NPA pledges support for LADOL’s new agric, logistics initiatives
From left: Port Manager, Lagos Ports Complex, Apapa, Mrs. Funmilayo Olotu; NPA’s Executive Director Marine and Operations, Ontario Brown; Managing Director LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi during the visit of the NPA ED to LADOL’s Free Zone in Lagos recently.
The Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA has reiterated its commitment to supporting the Lagos Deep Offshore Logistic Base LADOL in its maritime, health, agriculture and logistics operations in Nigeria to be more productive for the benefit of Nigeria’s economy.
Executive Director, Marine and Operations Onari Brown stated this during a familiarisation tour of the LADOL Zone in company of Port Manager, Lagos Ports Complex, LPC, Apapa, Mrs. Olotu. He said he was impressed with the infrastructure development at LADOL adding that the company’s heavy lift capacity makes it a destination of choice.
“I am really impressed with what I have seen today, and I think I will be more supportive now that I have seen, I think we will engaged more, we will talk more”, Brown said.
Commenting on LADOL’s agriculture initiative, the ED said, “Talking about agriculture, I am so impressed because in every country, the major thing that can cause the highest crisis is food insufficiency. Somebody that has eaten well could wait for better times to come but when somebody is on lockdown and does not have food in his house, he will leave that house and go out to look for food.
“In this time of COVID era, Nigerians have come to realise that one cannot rely on crude oil and so we need to grow our maritime sector. Throughout the period of the COVID, across the world, when they said airports were closing down etc, no country thought about shutting down their seaports. The ports were all operating and that was what sustained the fight against COVID.”
He maintained that Nigeria’s seaports cannot be joked with, noting that NPA will always be supportive to operators and all its partners to make Nigeria’s maritime sector develop further.
Meanwhile, the Assistant General Manager Operations of NPA, Ayodele Durowaiye while speaking during the visit, disclosed that this is his first time to visit LADOL and that from what he can see physically; a lot is going on and going into agro-business now.
“We will help and I am happy that your vision has expanded from looking at the West African Sub Region to looking at the whole African content.”
“In terms of stakeholder engagement, management at the highest level will continue to drive this process and we are happy of the leadership role that LADOL is playing particularly in Lagos district”, he said.
Managing Director of LADOL, Dr. Amy Jadesimi, had while commenting on LADOL’s corporate social responsibility, CSR, said since inception, the company has engaged with local communities to create an understanding and work with them on a meritocratic basis.
“What that means is that you get the job if you are qualified for the job. But a lot of Nigerians have not had the experience for the specialised jobs we do. So, we are not looking for somebody who necessarily has 10- year experience in a field. We are looking for young people who are hardworking, honest, and ready to jump in with both feet. With that mantra, many of our staffers have been with us for over a decade and many of them come from the local community.
“LADOL provides a lot of employment and training. I also want to thank all the members of staff and management of LADOL who worked so hard and came together as a strong team which continues to see us through the COVID pandemic. I have to say across Nigeria, we saw many examples of how this crisis has brought Nigerians together and renewed our focus for self-sufficiency”, Jadesimi said.
On LADOL’s isolation centre, the MD disclosed that the company will make it available to other terminal operators who need its services.
(Business and Transport)
