Marcel Okeke
Worse still, the country has lost control over ships carrying cargo meant for the landlocked neighbours such as Niger and Chad, which hitherto used to pass through Nigeria. Ships spend weeks in the sea, waiting for an opportunity to dock at either the Apapa port or the Tin Can port. At the same time, goods bound for export are stuck in endless gridlock caused by trailers that have now replaced the rail system as the dominant means of carrying goods from the ports into the hinterland. This frustrating situation is further compounded by the poor state of roads and the continued closure of Nigeria’s borders, which has forced ships that would have discharged some of the Nigerian-bound goods in Benin and Togo, to invariably come to Lagos.
All these continue to put a huge question mark on the seriousness of successive governments about their much-talked-about diversification of the Nigerian economy. This is because given the critical role seaports could play in export drive to generate revenue, even the ‘diversion’ of ships to the Eastern Ports at this point in time is a no-brainer. While the ‘diversion’ constitutes a mere relief to the Lagos ports, it does not address the wilful neglect or abandonment of those ports. It has been argued ad nauseam that it does not make sense for businessmen in Onitsha or Owerri, for example, to route their imports through Lagos when they could easily have passed through either Calabar or Port Harcourt.
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But rather than upgrade (by dredging, reclamation and others) and properly utilise the Eastern ports, government efforts for some years now have been focused on building additional ports around Lagos. There is the Lekki Deep Seaport reportedly being developed by Tolaram and China Harbour Engineering Company, Lagos State Government and NPA. The port is scheduled to start operations by the end of 2022. At a recent conference on non-oil export in Lagos, Governor Babajide Sanwao-Olu had described the new port as “the largest in West Africa,” adding that it would “provide enormous opportunities to exporters to ply their trade and by extension, improve the export earnings of the country.” The governor also disclosed the impending commencement of work on the Badagry Deep Seaport, when he said the construction would start in June, “once the state is granted ratification by the federal government.” But he quickly noted that the Badagry port plan had been on ground for the past one decade or so, having been initiated by former Governor Babatunde Fashola.
However, even with all these, an area that should be of immense concern to the NPA should be the turnaround time of the existing ports – the difference between date of departure and the date of arrival of ships. For Nigerian ports to be competitive and more efficient, the turnaround time has to be reduced drastically. According to the World Bank, dwell time is an important instrument used to attract cargo and generate revenues. A shorter time is indicative of port efficiency.
However, given the dwindling revenue base of the government of the day, wouldn’t it be expedient to seek a takeover of some of the ports by private investors? In what is dubbed the Maritime Silk Road, China has been buying up and developing a chain of ports in Asia, Africa, Europe, South America and in the Middle East. If this is done in Nigeria, the country will not only earn huge money, the ports will most likely become more competitive and impact positively on the Nigerian economy. We, as a country, cannot afford to continue to lag behind the rest of the world in the highly lucrative maritime business. Concluded.
Marcel Okeke, a practising economist and consultant in Business Strategy & Sustainability based in Lagos, is a former Chief Economist at Zenith Bank Plc. He can be reached at: obioraokeke2000@yahoo.com; +2348033075697 (text only)
