Economy
There is no doubt that the multi-billion dollar ultra-modern Lekki Deep Seaport and the flagship programme of the central bank, which is aimed at boosting foreign exchange earnings of the federal government, will succeed if only the operators and managers of these projects are committed and transparent in the discharge of their duties.
By Kennedy Nnamani
IT is almost a month after various stakeholders in the non-oil export sector gathered in Lagos for the central bank’s RT200 FX programme to find a lasting solution to the hurdles confronting non-oil exporters in the country.
It appears the outcome of this programme, which was the maiden edition, has already begun to manifest even before the 90-day period agreed upon by the stakeholders to come up with a workable plan to widen the bottleneck that exporters go through before their goods are exported.
During the first of the bi-annual non-oil export summit on Thursday June 16, 2022 in Lagos, Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, urged operators in the industry to collaborate to provide a dedicated route for exporters within the next 90 days.
In the same vein, while applauding the CBN for organizing the forum to promote non-oil exports in Nigeria, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Governor of Lagos State, promised that “before the end of the year” the Lekki Deep Sea Port should be open to all Nigerians.
Subsequently, the arrival of MV ZHEN HUA 28, the three Ship-to-Shore cranes and 10 Rubber-Tyred Gantries, on Friday, July 1, 2022, made history as the first vessel to drop its anchor at the multi-billion dollar ultra-modern Lekki Deep Seaport, Lagos, crossing from China to Nigeria through the Indian Ocean.
Daily Trust reported that “her arrival with cargo handling equipment meant for the port took about 30 days and was quite an achievement for the nation’s first deep seaport.”
The economic implication of this achievement, according to Daily Trust, is that“the commencement of operations at the port is also expected to save the country an estimated N130 billion yearly, which the country loses due to cargo diversion”.
“The multi-purpose, deep sea port in the Lagos Free Zone is expected to address these challenges and position Nigeria as the hub of the maritime sector in West and Central Africa,” the report said.
Mohammed Bello Koko, the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, described the seaport as the deepest seaport in West Africa, noting that this achievement is a game-changer in the maritime sector with the capacity to turn Nigeria into a shipping hub, boost the economy and create jobs.
However, according to the Guardian newspaper report, the Lekki port is expected to relieve the congestion and heavy gridlock along the Apapa and Tin Can ports corridor, while offering support to the growing commercial operations across Nigeria and the entire West African region.
But the residents along the corridor and stakeholders are expressing concerns and fears over what they foresee to be a possible replica of the Apapa and Tin Can ports corridor.
Although, the Lagos State Governor, had promised in May this year the construction of a six-lane road that will link the Lekki Deep Seaport to Shagamu in Ogun State, but the residents along this corridor are not convinced and they see it the usual promise of government that takes decades to implement.
Koko aligned with this when he said, during the RT200 summit, that “one of the first issues we realized many months ago was how to evacuate cargoes out of that region”. He also confirmed that the road has been awarded many years, but work has not started.
“With the Nigerian Port Authority and Lekki Deep Seaport, we realized that if that is not resolved, then that means we will be having a replica of what is happening in Apapa,” Koko said.
Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transportation, had earlier in the year promised to link the Lekki Deep Sea Port to the $11.5bn Lagos to Calabar coastal rail project through EPE if the owners of the sea port indicate interest.
However, while proffering solutions to the possible gridlocks that could befall the Deep Seaport corridor, Koko advised the management of the Lekki Deep Seaport to pay more attention to getting transit cargoes.
“What we are encouraging Lekki Deep Seaport to do is to first of all, concentrate on getting transit cargoes into Nigeria. These are cargoes that we used to have in those days until we lost them to the neighboring African counties,” he said.
This appears to be a win-win venture for the country based on the economic implication of this venture both in job creation and external investment.
“We have started discussions with Lekki Deep Seaport in terms of what tariff to be charged because transit cargoes are extremely sensitive to by-goods in the sense that the importer of those cargoes will bring them into the first location, which in this case is Lekki and then it will now have to move into another country.
“And Lekki Deep Seaport has come up with the tariff that we are looking at in the next few weeks and we will address that. We have been discussing with the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing in terms of the need to start reconstruction of that location,” Koko said.
In addition, he expressed optimism that the Lekki Deep Seaport will not be like Apapa port, saying “let me state that Lekki will not be like Tin Can and Apapa. In Tin Can and Apapa, you have to go there physically to a large extent for documentation, clearing and so on”, but for the Lekki Deep Seaport, he disclosed that it has “an automated portal where you can actually start the process of documentation and clearing of your goods from your home or from your office, so it means that physical presence will not be needed in Lekki and that will reduce human traffic there.
“For trucks, we have already started identifying locations where we will have truck parks. We’re discussing with private investors to create truck parks within that axis just as we also have outside the red corridor of Tin Can and Apapa Ports.
“It means that when you have those trucks in those locations, they only go to pick up their cargo when the cargo is loading for evacuation,” he added.
But for Emefiele, finding an easier way for exporters to take out their goods to other countries will generate export revenue to the government. He therefore suggested short term goals to the NPA, the Nigerian Customs Service in collaboration with the Bankers Committee.
He pleaded with them to establish a working group to perhaps “create some sort of dedicated route where exporters can easily export their goods in the short run” because “we need those export proceeds badly”.
The governor of the apex bank noted that “this is the time for us as a Banking Community to do more and support exporters, who have been flying the flag of Nigeria in the international market space. There is indeed no better time than now!”
The RT200 was unveiled in February this year by Emefiele as a flagship programme to increase foreign exchange in the country through non-oil exports. From all indications, all the stakeholders and officials of government believe that if this flagship programme of the CBN succeeds, it will boost the foreign exchange earnings of the government and tackle the problem of diverting Nigerian cargoes to neighboring African counties.
KN
Tags: Babajide Sanwo-Olu CBN Godwin Emefiele Kennedy Nnamani RT200 FX programme
