GIFT ROBERTS
The stakeholders of the Maritime Industry have lamented the poor state of access roads into ports.
While speaking at the African Continental Free Trade Area Implementation engagement series on road transportation, the stakeholders demanded that the government expedite action on the access roads to enhance trade.
According to a statement made by the National President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Ibrahim Jibril, the government needed to find ways to expand the access roads leading to the ports.
“It is pertinent to acknowledge that the government has embarked upon strategies towards improving transport and trade facilitation.
“This is particularly in the area of port access roads which are key to whatever we will do in AfCFTA. Equally, what is important is the load centers for marshalling cargo that will be handled in the ports.
“Currently, the Nigerian Ports Authority is rehabilitating access roads out of the seaports and they tend to eliminate the unusual traffic challenge that we are facing today. You will agree with me that these vehicular traffic situations we have around the ports have been a major challenge for the movement of goods into and out of the ports and this must be looked into very critically.
“Do we have rooms for further expansion for roads leading into the ports? The road is getting choked up and saturated. We need to find other ways to have a smooth flow of traffic in and out of the ports,” he said.
The Director-General at Delta State Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, Fidelis Onu, also stated that the government was lacking the will to improve the infrastructure of the ports.
“A lot can be done if there is commitment and will to see this through. The challenges have always been the will. In Delta State, we have three or four ports almost moribund and access roads to them are not at their best.
“One of these ports gives access to the hinterlands in Nigeria to the Niger Republic. Fishing activities and maritime activities can go through this route but not much is being done because of lack of political will to engage stakeholders and see that these ports, especially Warri ports, are put to good use,” Onu said.
Mr. Cajetan Agu, who is the Director of Consumer Affairs Division, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, also laid emphasis on the need to improve transit corridors to enable the flow of trade in the area.
Agu said it is imperative to linking the ports and land borders, adding that the road that leads to the ports has not been working for 10 years.
“We must draw a line between the national construction plan and trade corridors. There are two different things. There are some already existing trade routes like the Lakaji trade corridor spanning from Lagos-Kano-Jibiya.
“That is a major route serving the country and it is a transit corridor. If you look at the challenges AfCFTA is facing, it is the issue of transit. We must make our transit corridor conducive for trade to flow.
“The issue of is very important. We have been hearing people talk about the Apapa ports,” he said.