The Nigerian Ports Authority, or NPA, has been promoting exports and building ten specialized export processing terminals throughout the nation in an effort to increase the country’s foreign exchange (forex) profits.
The NPA’s Managing Director, Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko, told Vanguard in Lagos that around three of the authorized terminals have started up.
He responded to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) call for export efforts by saying: “We had already taken aggressive measures to make sure this was done before the CBN made that request. Ten export processing stations received permits from us.
The terminals are available to all exporters, however they are particularly useful for exporting minerals and agricultural products. There, they would undergo processing, testing, certification, packaging, and, if they so choose, containerization. The container would then be sealed and transported straight into the port and then into the ship.
“What we are doing here is to reduce costs to the exporters, reduce time that it takes to ship these goods, and generally make the process faster and seamless,” he said, summarizing the facilities’ main purpose.
However, he added, “we have written to all the relevant government agencies to let them know that some of the terminals are still waiting for other agencies to activate their roles.”
Additionally, we are connecting the terminals to the Domestic Export Warehouses (DEW) in the hinterland, which were established by the Nigeria Export Promotion Council (NEPC). To facilitate the commodities’ entry into the port, we will equip them with about eight export processing terminals.
“All terminal owners have been urged to have warehouses and other infrastructure required for exports other than oil.
