The Executive Secretary of Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Pius Akutah has said that the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy is developing a holistic new policy document for the maritime economy.
He said this when he paid a courtesy visit to the TinCan Island Container Terminal (TICT) on Thursday.
“The policy document will soon be out and it will guide us on how to approach issues in which port efficiency is a major focus,” he said.
“We can achieve a lot through agency collaboration to restructure what we have at the port but the generality of it is to look at the efficiency of the port system which cannot be achieved overnight.
“We would do our best to see that within the next four years, we would do what we can to move this sector forward. The challenges are enormous but not insurmountable. We are going to surmount them and we have started already.
“Mr President is looking at having a billion-dollar economy to a trillion economy at the end of four years and the Marine and Blue Economy Ministry is one of the pivotal ministry that will drive this economy to that level. And if you see what the president is trying to do in the sector, it is to rebuild the entire sector from the marine aspect, bringing in the blue economy into it and you know that this is heavy investment so, we are looking at collaborating with the private sector to partner with us. We will provide an enabling environment for the private sector to invest heavily in the sector to achieve the dream of the sector,” Akutah said.
The Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of TICT, Etienne Rocher, assured the NSC boss of support in addressing challenges and boosting investment at the port.
He said TICT has been a major contributor to the Nigerian Economy since 1961 through imports, logistics, shipping services.
Mr. Rocher also said that TICT introduced barging of goods from the port many years ago even before it became a popular alternative for taking goods out of the port.
He listed the challenges confronting port operations to include poor port access roads, multiple checkpoints and traffic congestion on the roads.