The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has raised the alarm and condemned the increasing spate of extortion along the access roads of the Lagos and Tin Can Island Port Complexes.

Mr Mohammed Bello-Koko, Managing Director, NPA, said this in a statement in Lagos on Tuesday.

According to Bello-Koko, this is coming on the heels of the clearance operations the authority undertook from July 16 to 18, to rid the port corridor of shanties and illegal erections.

He added that those shanties and illegal erections harboured criminal elements who perpetrated acts of extortion.

“On the eve of the port corridor clearance operations carried out in collaboration with Lagos State Government earlier this month, I lamented that “these acts of extortion and allied illegalities are injurious to trade facilitation, which is our core function.

“We cannot allow these nefarious characters make nonsense of the gateways to the national economy which the ports constitute,” he said.

Bello-Koko added that they had in the past, visited punitive measures on their staff who were complicit in such unethical practices.

“I want to reiterate that once we are confronted with evidence of any of our staff involved in these acts of sabotage, we will sanction them in line with the public service rules.

“Our condition of service has zero tolerance for such malfeasance,” he said.

Bello-Koko said that whilst receiving the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Idowu Owohunwa earlier this month, we enlisted the support of the police in tackling the extortion menace.

He added that he had specifically cited that “the jurisdictional rule that restricts the powers of the Port Authority Police Command (PAPC) to the Port premises, was the reason they are calling for increased synergy between PAPC and officers of the Lagos State Police Command.

The NPA boss had earlier met with the leadership at various levels of the Nigerian Army, Navy, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), stressing on the pressing need to collectively nip the menace of extortion in the bud.

NPA under Bello-Koko had completed the perimeter fencing of the Tincan Island Port to curb unauthorised access to the port premises.

However, the sanity achieved by this measure is localised within the port, whilst majority of these illegalities happen along the port access road which is not within the NPA’s purview.

The International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR) had in March, published a video footage showing the assault those extortionists visited on trucks inbound and outbound the port corridor.

The authority’s fact finding has identified flash points of extortion ranging from N500 to as high as N5,000 and the mode of perpetration.

The authority solicits the collaboration of sister government agencies operating on the port corridor to sustainably tackle the menace impeding ease of doing business around the ports.