As the major economic gateway, Nigerian seaports now handle over 85 percent of all the goods and services’, coming into the country with aggregate value exceeding the $15 billion mark annually, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has said.
Nigerian Ports Statistics released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) show that cargo traffic in the ports stood at a total of 71,903,266 metric tonnes in 2017 as against 70,819,092 metric tonnes recorded in 2016.
Speaking at the public presentation of the book ‘Footprints of President Muhammadu Buhari in the Maritime Sector,’ written by the Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria (SCAN), Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of the NPA, who described the maritime sector as a major contributor to the economy, said that the oil and gas sector, which is the nation’s economic mainstay, depends on the sector for shipment.
According to her, ports desiring increase in market share must be open in their practices to engender confidence, retain old patronage and gain more trust.
“In Nigeria, the maritime sector is a significant contributor to national growth with yet untapped potential. For instance, Singapore’s maritime industry, contributes about 7 percent to its $300 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This administration understood that Nigeria must aspire by ensuring integrity in practices,” she said.
On maritime security, Usman said NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy work round-the-clock to reduce the incidence of piracy and have formed partnerships with other countries in the Gulf of Guinea region to ensure the safety of ships and crews on Nigerian waters.
“NIMASA has invested heavily in a satellite Monitoring and Surveillance System while the Navy has not only increased the frequency of patrols on the waters, but has also deployed 39 newly produced gunboats and the second indigenous Seaward Defence Boat for surveillance purposes.
“Another important factor deciding the competitiveness of the maritime sector is the efficiency with which cargoes are evacuated to and from the ports. This, without doubt, is an area in which the maritime sector in Nigeria has suffered but this administration has taken giant steps to tackle the problem.” Usman said.
Pointing at other achievements as mirrored in the book, Usman said that the government recently commissioned reconstructed Wharf Road, which the NPA spearheaded with the contribution of N1.8 billion. “Last year, the Federal Government awarded the contract for the reconstruction of the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway up to the Toll gate at the cost of N72 billion.
“The administration realises that the maritime sector cannot attain its potential without the deployment of multimodal transportation, so it has initiated stimulation activities on our inland waterways championed by the Nigerian Inland Waterways Agency (NIWA). Major inland river channels are being dredged with adequate channel markings for ease of navigation, all the way through the Eastern and Northern parts of the country to encourage the movement of cargo by barges.
“The Buhari administration’s revolution in the railway sector is evident in the expansion of infrastructure. There have been a modernisation of the rail lines such that Mr. President has given a standing instruction that every port must have the complement of rail infrastructure with projections that by the end of 2021, there will be standard gauge railway across the main North-South trading route.
She listed others to include provision of a level playing field for operators in the sector, as well as the facilitation of ease of doing business and successful berthing of the Egina FPSO, vessel in 2018.
In his welcome address, Bolaji Akinola, chairman, board of SCAN, who noted that the maritime sector has been beset with several developmental and management challenges since independence in 1960, said that the present administration has shown the political will to tackle these challenges.
He however said that the administration has not been given enough credit for its achievements in the sector, adding that this was the yawning gap, which SCAN intends to fill by writing this book.
“The present administration has recorded enviable milestones in the general transportation sector, especially in railway development and in issues relating to the shipping sector.
To Akinola, “The administration must be given credit for bringing decorum and instilling discipline in the sector, as well as plugging revenue loopholes. It is on record that the NPA, NIMASA, Nigerian Shippers’ Council and some other agencies in the sector now record little or no leakages in their systems, unlike in the past.
“It is also on record that the huge infrastructural deficit facing the sector is being addressed by the present government. Lack of scanners in our ports, severely dilapidated port access roads, lack of rail evacuation of cargo from the port, as well as dysfunctional inland container depots, are issues the present government has decided to tackle,” he added.
Amaka Anagor-Ewuzie
