted with evidence of any our staff involved in these acts of sabotage, we would sanction them in line with the public service rules and our conditions of service which has zero tolerance for such malfeasance.”

Koko had, while receiving the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, earlier this month at the NPA headquarters enlisted the support of the police in tackling the extortion menace.

He stated that “the jurisdictional rule that restricts the powers of the Port Authority Police Command (PAPC) to the Port premises, is the more reason why we are calling for increased synergy between PAPC and officers of the Lagos State Police Command”.

The NPA MD/CEO had earlier met with the leadership at various levels of the Nigerian Army, the Navy, the Federal Road Safety Corp (FRSC), and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA) stressing on the pressing need to collectively nip the menace of extortion in the bud.

The Star