Despite securing a $700m loan for the rehabilitation of the Apapa and Tincan Island Ports in Lagos, the Federal Government has yet to commence work on the two major seaports in Nigeria.
In April, media reported that the Nigerian Ports Authority secured a $700m loan from Citibank for the rehabilitation of the Apapa and Tincan Island Ports in Lagos.
The loan was funded by the UK Export Finance, an export credit agency.
Announcing this in a statement, the NPA said it had also opened discussions with another funding agency to finance the upgrading of the Eastern Ports, including Calabar, Warri, Onne, and Rivers Ports, as well as the reconstruction of Escravos Breakwater.
Speaking in Lagos during the signing of the mandate letter with Citibank Nigeria, the then Managing Director of NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, said the mandate letter would be sent to the Debt Management Office for final review and approval.
Bello-Koko said the funds were ready and the reconstruction of the Lagos ports would start soonest.
He added that the NPA had perfected plans to sign another mandate letter for the upgrading of the Eastern Ports in about a month.
“In the last two years, NPA has realised the need to rehabilitate and reconstruct the ports all over the country. We have been having discussions with multilateral funding agencies that have sent various proposals that we have reviewed.
“What we did was to further the discussion with interested parties, and we realised it better to separate the ports in Lagos from the ports in the east, and we are in discussion with other funding agencies to fund the construction of ports outside Lagos,” Bello-Koko said.
He said the Citibank facility was the cheapest for the NPA because it came with affordable interest rates.
“Port efficiency is not about automation, which we have already begun; it’s also about the physical infrastructure, which must be in place, and that’s why we are automating. Automation will naturally bring efficiency, increase revenue, and plug leakages, “he said.
Meanwhile, in July, the newly appointed Managing Director of the NPA, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, said that speedy rehabilitation of dilapidated port infrastructure across the nation was a top priority.
He said adequate port infrastructure and robust collaboration with stakeholders would enable the nation’s seaports to attain improved revenue generation through efficiency and productivity.
However, despite these moves, the port rehabilitation seems to be a mirage with no work yet to commence.
Reacting to this development, a maritime group, Research at Sea Empowerment Research Centre, in a document titled, ‘Re: Delayed implementation of the $700m ports rehabilitation budget, matters of concern’, obtained by The PUNCH on Monday, said the situation at Nigerian ports was indeed concerning.
The group’s Head of Research, Mr Eugene Nweke, stressed that the lack of implementation of the approved rehabilitation budget is exacerbating the issues.
Iweke expresses the centre’s concern over the continuous delay in the implementation of the port rehabilitation.
“Equally, the centre offers to draw government attention over a need to put in place a milestone implementation processes/plans and a definitive rehabilitation project vision to drive the implementation,” Nweke said.
He urged the government to immediately commence the implementation of the approved $700m rehabilitation budget.
According to him, implementing the rehabilitation process will help address the pressing concerns at the ports, such as congestion, poor berth production, and ship turnaround time.
He advised the government to establish a transparent project management system to ensure that the rehabilitation works are carried out efficiently and effectively.
“This includes setting up a project monitoring team, regular progress updates, and a clear communication channel with stakeholders,” Nweke stated.
He emphasised the need for the government to prioritise the most critical infrastructure that needs rehabilitation, such as the quay walls, cranes, and handling equipment.
Nweke who is also a former President of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, pointed out that the government should also address the underlying issues that have led to the current state of the ports, like, “inadequate maintenance and repair of existing infrastructure, insufficient investment in new infrastructure and technology, inefficient port operations and management, corruption and bureaucratic inefficiencies.”
He reiterated the need for the government to invest in modern technology, such as port management systems, to improve efficiency, reduce costs, and enhance the overall port experience.
Also speaking, the President-General of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Adewale Adeyanju, said it would be difficult for the lives of workers working “in those dilapidated places to be safe.”
Adeyanju added, “By now, the contractors are supposed to be on-site and should have started working.
“How do you expect the lives of dockworkers to be safe when some terminals in the ports are not safe? Go to many terminals they are nothing to write home about, the quay aprons are gone. If someone collects a loan of $700m and up till now work has not commenced, the question you need to ask is where is the money?
“Where are the contractors? I think by now they must have signed the agreement because I remembered that before Bello-Koko left as NPA MD, he said they had secured a loan of $700m and that by now the contractors should have started.”
When contacted, the General Manager of Corporate and Strategic Communications of NPA, Mr Ikechukwu Onyemekara, said the necessary documents have been submitted and that the rehabilitation will start by the second quarter of 2025.
He said, “The loan has been secured. The mandate letter was signed mid-last year because when you secure a loan there is a mandate letter to sign. The UK Export Finance requested a few more documents which include the Environmental Impact Assessment report.
“The information, a memorandum about the authority, and an independent analysis of our financial viability are the few documents they required which have been submitted to them. So mobilisation to cite will commence by the second quarter of this year by the grace of God.”
He further noted that securing the loan had been done but noted that “when you secure a loan like that there are one or two documents which you are supposed to submit and we have done that. So by the second quarter of this year, they (contractors) will mobilise to site.”
Punch
