Zulum sets 6-month timeline for completion of 10,000TEUs Maiduguri Inland Port

Babagana Zulum, governor of Borno State has assured Nigeria’s business community that the proposed Jauri Inland Dry Port and Maiduguri Bonded Terminal Ltd, will be completed in the next six months.

The 10,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) Jauri Inland Dry Port and Maiduguri Bonded Terminal Ltd, will be built under a public-private partnership and managed by Migfor Nig. Ltd, the concessionaire.

According to the Nigerian Shippers Council, promoter of the inland dry port project, the development of the port, which is currently at 5 percent completion, has been delayed by insecurity in the troubled state of Borno.

Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday during a courtesy visit to the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council at the Council’s headquarters in Apapa, Governor Zulum pledged to support the speedy establishment of an inland dry port in Maiduguri.

“Establishing inland dry port in Maiduguri will bring opportunities to the government and people of Borno State. It will create employment, which will take thousands of youths off the street and help to address the issue of insecurity in the state.

“Secondly, it will enhance trans-border trade by boosting our relationship with border countries. The economy will grow, and our GDP will increase because it will drive economic diversification,” he explained.

He said the Borno State Government will do everything possible to ensure the port comes on stream immediately.

In terms of supporting infrastructure, the governor said, the availability of railway infrastructure to evacuate cargo from Lagos to the inland port is a must.

According to him, the Federal Government wants to ensure that rail lines and all the roads are rehabilitated under President Bola Tinubu’s administration.

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He said thousands of trucks enter Maiduguri daily and a rail system will fast-track the process. Still, in the absence of rail, there is an efficient and effective road transportation system for cargo evacuation.

Earlier, Pius Akutah, executive secretary of the Nigerian Shippers Council, said the importance of Borno State as a border town to three countries – Chad, Niger and Cameron can play a critical role in international trade between Nigerian and those countries, especially under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

By developing a critical infrastructure like inland dry port in Borno State, according to him, will create an opportunity for the State to serve as a transhipment hub to other African markets.
“We have seen the developmental speed of the Borno State Governor, and we believe him when he said the port will be ready in the next six months. For instance, the transit park area that the Excellency has developed has been one of the critical infrastructures that would service the Inland Dry Port at completion.

“We need the two entities selected as concessionaires to the port to look at the political will the Excellency has brought to the table and see how they can quickly agree among themselves to push forward with the project. This is a business, and the initiative is not for the government to run the inland dry port but to make it private sector driven,” he said.