The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, has called for regional integration
and cooperation among the littoral and island states in the West and Central Africa to address the challenges in port operations, trade facilitation and eliminate trade barriers to fully unlock maritime endowment for collective economic prosperity.
Dantsoho, who is also the President of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA), made the call at the on-going 45th Annual Council Meeting and 20th Roundtable of Managing Directors in Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo.
PMAWCA and other stakeholders at the event,
he said, were duty-bound by posterity to unite, harness and deploy regional resources towards solving the issues that are militating against socio-economic progress of the region.
The event themed: ‘Reinventing Port Zones Management: Towards Sustainable and Resilient Valorization of Port Infrastructure, tackling Economic and Environmental Challenges’ was declared open by the Prime Minister and Head of the government of the Republic of Congo, Anatole Collinet Makosso, and brought together more than 350 delegates and experts across the continent of Africa and beyond.
While delivering his speech, Dantsoho
commended PMWCA for continually serving as a multilateral organ for regional cooperation amongst ports in West and Central Africa. He pointed out that one of the resources that the governments and people of the region can proudly speak about as a bloc is the ‘maritime endowment,’ Dantsoho however, bemoaned a situation where lack of resilient infrastructure is eroding growth, competitiveness of ports in the region and leading to significant economic losses, hampered development, and increased vulnerability for communities.
Infrastructure, he said, “is undoubtedly, an area in which port operations in Africa needs a lot of intervention through cooperation.”
To achieve the overarching objective of deploying blue economy endowments for the improvement of the lives and livelihoods of the people of the region, he pointed out that his “administration is specifically interested in the pivotal themes of Climate and Energy, Data Collaboration as well as Risk and Resilience.”
He, therefore, called for concerted efforts towards the formulation and implementation of good and robust policies for the optimum utilisation of waters for the growth of the economies expedient of the region.
The Managing Director, who was represented by the General Manager, Corporate & Strategic Communications of the Authority, Mr. Ikechukwu Onyemekara urged port operators and stakeholders in the maritime industry across the region, to translate their marine comparative advantages into opportunities for the collective prosperity of their respective countries and their people.
The call, Dantsoho said, became necessary because countries in the West and Central African region, “have a shared destiny and are largely connected by the same developmental challenges as well as a robust human capital base and natural resource endowments, he therefore, said, people in the region “are duty-bound by posterity to unite and deploy our resources towards solving those issues that militate against our socio-economic progress.”
To achieve the overarching objective of deploying the regional blue economy endowments for the improvement of the lives and livelihoods of the people, Dantsoho said, “my administration is especially interested in the pivotal themes of Climate and Energy, Data Collaboration as well as Risk and Resilience.”
Through our relevant technical committees and panel sessions, he said, ” we will continue to advance meaningful dialogue and action steps on Climate Action, Digitalization, Environmental Performance, Business Continuity and Crisis Management.
At the recently concluded World Port Conference 2025 in Kobe- Japan, Dantsoho said, PMAWCA, “made a commitment to deploy the three-pronged approach of Policy Implementation, Renewed Collaboration and Cooperation and Trade Facilitation to galvanise national and regional efforts towards institutionalizing necessary efficiencies and intra and inter-regional cooperation to eliminate barriers to trade and prosperity.
“We intend to fulfil every letter of this commitment, and I want to seize this occasion to graciously solicit the goodwill and support of everyone seated here towards its actualisation.
Although, the PMAWCA President recognised that countries in the region have physical national boundaries that separated them, but the waters, he said, ” are a natural source of connectivity and they seem like a subtle providential message that we must work together for the good of all our countries.
“Our theme for this year’s council “Reinventing Port Zones Management: Towards Sustainable and Resilient Valorization of Port Infrastructure, tackling Economic and Environmental Challenges” was advisedly chosen to reinforce our determination to harmoniously work together in seeking sustainable 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 growth, competitiveness and future-readiness of Ports is resilient infrastructure.
This, according to him, is undoubtedly, “an area in which port operations in Africa needs a lot of intervention through cooperation.
“I want to implore everyone of us as participants in this noble meeting to see yourselves as people opportune to stand in positions of responsibility on behalf of Africa.
” I say this because the maritime sector wherein you are fortunate to be active stakeholders is not only central to the facilitation of trade, but to the total integration of Africa for even development.
The PMAWCA President gave kudos to the Government and good people of the Republic of Congo and its frontline agency, the Port Authority of Pointe-Noire for accepting to host the regional meeting especially at this time he said, “when regional integration is most crucial to our attainment of collective economic prosperity as a sub-region.”
He also commended stakeholders from West and Central Africa, Institutional Partners and International observers for attended the “important meeting of minds.
“I commend my partners at the PMAWCA Secretariat for sustaining the annual event of cross fertilization of ideas and knowledge sharing for mutual development of our respective countries and the advancement of global trade,” Dantsoho said.
Other speakers at the conference include the
Mayor of Pointe -Noire Republic of Congo,
Evelynne TchitChelle, and the Director-General Autonomous Port of Pointe -Noire Republic of Congo, Bhalat Seraphin among others.
