Global maritime investors have been urged to take advantage of Nigeria’s growing population and expanding port traffic as Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority Dr Abubakar Dantsoho presented President Bola Ahmed Tinubu maritime policies at the ongoing World Ports Conference in London on Tuesday.
Dantsoho said the speed of growth and development in country ports signifies huge opportunities investors should tap into, adding that the current administration has put policies in place that are investment friendly.
Addressing a select team of maritime investors from across the globe, NPA MD identified Nigeria’s huge population, urbanization and infrastructural gaps in ports as attractive opportunities for investment in maritime and associated sectors.
Dantsoho who is Vice President of International Association of Ports and Harbours and doubles as Chairman of Port Management Association of West and Central Africa told investors that Africa’s untapped resources remain the best destination for ports investment and development.
He said the government alone cannot fund development of bigger or deeper sea ports and other similar projects hence the need for investors to take advantage of such opportunities across the continent.
He said Nigeria at independence in 1960 had a population of 45 million people and today about 60 years later there are more than 260 million people. He said investment needed in ports to meet expansion and growth can only happen if requisite private investment is attracted and retained which is what President Tinubu has created an enabling atmosphere for.
He said the Nigerian government identified an infrastructure gap especially in ports development and realized it must do something quickly both in terms of capacity to receive bigger vessels for import and also capacity to move higher numbers of cargo for export.
He added that development or growth or expansion in the area of infrastructure is capital intensive and governments in both West Africa and generally in Africa have realized governments cannot fund development of bigger or deeper sea ports hence need for investment to move speedily into Africa.
Dantsoho affirmed that Nigeria has the highest population in Africa and speed of growth is something that should concern stakeholders.
He said for example in Nigeria only recently about 3 years ago the country commissioned the first deep sea port in Nigeria which is Lekki Deep Sea Port funded by Chinese government in relationship with China Harbor and expenditure cost 1.6 billion dollars to build Lekki in Lagos.
He said but as of today just about 3 years later capacity of the new deep sea port Lekki has been exhausted which means clearly the country needs more capacity to be able to contain volumes.
He said the NPA authority is happy that it is capturing more cargo volumes that are going up because that is the only way it can also increase value and revenue expected from transactions.
He said generally this is a picture of not only Nigeria but also West Africa countries starting from Cotonou in Benin Republic up to Togo Seme up to Ghana up to Abidjan in Cote d Ivoire that are going close to Nigeria.
He added that in terms of traffic most cargo that comes to West Africa definitely ends in the Nigeria market for obvious reasons.
He said the population of Ghana is 34 million, the population of Cote d Ivoire is 32 million, the population of Togo is 9 million and the population of Benin Republic 14 million, so most cargoes that come mostly from China will end up in the Nigerian market.
