As part of its effort to improve seaport infrastructure, Nigeria’s government announced on Sunday, that it had secured a $600 million investment in its seaport infrastructure from Danish shipping company A.P. Moller-Maersk.
A statement from the presidency said the investment was secured on the sidelines of the World Economic Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia when President Bola Tinubu met with A.P. Moller-Maersk Chairman, Robert Maersk Uggla.
“We believe in Nigeria, and we will invest $600 million in existing facilities and make the ports accommodating for bigger ships,” the statement quoted Uggla as saying during the meeting.
Nigeria is aiming to overhaul its ports, especially the major one in its commercial capital Lagos, to reduce the congestion that frustrates businesses.
President Tinubu said during the meeting that his government would intensify efforts to modernise and automate its ports to improve trade, reduce corruption and increase efficiency.
“A bet on Nigeria is a winning bet. It is also a bet that rewards beyond what is obtainable elsewhere,” he said. “We need to encourage more opportunities for revenue expansion and minimise trans-shipments from larger ships to smaller ships”, the president stressed.