The Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) has entered into partnership with the Borno state government to established an Inland Dry Ports (IDP) in a bid to ease movement of cargo from hither land to the seaports.
Speaking in Abuja, the Executive Secretary of the NSC, Pius Akutah explained that the dry port would further complement the Council’s efforts in improving trade processes in the country.
According to him, ” we are promoting the Inland Dry Ports initiative, about three of the ports are already working, yesterday we had a very robust meeting with the Governor of Borno state, and we concluded that in the next Six months, most likely, Nigeria will be commissioning another inland dry port.”
It will be recalled that few months ago, NSC commissioned the Funtua Inland Dry Port in Katsina state as part of the Council’s efforts to ease trade facilitation processes in the country.
While in Funtua, Akutah said the Inland Dry Port project will contribute immensely to the economic expansion of Nigeria through export growth.
He noted that the IDP initiative will serve as a catalyst for export in the states and the country at large.
The ES emphasised that inland dry port ” is all about export, and we know that there is so much to be exported from Nigeri.”
The development of inland dry ports across the country was an initiative of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council about 20 years ago.
According to the Council, the Inland Dry Ports (IDPs) are being promoted and facilitated on the basis of Build, Own, Operate and Transfer (BOOT) under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) agreement.
NSC explained that Inland Dry Port projects offer the opportunity of bringing shipping services to the door step of shippers, assists in decongesting the seaports and make them more user friendly and provides the impetus to revive and modernize the railway as primary mode for long distance haulage.
“Above all, it will help to reduce the over-all costs of cargo transportation to hinterland locations as well as to landlocked countries.”
The dry port in Borno state, when completed will be among the first dry Port in Nigeria to be completed and commissioned for operations after Funtua, Kaduna and Dala dry port in Kano, Kano state.
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