By Mosess Ebosele, ebosele@hotmail.com —
Today, the leading ports for West Africa are in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic, President of Africa Development Bank (AfDB), Akinwumi Adesina has said.
According to Adesina, these countries have modernized their port management systems, leaving Nigeria far behind.
Speaking on Monday in Abuja at the Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat, Adesina said Nigeria’s development efforts will depend on the ports of Nigeria.
“According to the sector operators, the cost of exporting 100 tons of cargo in Nigeria is $35,000, compared to $4,000 in Ghana.
“Nigeria can learn from Morocco’s world-class Tangier-Med port. The port is unique in that it is an industrial port complex and a platform that has over 1,100 companies.
“They collectively exported over € 8 billion worth of goods in 2020.
Companies located at the Tangier-Med port have allowed Morocco to move up the global value chains, including automobiles, automotive parts, aeronautics, agriculture and food manufacturing, textiles, and logistics.
“Annually, over 460,000 cars are manufactured in the zone for exports.
“And more interesting is that the bulk of the human resources to do these are Moroccans.
“I took a walk at the Tangier-Med Port. I actually thought they were on vacation, as I did not see people — just machines, haulers, automated systems moving containers in what looked like a well-synchronized maze, with incredible efficiency. There were no kilometers of trucks waiting to get to the port“, said Adesina
Declaring the event open, President Buhari explained that the Midterm Ministerial review is aimed that reviewing each minister’s program, identifying key impediments to implantation and re-strategizing on how to accelerate delivery of results given the country’s economic situation.
Buhari urged ministers to work closely with permanent secretaries to ensure accelerated and effective delivery of the programs and projects in their respective primary areas of focus.
He also disclosed that the Secretary to the Government has been directed to consolidate efforts at strengthening the work of the delivery unit, in a bid to attain effective implementation of government policies and plans within the remaining period of the administration.
