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By Steve Agbota
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, has showcased President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s maritime policies and Nigeria’s port investment opportunities at the ongoing World Ports Conference in London, positioning the country as Africa’s largest economy seeking to attract global investment into its maritime sector.
He affirmed that the speed of growth and development in the country’s ports signifies the huge opportunities investors should tap into, adding that the current administration of President Tinubu has put in place policies that are investment-friendly.
Addressing a select team of maritime investors from across the globe at the conference, the NPA MD identified Nigeria’s huge population, urbanisation and infrastructural gaps in the ports as attractive opportunities for investment in its maritime and associated sectors.
Dantsoho, who is the Vice-President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) and doubles as Chairman of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA), told investors that Africa’s untapped resources remain the best destination for ports investment and development.
Speaking, he said government alone could not fund the development of bigger or deeper seaports and other similar projects, hence the need for investors to take advantage of such opportunities across the continent.
The NPA MD said: “Nigeria at independence in 1960 had a population of 45 million people. Today, about 60 years later, there are more than 260 million people. The investment needed in ports to meet this expansion and growth can only happen if the requisite private investment is attracted and retained, which is what President Tinubu has created the enabling atmosphere for.
“In Nigeria, we identified that infrastructure gap, especially in our ports’ development, and we realised that we must do something quickly, both in terms of the capacity to receive bigger vessels for import, and also the capacity to move higher numbers of cargo for export.
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“Also, again, it is important to note that the development or growth or expansion in the area of infrastructure is capital intensive. So, the governments in both West Africa and generally in Africa have realised that the government cannot fund development of bigger or deeper seaports, hence the need for your investment to move speedily into Africa,” he said.
Dantsoho affirmed that Nigeria has the highest population in Africa, adding that the speed of growth is something that really should concern the country.
“For example, in Nigeria, only recently, about three years ago, we commissioned the first deep seaport in Nigeria, which is called Lekki Deep Sea Port, that was funded by the Chinese government in relationship with China Harbour, and the expenditure cost us $1.6 billion to build Lekki in Lagos.
“But as of today, just about three years later, the capacity of the new deep seaport, that is Lekki, has been exhausted. So, which means that clearly, we need more capacity to be able to contain the volumes.
“And for us as Port Authority, we are happy that we are capturing more of the cargo, the volumes are going up, because that is the only way that we can also increase our value, the revenue that we expect to make from these transactions,” he added.
Generally, he said, this is the picture of not only Nigeria, but also West African countries, starting from Cotonou in the Benin Republic, up to Togo, Seme, up to Ghana, up to Abidjan, that is Côte d’Ivoire, that are going close to Nigeria.
“Also, however, it is important to say that now, in terms of traffic, most of the cargo that comes to West Africa definitely ends in the Nigerian market. And that’s for obvious reasons. The population of Ghana is 34 million. The population of Côte d’Ivoire is 32 million. The population of Togo is 9 million. The population of the Benin Republic is 14 million. So, most of the cargoes that come, mostly from China in this case, will end up in the Nigerian market,” he explained.
