The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has welcomed the proposal by the Port of Dubai to establish industrial park to complement the ports and provide logistics base for processing for exports in Nigeria.
Oyetola stated this when he received a delegation from the DP World, affirming that the government is open to investments in the sector
The minister in a statement issued Sunday by the Director of Information and Public Relations, Anastasia Ogbonna also assured that the ministry would provide the needed impetus to interested parties for such ventures.
He said: “We have an extensive coastline and abundance of lands suitable for the development of industrial parks.
“I urged the delegation to bring forth a formal proposal for the interest for consideration by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).”
The minister noted that the federal government was keen on deepening the private sector in the ports.
He added that apart from ongoing modernisation plan to increase the draught level of the nation’s ports to a range of between 16-16.5 meters, to regain Nigeria’s status as a transshipment hub, government is working to digitise and automate all port processes to reduce human and physical interface to the barest minimum.
Oyetola said: “These initiatives include but are not limited to: implementing the Cargo Tracking System, the Port Community System, and the National Single Window. And are geared towards increasing efficiency and reducing turn-around- time at the ports.”
In his remarks, the leader of the delegation, Sultan Ahmed Bin-Sulayem, disclosed that the company operates in 48 countries and has over 90 terminals around the world with registered presence in most African countries.
He further informed that DP World runs one of the most efficient port systems in the world and hope to deploy their expertise and experience in Nigerian port systems if given the opportunity.