WASHINGTON: The Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Malam Habib Abdullahi, has called for the promotion of exportation of agro-allied products to boost the economy. He said he was angry that about 90 per cent of container traffic left the ports empty.
The NPA boss urged the public and private sectors to support the governments efforts to diversify the economy. X-raying the ports’ first quarter operations, he said maritime activities dropped compared with the same period last year. He said: “The commodity analysis revealed that though all cargo types declined during the period under review, however, containers and general cargo traffic contributed significantly to the overall drop in cargo throughput.
“There is an urgent need to complement the efforts of the NPA’s massive investments in infrastructural renewal and automation of our port operations, by generating enough export cargo to make up for the shortfall of imported cargo in our ports.’’ The NPA, he said, has met with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) and Abuja Commodities & Exchange Commission on the promotion of solid minerals and agro-allied products to boost the economy.
The Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and Nigerian Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture (NACIMA), he said, had also briefed. “The interactive sessions could be said to be productive, especially in information sharing and data exchange,” Abdullahi said.
NPA’s General Manager, Public Affairs, Captain. Iheanacho Ebubeogu, said 1,131 ocean-going vessels and crude oil tankers with a total Gross Tonnage (GT) of 59.4 million called at the ports between January and March. “In the period under review, Lagos Port Complex (LPC) recorded a Gross Tonnage of 8.1 million, showing a decrease of 11.5 per cent from 9.2 million tonnes achieved in 2015.
“A total of 296 vessels were handled in the period under review at the LPC. Tin Can Island Port handled a total Gross Tonnage of 11.8 million, showing a decline of 1.2 per cent compared to Gross Tonnage of 12.2 million achieved in the corresponding quarter of 2015. “A total of 417 vessels were handled at the Tin-Can Port in the period under review. Calabar Port complex handled a total Gross Tonnage of 776,718, showing a decline of 15.4 per cent from 918, 237 gross tonnage recorded in 2015. A total of 46 vessels were handled in Calabar port this same period,’’ he said.
