Kazeem Owoseni
The Managing Director of Nigerian Port Authority, Mohammed Bello Koko has said that, with the newly commissioned Lekki Deep Sea Port in Lagos State, the traffic flow around Apapa will improve and the cost of trading in the country will be reduced drastically.
Koko who disclosed this in his Statement on Thursday January 24, 2023, expressed optimism that the opening of the deepest seaport in the country will enable the Federal Government to launch more ports.
While applauding the Federal Government for making it possible, the MD also revealed that the Lekki Deep Seaport is the pioneer of the country’s modern port.
In his Statement, Koko said, “the opening of the Lekki Port, Nigeria’s first modern deep-sea port with cutting-edge cargo handling equipment was especially exciting during this eventful period.
“Thank you President Muhammadu Buhari for the expediency with which you supported and approved our request.
He further expressed satisfaction on the effect of the project on the country’s trading cost.
Koko said, “having the deepest port in Nigeria will improve traffic flow in the Apapa corridor, lower freight costs & ultimately lower trading costs. For us at NPA, we intend to take advantage of this to recapture transhipment & transit cargoes that would typically call at nearby ports.
“Through PPP, additional deep-sea ports will come on board in the next few years. Several requests are being worked on by the Authority and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, and the outlook is positive and promising.”
Lekki port is a major success story for Public-Private Partnership in infrastructure development in Nigeria and is expected to contribute over $361 billion in economic impact expected in 45 years.
