By Our Correspondent
Lagos, May 29, 25 (TNZ) The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Dangote Industries Ltd. (DIL) have collaborated on developing the Marine and Blue Economy sector, with a focus on expanding the nation’s export operations.
TheNewsZenith reports that Mr Okechukwu Onyemekara, General Manager, Communication and Strategy of NPA, announced the collaboration in a statement in Lagos.
The announcement is sequel to a courtesy visit by DIL President, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, to the NPA Headquarters in Lagos on Monday.
Speaking during the visit, Dangote elaborated on efforts to expand export products outside Nigeria.
He added that the company’s cement factory at Itori had already started cement exportation.
Dangote said that the Itori cement factory had six million tons of cement designated for export.
“In a few weeks, we will start exporting coal out of Nigeria. Our fertiliser export will be almost like eight cargoes.
“The refinery operations will not export less than 25 million tons of various products.
“We will also export about 600,000 to 700,000 metric tons of polypropylene. So when you are talking about export, we are going to be very big.
“In the next two years, we will be exporting about 16,000 tons of fertiliser. It’s between $6.5 million and $7 million in revenue that will be coming into the country daily,” TheNewsZenith quotes Dangote as saying.
As part of its export programme, he said DIL would be the major supplier of foreign exchange earnings in Nigeria.
“The operations of Nigerian ports will double in the next two years,” Dangote added.
He promised to frequently highlight the port situation to enable the Federal Government to consider NPA for necessary support.
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In his remark, the Managing Director of NPA, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, thanked Dangote for commending the authority on the benefits of the Naira for Crude sale policy.
Dantsoho also praised DIL for appreciating the establishment of the One-Stop-Shop policy on the Naira for the Crude deal. NPA is coordinating the deal.
“Dangote appreciated that the government initiative has contributed immensely to achieving more efficient transactions and operations among Nigerian government agencies.
“This started on Oct. 1, 2024, and so far, we have treated or operated over 57 vessels every month.
“The projected annual volume that Dangote is looking at is 600 vessels.
“If you do 56, 57 vessels into 12 months, you will see that we are already doing bigger than the projection.
“We will continue to do our best with support from the government,” TheNewsZenith quotes Dantsoho as saying.
According to him, the last time the government built a new port in Nigeria was in 1977, which was the Tin-Can Island Port.
“There is already an approval for the port modernisation of both Tin-Can and Apapa ports.
“We are looking at maybe the third quarter of this year to commence construction, which is on the brownfield development.
“On the greenfield part, we have deep-seaport development projects that have already been approved by the Federal Executive Council.
“We have Ibom Port, Bakasi Port, Olokola, Ondo Port, and Badagry in Lagos,” he added. (TNZ)
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