Containers Land In Nigeria Seaports Full and Leave Empty- NPA

The Nigerian Ports Authority has laments the rate at which containers that are bringing goods into the country through seaports leave empty on a daily basis.

According to the body, “about 90 per cent of containers bringing in goods from other countries eave the shores of Nigeria empty.”

It also said the level of operational activities at the nation’s ports in the first quarter of 2016 dropped drastically when compared with the same period of 2015.

Habib Abdulahi, NPA Managing Director, says the findings were contained in a report of port activities carried out by experts. The report also showed the seaport as a catalyst for economic development through export commodities.

He said an analysis of the vehicle importation figure in the first quarter of 2016 showed a decline of 10 per cent with a total of 27,133 units as against 30,139 units handled in the corresponding period of 2015.

Abdullahi said, “This position has been communicated to the Nigerian Export Promotion Council by the NPA management. We highlighted the need to sensitise Nigerians to the importance of filling the vacuum through export commodities, especially solid minerals and agro-allied products.

“An action plan has been initiated by the authority by setting up interactive and follow-up sessions with the NEPC headquarters in Abuja and the Abuja Commodities & Exchange Commission,”

He added that the same arrangement had been made with the Federal Ministry of Solid Minerals Development and the Nigerian Chambers of Commerce (Lagos and Abuja branches).

“Cargo throughput in the first quarter stood at 43.3 million tonnes, showing a decrease of 12.6 per cent from 49.6 million tonnes recorded in the same period of 2015.

“There was also a decrease in the import of general cargo at 1.8 million tonnes, a decrease of 48.1 per cent from 3.6 million tonnes recorded in the corresponding period of 2015,” Abdullahi said.