Many of Nigeria’s existing seaports, inherited from the colonial administration, are no longer functioning properly.
Nigeria has opened a multi-billion dollar Chinese-built deep sea port in Lagos, which is expected to ease congestion in the country’s ports and help it become an African transshipment hub, handling cargo in transit to other destinations.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who inaugurated the port on Monday, has made infrastructure construction a key pillar of his government’s economic policies and hopes this will help his ruling party win votes in next month’s presidential election.
Many of Nigeria’s seaports, inherited from British colonial administration, are no longer operational or operating below capacity. Currently, most of the commercial activity is done through the two in Lagos and two others in and around Port Harcourt, the country’s oil capital, causing constant standstill and logistical problems for imports and exports.
Local newspaper Punch reported that Lagos Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu said: “The size of the ships coming here could be up to four times the size of the ships currently docking at Tin Can and Apapa ports [Lagos’s existing ports].”
The new Lekki Deep Sea Port is 75 percent owned by Singapore’s China Harbor Engineering Company and Tolaram Group, with the remainder being shared between the Lagos State Government and the Ports Authority of Nigeria.
Authorities have said the new port, built at a cost of $1.5 billion, is one of the largest in West Africa.
“This is a transformative project, a game changer project. This project could create at least 200,000 jobs,” Chinese Ambassador to Nigeria Cui Jianchun told Portal after Buhari commissioned the port.
China is among Nigeria’s largest bilateral lenders and has financed railroads, roads and power plants.