he Federal Government has expressed readiness to partner foreign investors in other to develop a robust inter-modal transportation system for the country.
Speaking at the 12th Intermodal Africa Conference and Exhibition hosted by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in Lagos yesterday, Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar who declared the event open, said that government is taking advantage of the event to share ideas and tap from the knowledge of various participants in order to grow the shipping sector.
he Federal Government has expressed readiness to partner foreign investors in other to develop a robust inter-modal transportation system for the country.
Speaking at the 12th Intermodal Africa Conference and Exhibition hosted by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in Lagos yesterday, Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar who declared the event open, said that government is taking advantage of the event to share ideas and tap from the knowledge of various participants in order to grow the shipping sector.
According to Umar, the event which hosted participants from seventeen countries will create an enabling environment for the world best investors to promote their services.
"This event creates the enabling environment for the world's best developers and manufacturers of plants, equipment and transport industry data solution providers to network, market and promote their equipment and services"
"This is a forum where we bring together maritime players in the African continent for us to share ideas, more that seventeen countries are participating and this is a good development"
"The idea is to bring together big companies from the continent, get their experience, get their knowledge and discuss on ideas on how to move our maritime industry forward and I think we are doing that." Umar said.
In order to ensure inter-modalism in Nigeria, Umar assured the participant that the government has approved the construction of the Lekki Deepsea port, and that work is going on for the development of other deepsea pors so as to decongest the ports in Lagos.
Chief Executive Officer of Transport Events Management Limited, Rory J. Doyle; organizers of the event disclosed that more than 220 persons are participating in the event, and that 35registered companies were also participating in the event.
On his part, Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Mallam Habib Abdullahi pointed out that many of the exhibitors are companies based abroad.
"It is geared towards the maritime industry and people that want to invest, it is normally held annually, now it is the tun of Nigeria in other to allow stakeholder showcase their opportunities"
"So many of the companies you see are based here and many of them are also based abroad"
"Most of the people here are trying to partner Nigeria, this is a place where you can grab opportunity and do business" Habeeb said
Meanwhile, speaking with Shipping Position Daily on the sidelines of the conference, Chairman of Port Consultative Council (PCC) Otunba Kunle Folarin affirmed that the 12th Intermodal Africa is key to our national development
Folarin pointed out that emphasis must be laid to ensure that all modes of transport in Nigeria are utilized.
"New ideas are going to come up which are not in use today, for example, we have seen that we have to develop a policy that will de-emphasise only one mode of transport system, we have seen that we need investment in other areas of the mode" he said.
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