Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) made it possible for some otherwise small-scale Nigerian entrepreneurs to become big and attain global status, says Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hajia Hadiza Bala Usman. Some entrepreneurs who have achieved global reckoning through the support of NPA, according to Usman, include Africa’s richest man, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Honeywell, Otunba Obafemi Otudeko, industrialists Alhaji Wahab Folawiyo and Dr Samuel Adedoyin among others.
Unman said NPA assisted the entrepreneurs by giving them space to develop their factories in the port thereby growing their businesses and contributing to the economic advancement of the country.
She said NPA would continue to take deliberate steps to promote the activities of small and medium scale entrepreneurs and foreign investors in the country to boost economic growth.
Speaking through the Assistant General Manager Commercial Services and Port Promotions, Abdulrahamaamn Lamina, at the Kano International Trade Fair last week, the NPA boss said her organisation “sees entrepreneurship as important engine of growth” and “would always support those who have the capacity and willingness to develop, organise, run and manage profitable businesses across the country”.
The theme of the Trade Fair was Attracting Entrepreneurs and Investors towards National Economic Growth.
The theme, she said, was appropriate because the country is going through “a turbulent economic recession” with the Federal Government encouraging “every Nigerian to look inward in a bid to create alternative ways of developing the economy apart from oil”.
The Federal Government, she added, has institutionalised policies that are geared towards attracting investors and focusing on non-oil sector to encourage entrepreneurial participation to boost the nation’s depleting foreign reserves.
She said NPA is playing and will continue to play a major role in facilitating the Federal Government’s policies aimed at encouraging entrepreneurs and attracting investors to promote the economy. This she said is evident with the presence of private terminal operators at the ports.
The huge investment made by the terminal operators, she said, has led to greater efficiency in cargo handling, port operations and increase in the revenue generated for the government.
She urged small and medium scale entrepreneurs to tap into the low export tariffs and other opportunities provided by the Federal Government through NPA to boost the economy.
She appealed to captains of industries, heads of parastatals and entrepreneurs to partner with the Federal Government in creating vibrant and stable economy.
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