$I.5b Lekki Deep Sea Port will bring cheaper services to Nigerians – Expert

An expert has disclosed that the newly-completed Lekki Deep Sea Port worth $1.5 billion would spur competition and create cheaper services for Nigerians.

The Lekki Port is one of the biggest deep sea ports in West Africa. It is expected to generate $361 billion revenue for the Nigerian government, while also providing close to 200,000 job opportunities for the nation’s teeming unemployed youths.

DAILY POST in a chat with a Senior Forwarder of Nigeria and Multimodal Transport Planner, Francis Omotosho on Tuesday, he explained that the development has a positive impact on the industry.

He said the emergence of a State-owned Lekki sea port would spur competition, thereby leading to improved service delivery within the sector.

According to him, “When you talk about the Lekki Deep Sea Port, it is the first private Port in Nigeria, all others are owned by the Federal Government.

“All over the world, there is a concept called the Lordland Port Ownership System, Government took over from the private sector but couldn’t manage it properly. Here the ports were concessioned to private companies.

“For the first time, we are having a State-owned port, which will aid competition between State and federal governments. And this will impact the sector positively.

“Dangote also has broken the jinx to have also flagged-off his own port in Lekki. The State government has stood up to their responsibility leading to serious competition. That is the beauty of the business sector.

“Because Lekki Deep Sea Port will want to give satisfactory services to its customers, soon, clients will abandon Tin Can Port, other ports if they aren’t doing enough.

“Nigerians will now have services rendered at a cheaper cost, we expect other State governments, private sector enabled ports to come on board also”, he stated.