President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said full automation and development of the ports would make African Ports more relevant and competitive in the global maritime economy.
The Minister of Maritime and Blue Economy , Mr Gboyega Oyetola who represented the president stated this at 43rd Annual Council Meeting and 18th Round Table of Managing Directors Exhibition of the Ports Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) themed “The Role of Ports in the African Continental Free Trade Area” and hosted by Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA).
The President urged government and African countries to invest in development of our ports in order to promote international trade.
He said “Full automation of the ports is the way to go to be relevant and competitive in the global maritime economy”.
“African countries must seek solutions to the challenges facing ports authorities. Ports operation needs a lot of intervention by the governments, there is need to invest in infrastructure to promote trade among member-states”.
“Africans must work towards solving the socio-economic problems facing the continent, we must work together for the common good of the people.’’
However, Mr Oyetola said Nigeria is home to all Africans in terms of regional cooperation and collaboration, particularly in the maritime sector.
While delivering his speech, Managing Director/CEO Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello-Koko stressed the fact that the ports are major contributors to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the need for collaboration with other ports for economic growth.
“The demonstrated global leadership of ports in the contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), shows that the sustainability of the world especially Africa rests heavily on the sustainability of our Ports”.
” Apart from being linked by water, countries in West and Central Africa are linked by challenges and opportunities. Thus, given the increasing realization of the leverage that economic cooperation confers in the international arena, we will be doing great disservice to ourselves if we fail to maximize this unity through the cooperation of our ports”.
He further pointed out the significance of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy while he appreciated PMAWCA secretariat for their relentless efforts in sustaining the meeting on yearly basis.
” The visionary creation of the new Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to supervise Nigerian Ports by His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the clarion call for more audacious initiatives made last week by the Honourable Minister His Excellency Adegboyega Oyetola during the commissioning of our newly reconstructed Mission to Seafarers facility, has re-energized our resolve to invest more in order to harness more ideas from operational think tanks such as the PMAWCA Harbour Master /PFSO Network and PMAWCA Women Network where the Authority has over the years funded relevant employees for capacity building”.
” I will like to specially commend the PMAWCA Secretariat for sustaining this annual platform of cross fertilization of ideas and knowledge sharing for mutual development of our respective countries and the advancement of global trade” he added.
