Harboursandport.com: Abuja --- The infrastructural gap in the transportation sector in Africa presently stands at $41 billion annually the Nigerian Export and Import Bank, NEXIM has said.
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| A port in Nigeria |
The bank's position was made known in Abuja at the sub-regional workshop organized by the Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC in conjunction with the Union of African Shippers Council, UASC.
Hope Yongo, Technical Adviser to the Managing Director of the bank, Mr Bashir Wali, said in his paper presented at the workshop with the theme “Sealing: A Panacea for Boosting Intra-African Trade,” stressed that the infrastructural gap has huge impact on trade and investment growth of the sub-region.
He noted that as a means of bridging regional transport infrastructural gap, NEXIM Bank in conjunction with other private sector operators are working to establish a sub-regional sea transportation system to be known as Sealink.
He noted that the Sealink project is a public-Private-partnership initiative that was initiated by NEXIM on the prompting of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria, MAN Export Group and NACCIMA.
Yongo pointed out that the project is being officially promoted by NEXIM, FEWACCI/NACCIMA and Transimex S.A Cameroon through a Special Purpose Vehicle, SPV, Sealink Promotional Company Limited, SPCL with nominal shareholding sponsorship arrangement.
He pointed out that at commencement; the current growth in intra-ECOWAS trade from the present volume of 4.7 million tones to over 13.2 million tones without corresponding increase in infrastructure would be bridged.
Similarly, he said that the project is expected to help solve the absence of a dedicated regional shipping to link coastal countries in the regions, as over 90 per cent of the world’s trade is carried by sea which is the most cost-effective was to trade.
The NEXIM boss Technical Adviser, said the project is also designed to “mitigate cargo delivery delays due to trans-shipment arrengements and indeterminable transactions cycle, promote and enhance regional trade and reduce informal trade from current low level of intra-ECOWAS trade from 12 per cent to 15 per cent over the years and facilitate bulk cargo logistics and minimize congestion along trade corridors while promoting inland waters and intra-coastal activities.”
Yongo also noted that the project would help reduce the high transportation and logistics costs that would in turn enhance efficiency, competitiveness and trade connectivity and therefore improve the current low regional Logistics Performance Index, LPI.
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