The Institute of Marine and Offshore Nigeria (IMION) has urged the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA) to deploy a port Single Window.

The institute made the call on Wednesday at the closing of its three-day executive course in Lagos on logistics and trade facilitation.

The course was with the theme: ‘Logistics and Trade Facilitation for Blue Economy Growth’.

IMION said policies must translate into practical action to improve safety, attract investment and enhance service delivery across ports and offshore operations.

Director-General, African Centre for Supply Chain Management, Dr.

Madu said multiple agencies with legitimate mandates often create duplication, conflicting requirements, repeated inspections and unclear accountability.

He said such fragmentation increased the cost of doing business in Nigerian ports and undermined trade competitiveness.

Madu urged NPERA to resolve conflicts arising from overlapping mandates, stressing that “good laws produce bad outcomes without coordination”.

He added that traders deserved “one data submission and one inspection” to reduce delays and improve efficiency.

Madu called for clear Key Performance Indicators for agencies and users, with customer experience serving as the ultimate measure.

He said the indicators should track time, cost and predictability across port processes.

Madu advocated trade simplification through digitisation, transparent documentation and predictable cargo release.

He asked whether reforms had actually reduced trading time and costs for businesses operating across Nigeria’s ports.

Madu said businesses should know requirements, costs, timelines and appeal channels upfront to improve certainty and accountability.

He said modern inspection should rely on intelligence, risk management and technology rather than excessive bureaucracy.

Madu warned that technology should “reduce friction, not digitise bureaucracy”, saying uncoordinated controls could worsen delays and increase costs.

He said additional controls without proper coordination could create opportunities for corruption and undermine the benefits of digitalisation.

Madu said infrastructure alone could not move trade, as slow and fragmented procedures could erode value in spite of available ports, roads, railways and vessels.

He said trade facilitation should make legitimate trade faster, cheaper and more transparent without compromising regulatory requirements.

According to him, efficient trade processes would support growth, investment and improved cash flow for businesses.

Also speaking, Dr Eugene Itua of the Africa Green Economy and Sustainability Initiative said sustainability and risk management must balance economic efficiency.

He said they must also promote environmental protection and social equity across blue economy logistics.

Itua said Nigeria’s maritime competitiveness would depend on smarter compliance and stronger collaboration among government agencies.

He added that a skilled workforce would be essential to harness emerging opportunities in offshore operations and logistics. (NAN)

Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule has approved N2 billion for the payment of gratuity arrears owed retired civil servants in the state.

The ‌‍‍‍⁠⁠‌‍‍‍‌‍⁠‌‌Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Public Affairs, Peter Ahemba, disclosed this on Wednesday during a monthly news briefing in Lafia.

Ahemba said the approval was to help clear the arrears from 2013 to date, adding that payments had been made up to 2012.

“The governor is determined to ensure that whatever entitlement is due to our retirees, they do not suffer to get it.

“That is why he has decided to make this commitment again,” he said.

The governor’s aide also announced fresh interventions in mining revenue deployment, particularly in the mining communities.

He said the state had received N2.6 billion from a lithium processing company in Endo, Nasarawa Local Government Area (LGA).

Ahemba said that following the receipt of the money, the governor subsequently convened an expanded state Executive Council meeting with traditional rulers and stakeholders from host communities.

According to him, the governor directed that part of the funds be released for projects in Endo and surrounding communities.

“Recall that the state has agreed with the mining company, giving out a licence to enable the company to mine, and then continue to pay tax to the state.

“This agreement is going to last from now to 2051,” Ahemba said.

He also said that the governor had directed stakeholders in the communities to work out key projects and inform the government.

He pointed out that the governor is not a dictator but wanted the people to make input into the kind of projects that would affect their life.

The governor explained that the licence was acquired in the name of Nasarawa Government, contrary to reports that it was acquired in the governor’s personal name.

On education, Ahemba said that 1,000 teachers had been recruited through the Nasarawa State Universal Basic Education Board from more than 10,000 applicants.

He said the successful applicants would immediately receive appointment letters for deployment to rural primary schools.

He said the government had also awarded contracts for three model schools, one in each senatorial district.

According to him, the government has mobilised contractors to the sites, with work expected to commence in Akwanga zone soon.

“To tackle out-of-school children syndrome, SUBEB has procured over 10,000 exercise books, uniforms and sandals for distribution to public school pupils.

“The board has also been directed to begin advocacy, after which a task force, in collaboration with the Ministry of Justice, will enforce compliance,” he said.

Ahemba said that mobile courts would prosecute parents who failed to send school-age children to school.

