Ineffective rail infrastructure affecting Nigeria’s port operations —Hadiza Bala Usman

Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman has cautioned that no country should contemplate establishing ports without the complement of adequate rail transportation. This is even as the NPA boss explained that rail transportation and linkages shall continue to play a crucial role to port operation, citing the example of the Nigerian experience where ineffective port railway infrastructure has affected effective port operations.

Hadiza Bala Usman was speaking recently in a welcome address at the beginning of the West Africa Rail Revolution Conference in Lagos, which drew participants from several European and West African countries.

• Terminal operators, shipping companies litter roads with containers―NPA

“if anyone had any doubts as to clog that poor railway infrastructure could be in the wheels of effective port operations, the challenges that we currently face with the Lagos Port Complex (LPC) and the Tin-Can Island (TCIP) would instruct you about why no country would contemplate establishing ports without the complement of adequate rail transportation,” she said.

“The truth is that a substantial part of the challenges that we face in the optimization of the ports in Lagos area which has even extended to distort normal activities of Lagos is because of the failure to provide adequate rail infrastructure in the first instance and the eventual dilapidation of the meagre structure that was available at the beginning,” Hadiza added.

In his welcome address, Mr Chidi K C Izuwah, Director General Chief Executive office under the Presidency Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission while welcoming delegates to the two-day event reiterated the need for African countries to ensure that adequate provision is made in the area of port infrastructure.