By Providence Ayanfeoluwa
The Nigerian Port Authority, NPA, has said that it does not charge any fee for licensing barge operators in the country, noting that the N50 million bond that the barge operators are required to obtain remains their money secured in the bank.
Barge operators under the aegis of Barge Operators Association of Nigeria, BOAN, had, last week at a breakfast meeting organised by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria, MARAN, in Lagos, accused NPA of dollar charges at the port and payment of N50 million to obtain bond to operate in the country.
Mr Ayo Durowaye, a General Manager at NPA who represented the Managing Director of NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, at the event, insisted that the Authority does not charge any fee for licensing barge operators in the country.
His words: “Barge operations was liberalised by NPA in 2018/19 because the roads along the port corridor was choked up and was one of the ways the Authority felt we could ease pressure on the port. We licensed the barge operators without charging a fee.
“NPA does not charge any fee for licensing barge operators; what we have in place is the bond requirement of N50 million if you are operating within Lagos Pilotage District; N150million if you are doing across the port, and N250 million if you are going across the borders. It is actually a bond and it is their money; it is secured in the bank with what they give us as financial security.
“In the event that you have a barge going down and the operator cannot refloat it, for instance, if it is within the channel, the money is used to refloat it quickly and in the last four years that we started this operation, we have had those incidences twice”.
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