Federal Government of Nigeria’s Efforts at Improving the Ease of Doing Business with Nigeria’s Ports
I believe you will agree with me that makeshift projects with no long-term plan in near sight is not beneficial for the socio-economic growth Nigeria projects. For this reason, the Federal Government of Nigeria has been advised to develop a long-term Port Infrastructural policy that will enhance the expansion and growth of the ports and by extension promote the socio-economic growth of the Nation.
Restructuring and improving the multi-modal transportation system will indeed help to reduce the gridlock traffic experienced especially at the Lagos Ports (Lagos Ports Complex and Tin-Can Island Port). The introduction of multimodal transportation, especially the rail transportation system will go a long way in improving the evacuation of containers and decongest the roads.
The FGN is already putting in place necessary measures to improve efficiency at the seaports and the Ease of Doing Business in Nigeria (ranked 131 by the World Bank’s Doing Business Report 2020) by recently purchasing two Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) tugboats; MT Musawa and MT Ikoro-Ekiti.
At the unveiling ceremony in Lagos, the Minister of Transportation; Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, stated that the Government is determined to stimulate greater operational efficiency at the nation’s seaports adding that the maritime sector is critical to the growth of the economy.
According to Amaechi, “Government is poised at developing the sector because it occupies a fundamental place in the actualization of the Economy Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) of the President Buhari administration[1]”.
He added that plans had matured at linking all nations ports to rail networks in order to facilitate trade across board. The Minister commended the Management of NPA in its intensified efforts at repositioning the ports with a global competitive edge.
[1] https://nigerianports.gov.ng/2020/06/21/amaechi-commissions-tug-boats-at-the-ports-as-it-aids-ease-of-doing-business/