OSINBAJO: FG in talks with private sector for more ports

Nigeria’s Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, during a media chat at the recently held 2017 Nigerian-American Chamber of Commerce SMEs Conference, disclosed that the Federal Government is in talks with the private sector to develop more ports in the country.

Osinbajo stated this in response to a question on dysfunctional ports in the country especially that of Port Harcourt and Calabar where ships no longer berth.

Explaining that it was needful to develop more ports that will be private sector-driven, he added, “A lot of these initiatives have to be private sector driven and we have been talking to several of the business communities in those areas.

“Many people are talking about eastern ports, I think they are important. We have also seen a lot of indications from the private sector that they are prepared to invest in some of the ports. So, the business of government is simply to enable these things to happen and we are prepared to do so.”

This was contained in a statement released by Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the vice president, Laolu Akande.

Osinbajo also said he was impressed going round different stands to look at the exhibitions displayed at the conference.

He said, “I am always excited to see how extremely innovative and just how energetic our own manufacturing community is and there is just a wide range of products that we have seen here today (Thursday).

“One of the things that strikes you is that there is so much going on that you don’t even know about. This is my second visit, I was here last year for this exhibition and there is tremendous improvement already. I am just seeing someone who has a drying technology out there which could really help with a lot of post-harvest losses and all that. There are people who are doing all manner of creative things, it is fantastic.”

Osinbajo, who was asked to talk about hidden opportunities in Nigeria, said there were no such things as hidden opportunities any longer in.

“I think what everyone has come to discover is that this country is just so blessed, so much in terms of resources. And I think what we have seen especially with the young entrepreneurs here today is that these things are already being exploited.

Read also: ‘Nigeria can succeed economically with private sector participation’

“In this particular ecosystem, you have the USAID working with a lot of the entrepreneurs who are here and there is a lot export going on- export of Moringa, Shea butter, but the good thing is that they are not exporting raw products, they are actually processing and packaging them, and the packaging is world-class. If you look around you can’t tell that this isn’t from any of the world class supermarkets.”

 

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