By Uzor Odigbo
The officials of Nigerian Port Health Services (NPHS) at the Lagos Ports Complex (LPC) have lamented the psychic effects of having to trek from one vessel berth to another at Lagos Port Complex (LPC) in the discharge of their official duties in the port.
The gruop said that the long trekking stemmed from failure by ship agents to provide means of transportation for the personnel, saying the men sometimes trek 14 berths sometimes to carry out their official assignment.
The group said that the lack of transport for its officials has posed a serious challenge for its effective performance of its personnel in getting to board vessels.
Head of the service at the Lagos Ports Complex, Mr. Abisola Adeyemi Olokodana, made the disclosure when the implementation team of Nigerian Port Process Manual (NPPM) paid a visit to the agency, recently.
He noted that the laborious exercise over the years has affected the psyche of the Port Health officials.
He stated that officials of the shipping agents were not reliable and efficient on the transportation of personnel to vessels at berth.
Olokodana, an Assistant Director, lamented that transportation to the quay apron had been the major challenge affecting officers of the service at the seaport, saying it takes a long while for his men to approach vessels at berth due to logistics problem.
He appealed to the government to provide functional vehicles for Port Health service officials to work with in order to enhance their operations at the seaports.
Olokodana disclosed that personnel of the service spend close to 30 minutes on board vessels at berth in order to carry out their examinations and inspection.
“Our challenges is transportation. Though office accommodation is another one. But transportation is a problem here.”
He maintained that officials of the service have robust working relationship with sister agencies to ensure that vessels at berth are properly inspected to keep the port safe .
Port Health officials are the first set of government agencies to board vessels at berth.