Nigerian
Ports Authority (NPA) has launched an additional electronic platform
called Revenue Invoicing Management System (RIMS) and a self-service customer
portal to enhance processes and block revenue leakage at the nation’s seaports.
NPA said the
RIMS and self-service customers portal will complement the e-payment and e-Ship
Entry Notice (e-SEN) it introduced in 2014.
Speaking at
the launching of the new platform, the Managing Director of NPA, Mallam Habib
Abdullahi said, “Today, we are presenting the Revenue Invoicing Management
System and Customer Portal that are fully convergent and real time platforms
for our processes, which will lower operational cost and shorten the time for
documentation.”
The
platforms, according to Abdullahi, will fully integrate the electronic flow of
information for business–to–customer and business–to–business streams
real-time, with higher availability and flexible architecture.
He said the
platforms are also fully integrated with all NPA’s existing solutions such as
Oracle Financials, Oracle Human Capital Management, NPA Paydirect via
Interswitch and Electronic Ship Entry Notice (e-SEN).
“The
introduction of this system has the potential to improve our service offering,
improve our partner relationship, create efficient payment method, maximize
revenue and minimize loss associated with fraud and revenue leakage.
“The Customer
Self Service Portal on the other hand provides a platform for our customers to
initiate and conclude their business process with NPA and also communicate with
us.
The benefits accruing from this portal includes amongst others: improved
customer service delivery, easy access to customer accounts status, view of all
transactions and status in respect of bills, electronic upload of manifest and
e-invoice and e-receipt generation.
“Similarly,
our Billing Application, some modules of which are already operational in all
port locations, will soon proceed to the next stage. Currently, it covers
payment processes in areas such as lease fees, service boats, passenger boats,
general bills (jetties and trawlers), and Oil Terminal Dues (OTD)/Compulsory
Pilotage Rates (CPR). The next stage will cover Throughput Fees, Estate Bills
and Provisional/Final Bills,” Abdullahi said.
The NPA boss
also stated that it was obvious that the introduction of these solutions will
facilitate business growth with high performance and unlimited scalability of
the operations of the organisation.
He said,
“This is evident from statistics which have shown that cargo throughput
increased from 46,150,518 metric tons in 2006 to 86,603,903 metric tons in 2014
indicating an 87% increase during that period which is due in part to our
continued efforts at improving processes.
“In a
nutshell, the initiative unveiled today is complimentary to the previous ones
which will make Nigeria ports witness a further growth in its performance
indices; another step towards being the leading port in Africa.
“May I use
this opportunity to appreciate the co-operation of all our stakeholders to the
collective goals and objectives of our organization and hope that with your
continued support of our vision we will surely achieve our goal of being the
leading port in Africa.
“Permit me to
say that with the focus of the President of the Federal Government of Nigeria,
Muhammadu Buhari, for monumental change in the country, the Authority will
continue to introduce initiatives in line with best practices that will ensure
that we remain efficient, transparent and accountable to our stakeholders and
the good people of Nigeria.”
Also speaking
at the launch, NPA’s Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Mr.
Olumide Oduntan stated that the RIMS and self-service customer portal was fully
integrated with existing e-solutions.
Oduntan said
that the e-SEN introduced by NPA last year had increased the revenue of the
agency by 36 percent from N67.5 billion in 2014 to N91.9 billion in 2015 as
anticipated.
He said very
few organisations in the private or public sectors can boast of the achievement
made by the NPA in developing and deploying electronic payment solutions.
