Dantsoho: FG Reforms Position Nigeria for Greater Export Growth

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, has stated that exports from Nigeria have increased by over 25 per cent in the last two years due to the policies of the Federal Government.
He stated this while speaking at the ongoing Annual World Ports Conference in London, organised by the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH).

According to him, Nigeria’s population gives the country an immense advantage among its peers in West and Central Africa, adding that recent reforms have also significantly increased cargo throughputs.

Specifically, he said, “So for us in Nigeria, the most important thing is that we are seeing growth as a result of this policy that we are taking. Statistically, the exports from Nigeria in the last two years have increased by 25%. And these are exports that are not mainly only oil and gas.

In terms of oil and gas, like I mentioned, we are doing fantastically around that, but also in other areas of manufacturing and agriculture, including raw materials like cocoa and cashew. Volumes have increased, and this is to the credit of the partnership that we have between ourselves and the major terminal operators, APM Terminals.”

He said the NPA has put everything in place to sustain the growth in exports, adding that this informed the establishment of the Export Processing Terminal.

“We have got about four of those in Nigeria where we collaborate with the terminal operators, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and other agencies that have a stake. So that everything regarding the processing of the cargo for export is done locally, so that by the time it is exported out of Nigeria, there will not be issues regarding standards,” he added.

He said Nigeria is better positioned today to take advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) as a result of the reforms introduced by the present administration.

“Nigeria’s economy is very strong now because of our president’s reforms, which everyone can testify is attracting investors to the country. So because of that, we are leading other African countries to ensure that we export or trade within ourselves in a free and fair manner. So between, for example, Nigeria and Morocco, there’s a lot of exchange of ideas because Morocco is now a hub for the manufacturing of electric cars and other smaller cars,” he added.
He noted that the reforms were also responsible for Nigeria having two ports among the top 20 in the latest global ports ranking by the World Bank.

The NPA boss affirmed, “This is the result of hard work and efficiency because we are collaborating efficiently. And so we have identified that this is getting us a lot of good results. It’s result-oriented; it’s technology-based. So we are going to continue to consolidate on the relationship we have with major players in Morocco and South Africa.”

He revealed that, as a result of the reforms, revenue generated from ports across Nigeria had quadrupled.

“We have experienced a lot of increase in volumes and revenue that has been generated by the ports across Nigeria, and it is strictly because of the collaboration between us and other countries. As a matter of fact, the efficiency in the ports in Nigeria is far better now than those of other West African countries.

“I am saying this because, as the president of the Association of Ports in West and Central Africa, we have the same dashboard to know the performance of other ports in the regions. There has also been improvement in Tanzania and Kenya. So it’s a very good feeling that this collaboration is getting us the desired results, and we have to consolidate and also make sure that we progress on time so that we don’t allow the detraction to begin to slow us down.”

He said the Federal Government, in its medium- to long-term plans, is investing $1 billion to expand and modernise the Apapa ports.

“So expansion and modernisation of infrastructure require that we collaborate with private sector people. And in that area, like I said, we are working with APMT, we are working with other bigger players who have got the capital. But this is a project that requires a lot of investment. You have to put a lot of money to be able to do that. We are also working with some partners to develop our technology. So, for example, in recent times, like a year ago, we had a partnership with a firm from Singapore.

“We have developed a simple window system. And right now, we are also working with another company from Abu Dhabi to develop the port community system. It is not only us partnering with the private sector; there’s also, in the private sector, business-to-business relationships,” he said.