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By Moses Ebosele, ebosele@hotmail.com –
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria has advised African Nations to take full advantage of maritime endowment within the continent as part of measures to strengthen economic development.
Speaking on Monday at the opening ceremony of the International Association For Ports and Harbours (IAPH), Africa Regional Conference, in Abuja, Buhari explained that Nations in Africa are largely connected by the same developmental challenges “as well as large human capital and natural endowments”.
According to Buhari, it behooves on African Nations to work together and “deploy our resources towards solving those issues that militate against us”.
Buhari said: “A situation in which at least 39 of the 54 countries on the continent are either littoral or island states makes the formulation of policies for the effective utilisation of our waters for the growth of our economies expedient.
“This, in a sense, seems to be a divine ordination of our desire for continental integration. Even though we have physical national boundaries that separate us, the waters are a natural source of connectivity and they seem like a subtle message that we must work together for the good of all our countries.
“This is why there could be no better time than now to hold this conference. The theme of the conference:African Ports and Hinterland Connectivity is itself a testament of thedetermination of the organisers of the conference to, collectively seek lasting solutions to the challenges that port operations face on the continent. After the issues of adequate security and transparency, the one other important factor deciding the competitiveness of ports is that efficiency with which cargoes are evacuated to and from the ports. This, without doubt is an area in which port operations in Africa needs a lot of intervention.
“Of course, there are on-going discussions in Nigeria and other African countries on the expediency of urgently investing in infrastructure that supports multi-modal means of transportation between our ports and the hinterland, meetings like this put the issues in proper perspectives and serve as avenue for the generation of ideas that would aid our national governments formulate effective policies.
“This administration that I am privileged to lead is committed to rebuilding infrastructure that supports multimodal means of transportation from the ports to the hinterland. We understand that this interconnectivity will improve the country’s economic competitiveness as targeted under the Economic Recovery and Growth. So for starters, I have directed that every port must have the complement of rail infrastructure. Our projections is that by the end of 2021, we will have standard gauge railway across the main North-South trading route””.
Earlier in his speech, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi informed participants that the present administration of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is committed to the optimal development and utilisation of the nation’s port potentials.
He said: “Our desire in Nigeria is to have ports that are not just part of transport and logistics supply chains in themselves, but Ports which are landlocked transit corridors anddirectly connected through rail to the inland Dry Ports for efficient evacuation of cargoes. We are as a result committed to developingthe intermodal transport system as amechanismto reinvigorate the conveyance of maritime logistics”.
He explained that the task of opening up the hinterland becomes a challenge “that requires urgent response which this administration has provided and we are totally determined to strategically link up the thirty- six (36) state capitals with the Federal Capital, Abuja with standard gauge rail services”.
Speaking in a similar vein, the Vice President of IAPH, Africa Region, Hadiza Bala Usman explained that IAPH was established in 1955 to promotethe development of ports and create a worldwide synergy for effectiveness amongst all member countries through strong member relationships.
Bala Usman who is also the Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) explained that in the 63 years of IAPH existence, “the association has grown into a global alliance representing 180 Members Ports and 140 Port related businesses in 90 countries”.
According to Bala Usman, IAPH promotes collaborations and information-sharing “which helps to resolve common issues and continually improve on service of ports to the maritime industries”.
“Some of the common strategies the association employs to achieve its mission of strengthening relationships among member ports include: facilitating interactions and ideas sharing for problem-solving and formulation of best practices policies”.
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