The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the new maritime security infrastructure being built by the federal government known as the deep sea project would be a major economic trigger for the country.
Amaechi stated this in Lagos, while speaking with the media during the World Maritime Day celebrations, with the theme, “Empowering Women in the Maritime Community”.
Amaechi said the deep sea project, which aims to secure the country’s territorial waters up to the Gulf of Guinea, would inspire greater investors’ confidence in the Nigerian maritime sector and boost the sector’s contribution to the national economy.
“With this security infrastructure, the revenues of the agencies in the maritime sector will increase and the revenue to the country will also increase. Currently, maritime sector is returning less than N100 billion. They should be doing more than that. They should be returning above N300 billion. But in terms of the economy, the maritime industry is contributing quite a lot,” the minister said.
He also spoke on the government’s plan to enhance rail connection to the nation’s seaports.
“All seaports in Nigeria must be connected by rail; that is a policy of government. We have put in place a 25-year
modernisation programme for the rail system. With the master plan, we have taken rail from where the past government stopped into the seaports.
“For instance, the current Lagos-Kano rail line began from Ebute Metta. But when we came, we started another line from Ebute Metta to Apapa seaport. With this, when you bring in your goods, you turn them to the rail that takes them to the hinterland. The one from Lagos to Calabar will link the Calabar, Port Harcourt, and Onne seaports, and so on,” he stated.
The Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, who made a presentation on the measures by the federal government to tackle maritime security in the country, expressed the hope that women will play a major role in the execution of the anchor security scheme deep sea project.
