Maritime: Nigeria Gets $40m From World Bank

By Dipo Olowookere

The maritime industry in Nigeria has received a boost following the sum of $40 million given by World Bank to support the sector.

The fund is expected to be used to clear the traffic gridlock along ports access roads in Apapa, Lagos.

According to the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), World Bank decided to help the sector so as to make the Nigeria Port Authority (NPA) more efficient.

Speaking at a press conference in Abuja on Friday, Executive Secretary of NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, the money would be used to put in place oil pipelines to transport petroleum products rather than using tankers.

“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 $40 million 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,” Mr Bello said at the briefing.