The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved a business plan for the development of a seaport in Badagry, Lagos State. When completed, it will be the third in Lagos state along with the Tin Can and Apapa Ports. The Federal Government said that the project will cost $2.5 billion of foreign investment, at no extra expense to Nigeria. “This is basically the first step to approving the establishment of a new seaport in the Badagry area, to take advantage of improved port facilities needed by bigger freighters and ships on the African continent,” said Babatunde Fashola, the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, when he spoke with journalists after the FEC meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“The Badagry port is long overdue. Our ports are behind in terms of technology in the maritime industry; there are bigger vessels now being built across the world that require larger depths and drafts to berth. Now, some of our competitors on the continent, like Djibouti, are building bigger ports, so if we don’t build this we risk becoming uncompetitive and we risk a threat to our maritime hub status in the sense that we may become a trans-shipment port instead of a port of original destination. The work started in 2012 and it is interesting that all of the financing is coming from the private sector. It was delayed because of the refusal of the last administration to grant approval for it because port development was under Federal Government control,” the former Lagos State governor added.
The seaport, which is expected to take five years to build, according to the Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, is expected to bring a total of $2.558 billion into the country. Its establishment is welcome news as the local currency continues to plummet because of the persistent scarcity of hard currency in the foreign exchange market. The Transport Minister explained that Federal and Lagos State governments will not contribute financially to the port and the land will be given by the state government. Fashola further explained that the agreement is consistent with government’s macroeconomic policy to fund its economy with more tax income as the prices of commodities, especially oil, become increasingly threatened.
