The federal government plans to dredge about two thousand kilometres of Nigeria’s inland waterways in 2024 as part of President Bola Tinubu’s policy on developing an intermodal transport system to ease the high cost of transporting goods to different parts of the country, especially from the country’s seaports.
The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Mr. Akuta Pius Ukeyima disclosed during his maiden tour of some terminals at the Apapa port in Lagos that the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Mr. Oyetola Adegboyega has prioritise the dredging of the waters in the Ministry’s 2024 budget.
He said the plan is part of a holistic policy document being put together by the ministry to address difficulties shippers go through while transporting cargoes into Nigeria affirming that it will have direct positive impacts on the cost of living.
Speaking at the ENL head office, Akuta commended terminal operators for their huge investments in the maritime sector and the country’s economy assuring that the government will continue to address all the challenging militating against the growth of the sector.
The NSC boss said “The minister is looking at dredging, that is one of the components of the 2024 budget, at least he plans to dredge about two thousand kilometres of the inland waterways and that will ease the transportation system not just the road network.
“We have looked at the cost of transporting goods within the export corridor from the hinterland into the seaport and it is a very high cost and all of that is adding to the cost of doing business in Nigeria. So we are looking at how to improve on the rail system and its networks so that it will ease the cost of doing these businesses also. So a lot is happening in the federal government’s efforts to reduce the cost of living in Nigeria starting from reducing the cost of transportation of goods.”
