The Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Gbemisola Saraki, has called for synergy between public and private sector to guarantee an enabling environment where the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) could flourish.
Saraki, who made the call at the Ministerial Consultative Meeting with the media in Lagos on Friday, said her visit to Lagos was to take stock of where exactly they are within the maritime sector in Nigeria, especially the state of the two ports in Lagos which are in dire need of repairs.
“For the country to reap from AfCFTA, she need to make its port more competitive. We know that the largest number of cargo come to Nigeria, we need to take advantage of that.
“The state of the ports in Lagos made this my move imperative, and the ministry seek to drive a closer relation and synergy between the private and public sector in ensuring an enabling environment exist in which business can thrive.
“Most especially for AfCFTA being the champion in the transportation sector, it was critical for me coming to know where we are in our readiness and preparedness compared to our neighboring countries,” she said.
Saraki noted that the blue economy at times sounds like a puzzle but it could create a lot of jobs in the maritime sector, adding that if the country don’t have oil, maritime was the next biggest sector of the economy.
“We need to take advantage of what God has given to us. We have a large young population and wealth and there are many ways we can engage our youth in employment in the sector.
“The floating dockyard is an area that can provide jobs for the youth as it has been estimated to provide up to 20,000 jobs and we have gone to the Naval Dockyard to see how best we can put it to use.
“Government has this program of bring Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years and we need to have the maritime industry contributing to that, the floating dockyard will see to that contribution.
“I assure you that before the end of this administration, we will have the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) which has gone up to $350 million dollar, and also the National Transport Policy,”’ she said.
She said that it was disheartening to see that nothing had been changed as regards the CVFF, stating that it had to be disbursed especially with the commencement of AfCFTA as the country needed vessels to trade.
On the connection of the Lekki seaport, she said that the port must be connected to the rail as they had taken cognizance of evacuation of cargoes when establishing the port.
