NPA, Dangote Form Alliance To Ensure Maritime Industry Growth, Expand Export Operations
By Asuquo Nuwak
NPA, Dangote Form Alliance To Ensure Maritime Industry Growth, Expand Export Operations
••• Targets $7million daily revenue through fertilizer export
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Dangote Industries Limited (DIL) has concluded plan to develop the nation’s Marine and Blue Economy sector, with further plans to ensure expansion of Nigeria’s export operations.
In his speech on Monday, during a courtesy visit to the NPA Headquarters in Lagos, President of the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote pointed out that as the biggest customer to the NPA, it is important that the interaction between NPA and DIL is sustained.
In the words of Aliko Dangote, who is described as the richest man in Africa: “We are here to thank the NPA for doing a great job, as we speak today, we are the biggest or largest customer to NPA.
He noted that the kind of interaction expected between Dangote Industry and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) is very important for the growth of the industry.
He said during the interaction session, they are expected to discuss quite a lot of issues, ranging from how to deepen the marine and blue economy of the nation, as they have agreed to actually work together for the benefit of Nigeria.
Meanwhile, he said
the size of their own operation at Lekki alone will be almost 240 ships of crude, with each ship carrying one million crude each. He planned to have products which will amount to over 600 ships in a year, including their
fertilizer operation, which will be loading almost eight ships.
Aliko Dangote who said this is an operation that has never, ever been seen in the country, also said it is a major challenge, but with the leadership of the NPA, they are comfortable that they will be able to deliver.
Still, he said their operations will sink if NPA does not give them the services they will need for their operations. In addition, he said the NPA will need a lot of support from the federal government, as they would not be able to do these things with their own physical hands.
Beside this, he said the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) will need equipment, and more tug boats.
He therefore promised to support and put in few words in necessary quarters to make sure that NPA gets all the necessary assistance from the federal government.
In the area of export, Aliko Dangote pointed out that efforts are on top gear to expand export products outside Nigeria.
Again, he said they will soon be massively expanding their export operations. Forward example, they are already exporting cement out of Nigeria from their Cement factory in Itori. He added that they have a whole factory of six million tons for cement export.
From all indications, he said in the next couple of weeks, they will start exporting coal out of Nigeria, while their fertilizer export will be almost like eight cargos.
According to him, the refinery operations will not export less than 25 million tons of various products. In the words of Aliko Dangote: “We will also be exporting almost about 600,000 to 700,000 metric tons of polypropylene. So when you are talking about export, we are going to be very big”.
Beyond this, he said in the next two years, they will be exporting about 16,000 tons of fertilizer. He announced that when an individual talk about 16,000 tons of fertilizer, it is actually about $6.5 million to $7 million revenue that will be coming into the country on a daily basis.
In his words: “With our export programme, our company will be the major supplier of foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria.
“So the operations of Nigerian ports will definitely double in the next one or two years”.
In his response, the NPA Managing Director/CEO, Abubakar Dantsoho pointed out that Aliko Dangote has come to the Authority to show appreciation for the dividends of the Naira for Crude sale policy of the Federal Government.
In the words of the NPA MD: “Alhaji Aliko Dangote is here to show appreciation, especially regarding the establishment of the one stop shop policy on Naira for Crude deal, which is being coordinated by the Nigerian Port Authority.
The Managing Director/CEO of NPA is quoted as saying: “Aliko Dangote is here to appreciate that the initiative has contributed immensely to achieving a lot of efficiency in the area of the transactions and operations between government agencies”.
He recalled that this is something that started on the 1st of October last year 2024, and so far, they have treated or operated over 57 vessels every month.
He disclosed that the projected volume that Dangote was looking at per annum was 600 vessels, but treated 56 to 57 vessels into 12 months, which is already treating or operating bigger than what they projected.
He promised to continue to do their best with support from government. Moreover, he said if all agencies of government can collaborate and be on the same dashboard, then efficiencies in other sectors of the economy will also be witnessed.
He is quoted as stating: “We are happy that government has approved the National Single Window. We are also happy that as of today, we are 95 percent ready for the Port Community System”.
In the area of new ports development, Abubakar Dantsoho is quoted as stating: “There are two ways you can handle capacity improvement and expansion or deepen port capacity. You can do it on a brownfield, which is to renovate or rehabilitate existing ports, or on a greenfield, which is to build new ports”.
He cast his mind back to the last time when government built a new port in Nigeria was 1977, which was Tincan Island Port. He pointed out that there is already an approval for the port modernization of both Tincan and Apapa ports. Under brownfield development, he said they are hopefully looking at the third quarter of this year to commence construction.
Under greenfield development, he said like he said earlier, they have deep seaport development projects that has already been approved by Federal Executive Council, including Ibom Deep Seaport, Bakasi Deep Seaport, Olokola port, Ondo port, Badagry port in Lagos.
The Managing- Director of Nigerian Ports Authority NPA disclosed that these are new ports which the government is concerned about, and very soon they will begin to see that these ports will become reality.
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