There is move by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to reclaim over 4 million of transit and transshipment of cargoes valued at $5.4 billion with port modernisation. The transit cargoes are being lost to neighboring ports in Togo, Benin and Ghana annually. Also, the authority has decided to tackle bottlenecks in its export processes through strategic initiatives like the Export Processing Terminals (EPT).
The Managing Director of the authority, Mohammed Bello-Koko listed significant trade barriers in Nigerian port industry, saying that they include fiscal and monetary policies, multiplicity of government agencies, deteriorating port infrastructure and inadequate power supply and is committed to ending the barriers. Bello-Koko explained at forum in Lagos that the authority was committed to addressing these trade barriers and implementing measures to revitalize and strengthen the economy. He said: “Our focus is on automating the port system to streamline trade, minimise congestion, and reduce idle time.
The Port Community System (PCS) is a critical milestone in our journey to this automation, which has the potential to revolutionise port operations. “We are dedicated to collaborating with relevant agencies to cultivate an innovative and excellent ecosystem for sustain able growth.” Before the latest move, New Telegraph gathered that since 2006, over four million metric tonnes of Chad and Niger’s cargoes, which were formerly handled annually by Nigeria were taken and shared among Togo, Benin and Ghana ports because of delay, corruption by government agencies and other challenges.
Recalled that in June 2023, the Federal Government through the NPA engaged the countries on how to make Nigeria their transshipment hub, leading to shipment of 411 Twenty Equivalent Units (TEUs) of cargoes. Under the agreement, it was learnt that Lekki and Apapa ports will be the preferred destination to export their goods estimated at $5.41 billion. According to Bello-Koko, Nigeria should be able to commence transshipment of cargoes to the West African countries.
With the new agreement, findings revealed that Chad will be routing its $1.09 billion annual imports through the nation’s seaport, Republic of Niger’s $2.33 billion annual cargoes will be ferried via Nigeria port. Ahead of the transshipment of cargoes, he noted that tug boats would be deployed to Lekki Deep Seaport to quicken turnaround time of vessels. He explained: “We had a meeting with officials from Chad, Niger Republic and Cameroon. The idea was to see how we can start moving their cargoes from Nigeria to their ports. They were looking for a port that would reduce waiting time for cargoes.
These tug boats that were commissioned will help us achieve our aim of turning the port into a transshipment hub. “I know that transshipment cargoes should come to Lekki maybe in the next three weeks. With this tug boat we will tug in no matter the size of the ship. This means we will take back businesses in neighbouring countries and the cargo going to other countries will come back. “We are winning back transit cargo hitherto lost to our maritime neighbours and positioning to cater to the maritime requirements of our landlocked neighbours. We have deployed a three-pronged strategy driven by people technology, infrastructure and equipment such as the state-of-the-art vessels we are gathered here to commission.”
It was gathered that the neighbouring ports of Cotonou, Lome and Tema became the new transist corridors for cargoes going to the landlocked countries by providing better services and routes for moving goods to Niger, Burkina, Niger, Chad and Mali as Nigeria was said to be losing about four million metric tonnes of transit cargoes to the neighbouring ports annually. Chad is exporting an average of $2.71 billion annually, making it the number 138 exporter in the world, while Niger exports valued at $2.70 billion.
Also, Niger was shipping about 1.5 million metric tonnes of its cargoes from Benin Republic, 1.5 million metric tonnes in Togo and close to a million metric tons in Ghana, leading to an annual loss of N1.46 trillion or (N23.4 trilion) between 2006 and 2022. Finding revealed that the Federal Government took new step to recover the the transit trade, after losing 68 million tonnes of cargoes in 18 years.