President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday in Lagos praised the efforts of the Minister of Transportation; Mr Rotimi Amaechi towards making the Lekki Deep Sea Port a reality, and directed him to consult and bring up a memorandum to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) to link the facility with the railway network.
As part of his engagements in Lagos, the President inspected the rate of work done at the first Deep Sea Port in Nigeria located in Lagos Free Zone, 65kilometres east of Lagos.
In the course of the inspection, the President received firm assurances that the port, which has a concession period of 45 years and sits on a land area of 90 hectares, will be completed on schedule by September.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari is delighted at the pace of the construction work on the Lekki Deep Sea Port.
The Minister stated this while responding to questions from the media shortly after the visit of the President to the port.
”When I was making the case for the President on why he needed to come to the seaport, most people did not understand why. Do you see the huge difference between when we came two weeks ago and now?
”There are two reasons why I asked the president to visit the seaport. The first one is to publicise the seaport so that people will know that this government is building a seaport which is the first in Nigeria.
“The other ports you have in Nigeria are all river ports because they tilt off the sea.
”The second reason was to put the heat on them and with that, we are almost ready. If not for the equipment, they can actually get this place ready before June
”But they said all the equipment are arriving by June and installation will take them till September and it can be commissioned by September.
”You see the miracle of bringing the president to this place. That is why the president must also inspect projects. It will hasten the process if there is money for completion,” Amaechi said.
On the relocation of about 5,000 inhabitants around the port, the minister said he would communicate with the Lagos State government on measures to acquire the land.
According to Amaechi, the traffic witnessed at other ports like the Apapa port, will not be witnessed in Lekki as all goods will not be brought to the Lekki port.
”This is a private port; no agency will run here. They will be present but they will not run it because it is a private port. It is also an automated port, so the traffic witnessed at Apapa will not be here.
”Also, all goods won’t come to Lagos. Goods will go to Warri and Port Harcourt, so what government needs to do is to either rehabilitate those ports or build new ones.
”I am convinced that we will commence work on Bonny deep seaport before we leave office”, he said.
Also speaking, the Managing Director, Nigeria Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello-Koko, reiterated that the Lekki port would ensure speedy delivery and clearing of cargoes.
”So what it means is that there will be a reduction in the traffic and the pressure on Tin Can an and Apapa ports, so we are very happy at the NPA that this is happening.
”Don’t forget also that there’ll be ship to shore crane at these ports location. What this means is that more goods will be able to process faster, the draft is about 16. 5 meters.
”There is no port with that kind of draft in this country currently, so it means bigger vessels will come in, it also means that we are going to get back some of the businesses we have lost to the neighboring countries because of the draft limitation at the existing ports, “he said.
According to Bello-Koko, the port will generate more employment to the value chain, add to the GDP of the country and increase revenue for the NPA.
He said that the Lekki port when operational would result in healthy competition for other terminal operators as they would be forced to up their game.
Bello-Koko said plans were underway to link the Lagos-Ibadan rail to the Lekki port.
He also said that the government intended to rehabilitate the Tin Can port and possibly increase its depth.
The President was received at the port site by top management of the promoters of the project – Lekki Port LFZ Enterprises Limited (LPLEL) led by the Chairman of the board, Mr. Biodun Dabiri; Director, Alhaji Olabode Oyedele; the Managing Director, Du Ruogang; Managing Director – Africa, Tolaram, Mr. Haresh Aswani and the former Chairman of the company and former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Chief Joseph Sanusi among others.
The President was accompanied on the visit by many dignitaries, including top government functionaries, captains of industries, including the Governor of Lagos, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Governors of Ekiti, Cross Rivers Kastina, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Kano, Plateau, and Nasarawa, among others.
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Some of the other dignitaries include the former Governor of Lagos, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu; Chairman and CEO, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote; the Minister of State for Health, Senator Olorunnibe Mamora; Minister of Industry, Cooperative and Commerce, Otunba Niyi Adebayo; Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Magdalene Ajani; the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Muhammad Bello-Koko; the Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) among other heads of agencies and dignitaries.
Also speaking during the visit, the Chief Executive Officer, Lekki Port LFTZ Enterprise Limited, Mr. Du Ruogang, expressed the profound appreciation of the company to the President for the visit and the immense support the project has received since its inception, stating that the team remains committed to delivering the project as scheduled.
Ruogang further assured that the company is working round the clock to complete the construction as scheduled by September to ensure that commercial operations commence by the fourth quarter of 2022.
“We are indeed very pleased and grateful to His Excellency, the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari for the visit to Lekki Port today; this day will remain a memorable one in the history of this Port, we sincerely thank the President and all the dignitaries that accompanied here today even as we look forward to having them soon for the official commissioning,” he said.
Also speaking during the visit, the Managing Director of Lekki Freeport Terminal, the terminal operator for the Port, Mr Denrick Moos, assured that the port operation would be a world class and efficient one leveraging technology in the automation of its processes.
Moos commended both the promoters and partners of the project including Tolaram and China Harbour Engineering Company for their commitment towards the timely delivery of the project ahead of operational readiness.
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