The sorry state of major ports in Nigeria will adversely affect the federal government’s revenue generation from the maritime sector if urgent steps are not taken to rehabilitate them, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has warned.
Specifically, the country’s ports management authority revealed that the Tin-Can Island and the Lagos Port Complex, two of Nigeria’s prime ports located in Apapa, Lagos are at the verge of collapse.
Managing Director of the NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, who spoke on a television show, explained that the agency has hitherto been carrying out remedial works on the Tin Can Island Port.
He said, “the Port of Tin-Can is collapsing, and if nothing is done in the coming years, there will be many problems related to doing business there.
“Also, Escravos, Calabar and Onne Ports are in need of significant rehabilitation alongside Tin-Can to the tune of $800 million.”
He stated that “For the port of Tin-Can, It is not an imminent collapse, but in the next few years, if nothing is done, there will be problems.
“We have been managing Tin-Can and doing palliatives and other jobs for sometimes now, but it is time we rehabilitate it completely. We also need to rehabilitate some parts of Apapa.”
Bello-Koko reiterated that the rehabilitation work of the Tin-Can port needs to be carried out alongside other ports in the Niger Delta region from Escravos to Calabar which is estimated to cost about $800million.
He said, “We need to reconstruct the ‘breakwaters’ in Escravos. It has collapsed for over ten years, and there is a collapsed jetty in Calabar, Warri, Rivers and Onne.”
