Minister of State for Transportation Sen. Gbemisola Saraki has said ports efficiency at Apapa would continue to be a mirage until traffic congestion on the corridor is resolved.
Sen. Saraki said this at the ongoing Ministerial Retreat held in Lagos.
According to her, the gridlock at the Apapa has to be eliminated to boost port efficiency, even as she charged the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC) to synergize on ways to make nation’s ports more efficient.
She also urged the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) to address bottlenecks in the ports for efficient maritime trade in the country.
She reiterated that Nigeria has lost cargoes to neighbouring countries especially Cote d’voire and Benin Republic.
She said: “One of the major problems we are having within the maritime industry especially within the ports, is the issue of Customs, in other to have efficiency in our ports, In other to encourage Nigerians and others to use the ports, we need to synergise with Ministry of Transport, other agencies and Customs because Customs has proven itself to be a hindrance to the development of Maritime sector.
“NIMASA, NPA, NSC are facilitators of trade, the more efficient the three agencies that are mentioned are, the more higher the revenue will be for the government.”