Nigeria’s trade volume with the United States (U.S.) reached $5.3billion in 2015, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) said yesterday.
Speaking at a trade forum organised by the NPA to welcome the Miami-Dade County, Florida Business Development Mission to Lagos, its Managing Director, Hadiza Bala Usman said Nigeria’s trading volume with America stands at $5.3billion.
Represented by the Executive Director, Engineering and Technical Services, Prof Sanni Abubakar, she said goods exported from Nigeria to the U.S stood at $1.9 billion while the imports from the same country stood at $3.4billion.
She said U.S goods trade surplus with Nigeria was $1.5billion.
Exports to Nigeria from the U.S include wheat, vehicles, machinery, kerosine, lubricants, jet fuel, civilian aircraft and plastics.
The items the U.S imported from Nigeria include crude oil, cocoa, cashew nut and animal feeds.
She said the Federal Government is determined to develop the nation’s sea ports to handle increased volumes of exports and imports that will aid its economic development programmes.
According to her, the trade mission is to engage and foster bilateral trade, commercial ties, maritime services and technical exchanges between the port of Miami, the NPA and other African ports.
The forum, she said, was organised to expand the bilateral relationship between the two countries and establish beneficial trade framework.
NPA, she said, is collaborating with the port of Miami to reposition the sea ports to play a key role in the nation’s economy and urged the visiting officials to tap the abundant investment opportunities in Nigeria.
Meanwhile, the Senate has advised investors to take advantage of viability in the ports to invest in the sector.
Chairman, Senate Committee on Marine Transport, Ahmed Sanni Yerima said the Senate has passed the Nigerian Ports and Harbours Authority (NPHA) Bill and in the verge of enacting the National Transport Commission (NTC) as an independent multimodal transport sector regulator.
Represented by Senator Ovie Omo-Agege, Yerima stated that for a more efficient maritime sector and maintenance of global shipping standards, the National Assembly has consistently raised the bar with good laws.
“The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) Act was enacted for the regulation of international shipping within our maritime domain recently.
“The Senate moved boldly to further re-engineer our maritime sector by passing the NPHA Bill to promote responsible and globally competitive shipping operations in Nigeria. We are also on the verge of enacting an Act to establish the game changing NTC as an independent multimodal transport sector regulator.