Nigeria has opened Lekki deep seaport in Lagos, which is expected to ease congestion at the country’s ports and help it become an African hub for transhipment.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who inaugurated the port on Monday, January 23, has made building infrastructure a key pillar of his government’s economic policy and hopes this will help his ruling party win votes during next month’s presidency.
Local newspaper Punch reported Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu saying that “the size of vessels that will be coming here could be up to four times the size of vessels that currently berth at Tin Can and Apapa Ports respectively.
The new seaport is 75 percent owned by the China Harbour Engineering Company and Singapore’s Tolaram Group, with the balance shared between the Lagos State Government and the Nigerian Ports Authority.
Notably, many Nigerian seaports, inherited from the British colonial administration, are no longer functional or operate below capacity. Currently, most commercial activity goes through the two in Lagos and two others in and around Port Harcourt, the nation’s oil capital, resulting in steady gridlock and logistics issues for imports and exports.
Read Also:China-Russia East-Route Natural Gas Pipeline Operational
Authorities have said that the new port, built at a reported $1.5 billion, is one of the largest in West Africa.
Subscribe to our Youtube channel Switch TV
“This is a transformative project, a game changer project. This project could create about 200,000 job opportunities,” Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria Cui Jianchun told Reuters News Agency after the port was commissioned by President Buhari.
China is among the largest bilateral lenders to Nigeria and has funded Rail, Roads, and Power stations.
