Even as vehicular movement into and out of Apapa port has recently proved difficult due to on-going road rehabilitation, operators at the Ikorodu Terminal have called on the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA); Hadiza Bala Usman to ease the congestion at the Apapa port by directing some of the cargoes to Ikorodu through smaller vessels and badges.
The operators noted that rather than queue up endlessly in order to pick cargoes at the Apapa port, importers should be directed to pick up their cargoes at the Ikorodu facilities which according to them is currently lying fallow.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily correspondent who visited the terminal last week, Chairman of the Association of Nigeria Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) Ikorodu chapter, Prince Jimoh Lawal noted that all that is needed is for the NPA to renovate the quay apron at the jetty, dredge the channels leading to Ikorodu and put a face lift to the government warehouse.
Although, the managing director of NPA; Hadiza Bala Usman had said at a function recently that Ikorodu terminal will be designated for non-oil exports, the ANLCA chairman however charged her not to make this an empty pronouncement, but to act on it immediately.
Prince Lawal said that the last time cargoes were transferred to Ikorodu was in 2009 during mass transfer of overtime containers by the NPA.
“We got the information that NPA wants to designate here for export, it is going to favour us because this place would become busy and this would encourage other investors to come in, it will create a lot of activities”
“First, it will address drastically the problem of the traffic at the modern port. It will also be easier for exporters when they are coming either from Ijebu Ode, Sagamu, Kaduna or Kano to access Ikorodu terminal instead of going to queue up at Apapa. We have enough space here and the warehouse is working, so things would be easier here for trucks to come in and go out”.
He however lamented that the process of mass transfer of overtime containers has since stopped because the NPA is no longer doing mass transfer; he said that what operators are doing to keep the terminal alive is individual self-transfer.
“There are facilities on ground to fast track clearing of cargoes; we have the Customs CPC here for the processing of all necessary documents. What needed to be provided is electricity and minor renovations. The road construction at Apapa would cause delay in cargo clearance and Ikorodu should be an alternative to ease the pressure”
Shipping Position Daily recalls that the NPA boss, Hadiza Bala Usman had recently promised that necessary facilities would be in place to drive exportation of solid minerals and agricultural produce through the terminal.
“NPA is already prioritizing some terminals, strictly for export, including the Ikorodu Container Terminal,’’ Usman said.
She, however, said that the only challenge with the Ikorodu Terminal was the problem of low headroom of the three bridges across the lagoon. But the NPA boss gave an assurance that several alternatives were being considered.
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