NPA Promotes 1,500 Workers, Staff Union Excited

There are indications that Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) under the Managing Director, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho prioritises workers welfare, even as it has promoted about 1,500 workers in the last two years.

President of the NPA Senior Staff under the aegis of Senior Staff Association of Statutory Corporations And Government Owned Companies (Maritime Branch) Comrade Akinola Bodunde confirmed this in an interview in Lagos.

Comrade Bodunde commended the giant strides of Dr Dantsoho since he took over the mantle of leadership at the NPA.

According to him “Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho is not a stranger in NPA. He is one of those who started in NPA and since he assumed the leadership of NPA, he has been trying.

“On the issue of welfare, he has tried because he has promoted General Managers, he has promoted about 57 Assistant General Managers and has done outstanding promotion over two years, 2023-2024, which is about 1,500 workers.

“We did the exam last year and the result was released. Those promotions have been there for the past two years.

“When you talk about welfare and the performance of Dantsoho  and the current executive management, I think they have tried” Comrade Bodunde confirmed.

The unionist however lamented that the NPA was facing challenges in its finances which is being cut down by the Federal government, despite the humongous responsibilities of the agency.

“The only problem we have is the government issues, not giving us what is due to us in terms of finance.  We make money, but do we benefit from that money? No.”

“Last year, they (federal government) started with 50-50 percent. Today, it is not realistic. Even the 50 they are supposed to give us, they are not giving us. NPA is an organization where you need to spend money to make money. If the ports are not in order, it will be difficult to generate money.  Will other organizations in the port make money? No. Will NPA itself make money? No.

“A lot of jobs are there. There is no port that is not running without a generator. The least generator in the port is 100 KVA. When you are running a 100 KVA generator, you are talking about two or three drums of diesel every day. There are some ports that run three 100 KVA generators.

“Tin Can Island Port is big. Ikorodu is under Tin Can. KLT is another terminal under Tin Can Port. All the ports including Apapa, Port Harcourt, Calabar run on diesel. When you don’t make money, how do you run your bill? How do you produce your bill? How do you attend to key issues?”