Following the reappointment of Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi as the minister of transportation for the second time by President Muhammadu Buhari, shippers and other port users have outlined the critical things the minister needs to pay attention to in order to overhaul the nation’s port industry.
Tony Anakebe, managing director of Gold-Link Investment Ltd, a Lagos-based clearing and forwarding firm, who applauded the reappointment of Amaechi, said the minister needs to establish a well-coordinated rail system for free movement of passengers, goods and services.
In the next four years, Amaechi needs to ensure that the Nigerian waterways are safe for the shipping industry to thrive. “We need to efficiently connect Lagos-Ibadan, Ibadan-Maiduguri, Maiduguri- Port Harcourt and Port Harcourt-Onitsha-Awka. If these rail lines are working optimally, it will be the greatest achievement by any transport minister since the independence of Nigeria.”
Anakebe, who decried the fact that it had become very worrisome that only Apapa port is connected to the national rail line for cargo evacuation, said in addition to connecting the remaining five seaports to the national rail line, the minister needed to also connect the inland ports to the rail line.
He pointed out that this will facilitate cargo movement such that if a ship berths in Apapa, the goods can be moved through the rail to the inland ports in Kaduna or Aba, from where the importer can use trucks to take delivery of the consignment.
According to him, the minister needed to open up the entire seaports in the eastern zone in order to put an end to cargo diversion to ports in neighbouring countries when the capacity of ports in the east are underutilised.
“The minister needs to make it a priority in this dispensation because there are lots of gains for the country if all these ports are dredged and opened up for business. We also need Onitsha River port to be opened up as well. The largest ship that comes to Africa does not come to Nigeria. So, there is need for a constant dredging of our waterways from River Benue to River Niger, and to connect all the ports to the rail system so that people can do their businesses freely without unnecessary delays,” he added
Hassan Bello, executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), said that in 2018, the Federal Ministry of Transportation established the policy framework that focused on three major forms.
“First, is the multimodal approach to transportation, which preaches against reliance on one mode of transportation, road. Road now carries about 90 percent of goods and passengers’ movement in the country. There is a cautious effort to introduce other means of transportation for choice and reduction of cost of transportation,” he said.
Bello, who noted that the cost of transport in Nigeria was high, and that it contributed to the inflationary trend that businesses are experiencing today, said Nigeria had to reduce the cost of production for the manufacturing sector by introducing and increasing the rail connectivity to the ports.
“This means that goods can be evacuated from the ports faster and rail wagon carries more volume than the road and it is also more reliable. Rehabilitation is ongoing on the Lagos-Ibadan-Kaduna-Kano rail corridor. There are plans to extend the rail line to every port in the country. There would be ease on the road and a good number of trailers would be taken off the roads,” he said.
He further pointed out that inland waterway was another alternative to road transportation. The Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) said the load of about 10 trailers can be conveniently carried by one barge.
“We have to build a modern infrastructure because there must be linkages, coordination and connections. The Baro River Port must be linked with Kaduna Inland Dry Port, which is called inland connectivity. The port will be efficient if there is inland connectivity. If it is not there, the problem of delay in cargo delivery to importers’ warehouses and high cost of doing business would remain,” he added.
It is important to note that Nigeria is in competition with the neighbouring countries like Benin, Togo and Ghana as to which becomes the hub. Nigeria will be the hub if we have a deep seaport in Lekki, which is another very fundamental thing.
In terms of the $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Seaport that is still under construction, the minister through the ministry needs to partner with the promoters and Lagos State Government to expand the Lekki-Epe Expressway, Epe-Shagamu Road, develop and connect the port to a functional rail line to ensure smooth movement of cargoes in and out of the Port.
Also, there is a need to ensure that the government establishes truck and trailer transit parks within the Epe axis to serve as truck holding-bays, for trucks coming to the seaport to pick laden containers or drop empties.
Iheanacho Ebubeogu of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) suggested the need to make it a priority to de-emphasise haulage by road by ensuring that cargoes are moved by rail or pipeline as alternative means of evacuating products.
“If we keep using a single mode of transportation without rail and waterways, the roads will fail due to the pressure on them. There is need to expand the roads leading to the Lekki Deep Seaport to eight lanes to avert the reoccurrence of the Apapa problem,” he added.