He further said that the government had concluded arrangements to commence rural and urban road projects across the state in the coming weeks.

The pilot projects, he said, would commence in selected LGAs, with the aim of ensuring that projects covered all the 13 LGAs before the end of the administration.

On the 2027 elections, Ahemba said that the government was ready to provide a level playing field but would not condone any acts of lawlessness by any politician, no matter how highly placed.

The Chairman, state Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Juliana Ofoku, commended the governor for his support to journalists in the state.

Ofoku pledged the union’s commitment to projecting government activities and programmes through responsible reportage. (NAN)

Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu has declared what he described as a “small state of emergency” on waste management to address challenges affecting refuse collection and disposal across the state.

Sanwo-Olu made the declaration on Wednesday during an inspection of the Olusosun dumpsite in Ojota, Lagos, accompanied by his Deputy, Dr.

The governor said the inspection was aimed at identifying the immediate challenges confronting waste management operations and developing short, medium and long-term solutions to the situation.

He said the state had, in the past few weeks, witnessed pressure on waste collection, resulting in indiscriminate dumping of refuse in different parts of the metropolis.

“We are here for ourselves to see what the problem is and what is happening, so that we can clearly declare what we will call a small state of emergency.

“This is necessary for us to get out of this very unpleasant situation and restore effective waste collection and disposal across Lagos,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu said the state government had introduced monthly environmental sanitation and intensified advocacy on proper waste management, but acknowledged that the efforts had not been effectively coordinated.

He said the government was working on the construction of two 2,400-metric-tonne transfer loading stations at Olusosun and Solu 3 in Alimosho.

According to him, the facilities will receive compacted waste before transferring it to material recovery facilities being developed at Oke-Osho in Epe and Erikitte in Badagry.

“The two transfer loading stations should be able to receive about 500 trucks per day, while the material recovery sites will allow us to further sort and convert waste into other useful materials.

“These are medium to long-term solutions, and we expect the facilities to begin taking shape before the end of the year, with completion expected between the second quarter of next year and the first quarter,” he said.

The governor said immediate measures were also being taken to increase the capacity of Olusosun to receive waste from between 250 and 350 trucks currently to between 350 and 450 trucks daily.

He said this would be achieved by increasing the number of tipping points at the dumpsite from the current two or three to about four or five to improve truck turnaround.

Sanwo-Olu said similar interventions would be carried out at Solu 3, Iwulepe in Ikorodu and Oke-Osho in Epe, while Erikitte in Badagry would also be developed to expand waste reception capacity. 

“We are hoping that in another six weeks, we will have four active dump sites , Olusosun, Solu 3, Iwulepe and Oke-Osho with a fifth one at Erikitte in Badagry.

“What that will do is enhance and improve the turnaround of trucks on the various roads, so that they do not come to one dump site and spend 12 hours or even an entire day before they can discharge,” he said.

The governor also announced the procurement of 160 new compactor trucks by the state government to boost waste collection from homes and roads to disposal facilities.

He said additional compactor trucks would also be procured by Zoomlion, while the government would acquire landfill compactors for effective waste management at disposal sites.

Sanwo-Olu said the transfer loading stations and material recovery facilities constituted the long-term solution to waste generation, disposal and conversion in Lagos.

“These are tens of millions of dollars of investment in waste management that will form part of the long-term solution to solving waste generation, waste disposal and waste conversion in the state,” he said.

On the operations of Private Sector Participants (PSPs), Sanwo-Olu said the association had agreed to review its membership and identify operators with the capacity and technical know-how to continue providing waste management services.

He said the exercise would complement an independent review being undertaken by the state government to ensure that only effective operators remained in the system.

“We do not want to have 800 PSPs when only 400 are effective. We need to purge the system and create space for more investors and people who have the capacity to come in,” he said.

The governor said PSP operators had also committed to procuring additional compactor trucks.

He added that the government was willing to work with them on financing models that would de-risk their investments and prevent operators from becoming financially distressed.

Sanwo-Olu urged residents to pay for waste management services, saying it was unfair for service providers to render services without receiving payment.

“Lagosians, in particular, want service, but we do not want to pay for the service. I think this era has to stop.

“It is unfair to see people rendering services and people are not paying them for the services they are rendering,” he said.

He assured residents that the government, in collaboration with PSP operators, would improve service delivery, while urging households and residents with waste bins to fulfil their financial obligations for waste collection.

The inspection formed part of the state government’s renewed efforts to tackle waste collection, disposal and recycling challenges across Lagos(NAN)