willingness to support Nigeria’s maritime sector with $40million.
The fund is expected to be used to clear the traffic gridlock along ports access roads in Apapa, Lagos.
The Executive Secretary of the Council, Mr. Hassan Bello, who spoke
in Abuja yesterday at a press briefing, said the move was aimed at
making the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) more efficient.
He also said it will also ensure that oil pipelines were used to transport petroleum products rather than using tankers.
He said: “No matter how efficient the terminal is, if you don’t have
the road to evacuate cargo, how will you move your goods out of the
ports? So there must be an intervention and in that regard, the NSC has
introduced NAFITH to NPA
“Now NAFITH, an international finance corporation which is an arm of
the World Bank, is bringing $40million to put an end to the traffic
situation in Apapa.
“The fund is meant to improve logistics around the Apapa, Tin Can and
Orile areas where every time, there are over 5,000 trucks on that axis.
But what are they doing there? What we need is about 1,500 trucks in
Apapa vicinity logistically, but you find about 5,000. So what are the
other 3,500 trucks doing? They are doing nothing.
“So, the idea is to have an electronic passage where a truck is in
Apapa only when it is needed to pick or drop cargo. The tankers too
don’t need to be there for the pipelines will do the transportation of
products. The moment we have the pipelines pumping to Mosimi and other
flow stations, then we don’t need the tankers in Apapa. So all these
things are what the World Bank is coming to do in order to solve, once
and for all, the gridlock in Apapa.”
Bello also urged the Federal Government to support agencies in the
sector in making the ports more efficient in their various operations,
adding that one major way to achieve this was by automating the
facilities.
