The conventional seaports in Nigeria have always been: Lagos Port Complex and Tin Can Island Port Complex both in Lagos State, Calabar Port in Cross River State, Delta Ports in Warri, Delta State, Rivers Port Complex and the Onne Port; both in Rivers State.
Before the first of the expected deep sea ports, which is Lekki Deep Seaport opened for business this year, Apapa port had always enjoyed the glory of being the biggest port in Nigeria.
But the expansive and more modern Lekki Deep Seaport has since taken that glory. This is going by the facility it offers, and the size of the port.
It is a fact that the take-off of Lekki Port is the actualization of the objectives of establishing deep sea ports in Nigeria.
Yes, the two ports in Lagos have been over-stretched, and the effect is glaring for all to see. There is an obvious case of lack of planning about the future of both Apapa and Tin Can Island ports.
The Nigerian Ports Authority is however to be blamed for not envisaging that these ports will grow in terms of capacity. It is a fact that the two ports have been choked up due to a huge increase in cargo throughput over the years.
The state of the roads leading to these ports have also not helped matters. They are in a terrible shape and are deteriorating by the day. Efforts to reconstruct them have been ongoing for years. The end is not yet in sight, and this is because Nigeria lacks a government that is politically alive to the economic importance of good infrastructures to economic development
As far back as mid-2000 or thereabout, there had been plans for Lekki deep seaport and Badagry deep sea port. In addition to these two, there were plans to have similar ports in Ondo, Ogun and Akwa Ibom States.
Specifically, these ports were planned to be called Olokola deep seaport, Ibom deep sea port and lately, Ondo deep sea port and of course, Bonny Deep Seaport in Rivers State.
Its promoters say the Ibom deep seaport is designed for very large vessels that can load over 13,000 containers in one voyage. They project that it will be a transshipment port for smaller vessels to re-distribute cargo from the mega vessels to sea ports, river ports closer to the consignees within Nigeria and outside Nigeria.
The plan was that it would serve the West and Central African Region countries of Sao Tome &Principe, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroun, Angola, Gabon, Congo, Congo DRC, and Chad etc.
On its part, the Badagry port is to compete with Lekki, Tema, Lome and other deep seaports in the West African region, and generate about $54 billion revenue and create about 250,000 jobs.
The latest in the pack is the Ondo deep sea port. The port, whose approval was got before former President Muhammad Buhari left office, was first conceived as Olokola deep seaport as far back as 2004. The seaport is expected to gulp about $ 1 billion (about N461 billion), with the fund sourced through a public-private partnership.
The state says: “Our dream for this port of Ondo is to serve as a conduit for our goods, agricultural produce, and very soon, our bitumen”.
If all go as planned, the $2.5Billion Badagry deep sea port is expected to commence construction soon. The port may be ready in two years. The state governor, while announcing approval for the construction of Deep Sea Port in the Badagry axis, said the aim was to decongest Apapa and Tincan Island ports and bring in more investors into the state, noting that the state government was already in touch with a contractor for the construction of the port.
While we are not opposed to development of new deep seaports in the country, we are however perturbed about the rush to have as many as six.
They are nothing but white elephant projects. Why can’t the state government collaborate with the Federal Government to bring life to the ports in their axis? Why seek to establish ‘your own ports’?
For instance, we expect Akwa Ibom state government and Cross Rivers state government to see how Calabar port will be made more viable, rather than source for funds for Ibom deep seaport.
The two states can join hands with the Federal Government to address the shortcomings of the Calabar Port to make it viable. The challenges of Calabar Port are its limited draft, which has made it impossible for large vessels to call and the Ikom bridge challenge. These are not insurmountable.
In like manner, of what economic value is the Ondo sea port, which is estimated to cost about $1Billion. Where is the fund? Can the port survive, where is the cargo?
Available data confirm that container throughput at Lagos ports has hit two million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). Lagos ports account for almost 80 percent of the total volume of cargo handled by Nigerian ports.
This underscores the need for additional facilities and the best option in line with global trends is a deep seaport. Lekki port appears to be the answer to this quest.
The toughest of the pack is the Badagry port, which the state government sys is needed to shift development to the western flank of the state.
The state government says Lekki deep seaport is for the eastern flank and that the port it envisioned is to open up business opportunities in the other side of the state.
The question is: Does Nigeria need two deep seaport in Lagos? We think the answer is No. Both Lekki and Badagry have similar advantage of natural features for a port. Yes, natural harbours are great strategic naval and economic importance for nations, essentially because natural harbours reduce or eliminate the need for breakwaters which cost a fortune to construct
Whatever Badagry can offer as a deep seaport, Lekki may have beaten it to it. Lekki is the first deep sea port in Nigeria. It is expected to become a major cargo hub for West Africa. In addition to being the country’s first fully automated port and it is largest, it represents the first expansion of the country’s ports in 25 years and is part of an ambitious plan of development for the region.
No doubt, Lekki is one of Africa’s top six ports, and its owners expect that its modernity and expected efficiency will make Nigeria a regional hub. It is also Nigeria’s largest and first fully-automated port. It has more than doubled the capacity of Lagos’ ports, which had remained the same for about 25 years.
