Maritime
THE Federal Government on Thursday regretted that only 4,000km of Nigeria’s 10,000km waterways is navigable.
The Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Boss Mustapha, disclosed this at the Nigeria – Ukraine Trade and Investment Roundtable held in Abuja.
Mustapha sought partnership with Ukraine to enable the Federal Government to further develop its waterways.
Such step, he said, would reduce the pressure on the nation’s roads.
“Nigeria has 10,000km waterways and 4,000km is navigable. I believe that if the waterway is fully developed, it can take away pressure from our roads as a bulk of our cargoes can go on our waterways,” Mustapha said.
He also called for increased trade volume between Nigeria and Ukraine which he said stood at $93.3m as of November 2017.
He expressed the hope that with the visit of the Ukrainian delegation, the trade volume between the two countries will increase.
“The visit came at a time Nigeria is pursuing economic growth that will aid its vision of being among top 20 economies in the world.
“As at November last year, trade volume between Nigeria and Ukraine was $93.3m which was a decrease by four percent in 2016. With your visit, we hope the volume of trade would increase in 2018,” he said.
On her part, the Deputy Minister for Economic Development and Trade of Ukraine, Natalia Mykolska, described Nigeria as a long-standing friend of Ukraine.
She noted that Nigerian students in Ukraine are the best ambassadors for both countries.
“Nigeria is a strategic partner, we believe trade is not a one-way street, we need to think of import, export and joint cooperation. – Punch
– Apr. 5, 2018 @ 16:25 GMT
AE
Tags: 000km of Nigeria’s waterways navigable Only 4 says FG
