Graham Lawal, managing director, Grolla Port Services, sole partner of the Ports and Rail evolution forum have said that there is a need for the federal government to address bureaucratic red tapes in Africa delaying the processes of transportation development, which is affecting the imports and export of cargo.

Lawal added that there are internal processes, procurement processes and approval processes for some of these reforms which hampers the rate of development of the transport sector.

Speaking during the just concluded two days West Africa Ports and Rail evolution forum held at the Land Mark event centre, Lagos, he said “If some of the solutions we have proffered in this forum are implemented, there will be a rapid acceleration in the way processes are being developed and implemented and that will also speed the development of these reforms that need to be in place for a lot of these projects to come in and these are big businesses.

“To develop a new railway network system, we talk about billions of dollars. The problem with Africa is that big businesses are only being carried out by the government. We need a private sector partnership. We still rely on the government, who don’t have the money. The government-run down to China or EU to borrow money which comes with some detrimental scenarios, some may have to mortgage the future of generations or mineral resources just to be able to access long-term loans.”

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On his perception of the commitment of the federal government’s commitment to developing transport infrastructure, he said the government is showing a lot of knowledge in this regard but noted that the way they are going about some of the things is questionable.

He cited example of the port expansion business going on right now in Nigeria where some key questions are being raised on how profitable the lines are.

He said “Are there more profitable lines to be developed than the ones currently being developed? Why is Lagos South-east line which is more profitable for freight and passengers, not the first, instead of the LagosKaduna and Lagos-kano lines? At times, you can have a win-win situation where we balance the equation in the development of these infrastructures whether it is ports or rails.”

Ifeoma Okeke-Korieocha is the Aviation Correspondent at BusinessDay Media Limited, publishers of BusinessDay Newspapers. She is also the Deputy Editor, BusinessDay Weekender Magazine, the Saturday Weekend edition of BusinessDay. She holds a BSC in Mass Communication from the prestigious University of Nigeria, Nsukka and a Masters degree in Marketing at the University of Lagos. As the lead writer on the aviation desk, Ifeoma is responsible and in charge of the three weekly aviation and travel pages in BusinessDay and BDSunday. She also overseas and edits all pages of BusinessDay Saturday Weekender. She has written various investigative, features and news stories in aviation and business related issues and has been severally nominated for award in the category of Aviation Writer of the Year by the Nigeria Media Nite-Out awards; one of the Nigeria’s most prestigious media awards ceremonies. Ifeoma is a one-time winner of the prestigious Nigeria Media Merit Award under the 'Aviation Writer of the Year' Category. She is the 2025 Eloy Award winner under the Print Media Journalist category. She has undergone several journalism trainings by various prestigious organisations. Ifeoma is also a fellow of the Female Reporters Leadership Fellowship of the Wole Soyinka Centre for Investigative Journalism.

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