Human capital, key to achieving 25-year ports development plan, says NPA boss

Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) , Ms. Hadiza Bala Usman, has reiterated her management’s commitment to achieve the goals of the authority’s 25 year port development plan.

Speaking at the weekend in Lagos during the 2017/2028 Long Service Meritorious Award ceremony in honour of some staff members, Ms Usman said the NPA remains focused at sustaining a competent workforce that will pursue transparency and excellence in service delivery.

She listed a trained, motivated and committed workforce as essential in attaining goals of hub port status and government’s ports development plans.

She said the NPA under her management team remains focused on increasingly improving on the gains recorded in the past with a view to achieving a hub status in the West African sub region.

The NPA MD said: “This is a very ambitious management. One which is determined not to leave the NPA where it met it. This management of the Nigerian Ports Authority is committed to not just changing the ways things are done momentarily but in bequeathing a tradition of transparent and excellent service that would make our ports the hub in the sub-region.

“We understand that the workforce is an integral part of whatever good stories we would be able to achieve and tell about our initiatives, hence the determination to periodically show appreciation for the dedication of staff.

“Tonight therefore, we are gathered here to honor our long – serving and dedicated employees of 25 years upwards and at the same time celebrate those who have demonstrated excellence by achieving uncommon feats in the course of duty.

“Beyond these regular recognitions of serving and retiring staff members, management considers putting a well-motivated workforce with the requisite character, competence, and capacity to optimize our rich maritime endowments in place, as part of the dreams of building a new and culture in the Authority.

“Without this, the sustainability of the reforms we have undertaken so far, as well the audacious goals we are poised to achieve as enunciated in the 25-year Port Development Plan would remain unattainable.

“This informed the recent thorough review of our condition of service with robust provisions aimed at equipping our employees to be best-in-class in the Industry. We have also worked towards correcting all the previous anomalies in the salary structure as we are ensuring justice in the career progression of personnel.

“We are taking the totality of the wellbeing of personnel seriously. As we consider the need to train and retrain towards building capacity to cope with the dynamism of our industry, we have been also paying attention to the health and mental needs of our staff. The goal is to be a competent and committed workforce our collective interests.

“Let me seize this opportunity to say that our drive towards attaining the Occupational Health and Safety Standards (OHSAS 18001) and ISO 9002 compliance status- the core of which is the enhancement of the workers’ well-being is in top gear. We are not resting on our laurels until this is achieved.

“We will also continue to strive to improve the relationship between management and staff as inculcate a sense of ownership in all of us and bring our dreams for the NPA to fruition”

Ports Development Plan aims at helping to know strategic locations where ports should be sited with additional consideration on their viability