After many years of being in moribund status, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has disclosed plans to bring Africa’s first modern seaport, Burutu Port in Delta State back to life to boost exportation of solid minerals.
The authority in a statement on its X handle said it was poised to consolidate recent gains made in the facilitation of exports and assured of providing the technical guidance and allied support necessary for operationalization of Burutu Port.
The Managing Director/CEO of NPA, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho gave the assurance when he received the chairman and executives of Akewa Colmar Terminal Limited (ACTL), the concessionaire of Burutu Port on Thursday at the NPA headquarters in Marina, Lagos.
He disclosed that he had commissioned his technical team to report on the Warri navigational corridor and that the report would be out in two weeks time.
Located at the coastal end of the River Niger with linkages to other ports along the Niger/Benue Rivers, Burutu Port was commissioned in 1887 as the first modern port in Africa, and was the main logistics port for British trade with Nigeria.
The Port became moribund after the civil war but was given a Master Concessionaire status by the NPA pursuant to approvals from the Infrastructure, Concession & Regulatory Commission (ICRC) and Federal Executive Council (FEC) in 2023.
Dantsoho said: “To deepen our competitiveness, we must deepen our capacity to attract and retain huge investments in our port infrastructure. I say this in view of the transformational developments being witnessed in the maritime countries along the coast of West and Central Africa.
“While we are working assiduously to optimize the Warri channel, we cannot allow the potential of the navigable waters around the Delta Port clusters which can bolster Nigeria’s solid minerals export go to waste. We therefore set to progress this auspicious project to its next milestone once the report of the technical team is submitted in two weeks.”
