Mr Adegboyega Oyetola, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, says Nigeria has successfully surmounted port challenges and ports are now attracting major container carriers and generating revenue for the country.
Oyetola said this on Wednesday in Abuja while receiving members of Study Group 4, Senior Executive Course 47, National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), on a study tour to the Ministry.
The minister said that the long and difficult systemic challenges beyond administrative inefficiencies and infrastructural collapse in the maritime sector had been surmounted.
He said he had to confront and dismantle entrenched interests and well-organised syndicates who had for years fed fat on the chaos surrounding the ports and their access.
According to him, shortly after assuming office in 2023, it became clear that the Apapa gridlock had to be tackled head-on if Nigeria’s blue economy was to thrive.
“The fierce behind-the-scenes battles that led to the eventual clearing of the infamous Apapa gridlock that crippled port operations and economic activities for over two decades did not come easily.
“For the first time in over 20 years, trucks no longer spend weeks waiting to pick up or deliver cargo.
“Port users now experience seamless movement, while haulage costs dropped by as much as 60 per cent,” he said.
Oyetola said that the ports were now alive again, attracting major container carriers, while trade was moving, time being saved and revenue growing.
He said that the Apapa gridlock was not natural, adding that it was engineered by people who built careers and empires on the dysfunction.
The minister said that clearing the gridlock meant going against years of collusion, corruption, and carefully cultivated disorder which was not easy.
He attributed the successes achieved in enhancing ports operations especially in resolving the Apapa gridlock to focused leadership and inter-ministerial cooperation.
He said that Apapa residents now lived in cleaner, quieter surroundings.
“Small businesses are beginning to return, port workers are more efficient, and the entire Nigerian economy stands to gain from the renewed competitiveness of its ports,” he said.
Mr Abdulrahaman Idris, the Head of Delegation of the NIPSS Study Group, commended the minister for the giant strides achieved within two years of his assumption of office.
Idris said that the 2025 study tour was themed “Blue Economy Sustainable Development In Nigeria, Issues, Challenges and Opportunities”.
He said that it was meant to provide solutions to issues affecting national life and to enhance the maritime sector.
“We are here today on this study tour to understudy the ministry and its activities.
“Members of this study group 4 are drawn from the public sector, the paramilitary and the presidency.
“The outcome of this tour would also form part of our submission to the President in November, ” he said. (NAN)
