• Benin River Port to ease Apapa congestion-Governor
Obaseki
Harboursandport.com: Benin
- The Maritime Administration
and Safety Agency, NIMASA, and the Edo State government are set for partnership
for development of Benin River port, even as the Edo state governor stressed
that the development of the port will help ease the gridlock in Apapa.
 |
| Director-General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Bashir Jamoh (right), presenting a souvenir to the Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, during a courtesy visit by members of the NIMASA management team to Edo State Government House, Benin City. |
Details of the partnership were
made known in Benin when the Director-General of the NIMASA, Dr. Bashir Jamoh
led a team from the Agency on a courtesy visit to the governor.
The NIMASA boss restated the
Agency’s commitment to human capacity development as the basic catalyst to grow
the maritime sector in Nigeria.
The Edo State Governor said Benin
River Port project is critical and strategic to Nigeria’s economy, noting that
the State Government is willing to partner with the NIMASA to bring the project
to reality.
He said Edo State is very unique in its ecology. “Edo state is a nexus for Nigeria hence the strategic role Benin River port would play in the transportation of goods to other parts of the country.
"You can connect the east and west from Edo within two hours so
that means in six hours goods from Apapa in Lagos will be everywhere in the
country.”
"We are locating this port in a place that is
perhaps Nigeria's largest and richest onshore gas reserve. You can imagine that
this energy exists to drive whatever amount of industrialization that needs to
be.”
While commending NIMASA Management for the blue
economy initiative, Governor Obaseki stated that the economy of Nigeria must be
diversified.
Earlier, NIMASA DG, Dr. Jamoh acknowledged that the Benin River Port project is
a testament that Edo understands the benefits of shipping and expressed
readiness to ensure the state explores the opportunities of the blue economy.
A statement by the Assistant Director,
Public Relations, Osagie Edward noted that Jamoh pointed out that the Agency was ready to sponsor indigenes of the
State who are below 25 years of age to Greece on fully-funded scholarship to
study Maritime-related courses.
The NIMASA DG stressed the fact that human and
infrastructural capacity development is key to the growth of the maritime
industry in Nigeria. He noted that the Agency’s drive to develop the blue
economy in partnership with littoral states in the country is aimed at
achieving a diversified economy for the country.
“Shipping is the alternative to
oil and the shipping sector in Nigeria can produce three quarter of the
nation’s earnings from the oil sector.
To achieve this, we at NIMASA are engaging the
littoral states in Nigeria to develop strategies that would lead to maximizing
the potentials of the sector within the next ten years when countries are
targeting to end the use of fossil fuel”.
He commended the Edo State Government
on the Benin River Port project, which he said, would be a revenue booster for
the state as he identified Kano, Plateau, and Gombe states as states that have
invested hugely in Inland Dry Port development, despite not being littoral
states.
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