Oritsegbubemi Omatseyin
Lagos — The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has assured DP World, owners and operators of the Port of Dubai, of readiness to cooperate and welcome investments for the development and management of infrastructure in Nigeria’s port system.
Oyetola, who stated this when he received a delegation from DP World, affirmed that the Nigerian government is open to investments in the sector and assured that the Ministry will provide the needed impetus to interested parties for such ventures.
The Minister welcomed the proposal by the Port of Dubai to establish an industrial park to complement the ports and provide a logistics base for processing for exports, saying: “We have an extensive coastline and abundance of lands suitable for the development of industrial parks”. He urged the delegation to bring forth a formal proposal for the interest for consideration by the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA.
He noted that the Federal Government is keen on deepening the private sector in the ports. He assured of the viability of port operations in Nigeria, assuring that the rate of returns on such investments is guaranteed.
Furthermore, the Minister noted that apart from ongoing modernization plan to increase the draught level of the nation’s ports to a range of between 16-16.5 meters, to regain Nigeria’s status as a transshipment hub, the government is working to digitize and automate all port processes to reduce human and physical interface to the barest minimum.
These initiatives include but are not limited to: implementing the Cargo Tracking System, the Port Community System, and the National Single Window. And are geared towards increasing efficiency and reducing turn-around- time at the ports.
In his remarks, the leader of the delegation, Sultan Ahmed Bin-Sulayem, disclosed that the company operates in 48 countries and has over 90 terminals around the world with registered presence in most African countries.
He further informed that DP World runs one of the most efficient port systems in the world and hopes to deploy their expertise and experience in Nigerian port systems if given the opportunity.
