The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Abubakar Dantsoho, has stated that Nigerian ports can only stay competitive by redoubling their investments.
In a statement on Thursday, Dantsoho disclosed this when he undertook an operational and investment tour of the Onne and Rivers Port Complexes.
This move according to Dantsoho, was in continuation of his resolve to galvanize port concessionaires and terminal operators into increasing their in-country investments in port infrastructure equipment.
He said that the visit which came weeks after the tour of Lagos Ports of Apapa and Tincan, signposts his administration’s readiness to deepen Nigeria’s competitiveness in vessel and cargo traffic to match the needs of Nigeria’s huge population of over 200 million people.
Speaking during the tour, Dantsoho stressed that with the quantum of investments Nigeria’s maritime neighbours, especially along the West & Central African Coast are attracting.
He stated, “We can only stay competitive if we redouble our investment drive to provide requisite infrastructure and equipment to attract the sizes of vessels that scale up our cargo throughput to adequately serve our huge population”.
He added that NPA has the mandate of the Minister of Marine & Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, to create the enablers for increased investment, and “we are poised to do just that”.
He urged investors to take maximum advantage of the investor-friendly atmosphere in the country to infuse greater investment assuring them of guaranteed return on investment.
“The reality of Nigerian Ports processing 2 million containers of cargo to service a population of over 200 million is an anomaly that has to be urgently addressed through deployment of huge investments”, he reiterated.
