Nigeria – President Muhammadu Buhari inspected the Lekki Sea Port in construction and want to link it with the railway network in the country
On Tuesday, March 22, 2022 the President Muhammadu Buhari, accompanied by the Honorable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon Rotimi Amaechi, Managing Director NPA, Alhaji Bello-Koko, Executive Directors of NPA, and other personalities, inspected the rate of work done at the first Deep Sea Port in Nigeria located in Lagos Free Zone, 65Km east of Lagos.
In the course of the inspection, the President Muhammadu Buhari praised the efforts of the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, towards making the Lekki Deep Sea Port a reality, and directed him to consult and to bring to the Federal Executive Council (FEC), a memorandum to link the LEKKI Deep Seaport with the railway network in the country.
Speaking at the occasion, the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, said the reason he persuaded the President to visit Lekki bothered first “to publicize the seaport so that they will know that this government is building a seaport and the first seaport in Nigeria. The other ports you have in Nigeria are all river ports because they tilt off the sea. The second reason was to put the heat on them and with that, we are almost ready. If not for the equipment, they can actually get this place ready before June but they said all the equipment are arriving by June and installation will take them till September and it can be commissioned by September.”
Regarding fears that the Federal Government might disuse or neglect Tincan and Apapa ports when the Lekki Deep Sea commences operations, Amaechi said: “This is a private port, no agency will run here. They will be present but they will not run it because it is a private port. It is also an automated port, so the traffic witnessed at Apapa will not be here. Also, all goods won’t come to Lagos; goods will go to Warri, Port Harcourt, so what the government needs to do is to either rehabilitate those ports or build new ones”.
He further explained that “only the Bonny Deep Sea project might have an integral participation of the Federal Government as the Ibaka, Lekki and Badagry are private investments under the FG’s policy of build, operate and transfer for a tenor of years. Although the land belongs to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the new way of doing things in the world is to allow private sectors to get involved in a lot of the things the government has been doing”.
Also speaking during the occasion, Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko said that “Some of the businesses we have lost to other neighbouring West African countries due to drought limitation will be regained. There will be employment creation and increased revenue for the government. It will create competition and compel other terminal operators to up their games, to reduce cargo dwell time at their terminals”.
Upon inspection, the President received firm assurances that the port, which has a concession period of 45 years and sits in a land area of 90 hectares, will be completed on schedule by September.
