Posted on December 12, 2024
By Steve Agbota
In continuation of his resolve to galvanize port concessionaires and terminal operators into increasing their investments in port infrastructure equipment, the Managing Director Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho last week undertook an operational and investment campaign tour of Onne and Rivers port complexes.
This visit which is coming on the heels of his earlier tour of Lagos ports of Apapa and TinCan signposts the current administration’s readiness to deepen Nigeria’s competitiveness in vessel and cargo traffic to match the needs of Nigeria’s huge population of over 200 million inhabitants.
The tour covered BRAWAL Oil Services Ltd, Onne Multipurpose Terminal, Intels, Indorama, West African Container Terminal (WACT) and Notore and the terminals at Rivers Port Complex Port Harcourt.
Speaking in the course of the tour, Dantsoho said: “With the quantum of investments our maritime neighbors especially along the West and Central African coast are attracting, we can only stay competitive if we redouble our investment drive in order to provide requisite infrastructure and equipment to attract the sizes of vessels that scale up our cargo throughput to adequately serve our huge population.
“As far as this Management is concerned, we have the mandate of the Honourable Minister of Marine and Bue Economy, Alh. Gboyega Oyetola to create the enablers for increased investment, and we are poised to do just that.
“Let me seize this moment to reiterate my earlier plea to investors to take maximum advantage of the investor-friendliness of President @officialABAT, to infuse greater investment and be assured of guaranteed return on investment.
The NPA helmsman who was recently elected as the first ever Nigerian President of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) concluded the tour by stating that the reality of Nigerian Ports processing 2million TEUs of cargo to service a population of over 200 million is an anomaly that has to be urgently addressed through deployment of huge investments.
