About 169,972 jobs are in the pipeline while the Federal Government and the Lagos State Government will earn about $201billion in revenue and taxes in 45 years from September 2022 when the Lekki Deep Seaport will become operational.
Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed disclosed after the tour of the $1.53billion mega port facility that phase one has reached an 89 per cent completion rate, assuring that it would hit the 100 per cent mark in September this year.
Accompanied by heads of parastatals under the Ministry of Transportation, the minister said that he was happy based on the quality of work done, noting that the port was the deepest in Nigeria and West Africa.
Mohammed noted: “The port will create 169,972 jobs and bring revenues totalling $201billion to federal and state governments through taxes, royalties, and duties. The direct and induced business revenue impact is estimated at $158billion in addition to a qualitative impact on the manufacturing, trade, and commercial services sector.
“The aggregate impact has been put at $361 billion in 45 years, which will be over 200 times the cost of building it. When it begins operation in the last quarter of this year, it will make it possible for Nigeria to regain the maritime business that was lost to ports in Togo, Cote d’Ivoire, and Ghana. It is also a big boost to Nigeria in its quest to take advantage of the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).
“A major advantage we have to leverage is transhipment. With this port, Nigeria will become a transhipment hub and the revenue we are currently losing to our neighbouring countries will come here.“The facilities here are first class. We have seven ships to shore cranes and 21 RTG cranes. No port in Nigeria currency has this. The excellent equipment is why this port can do 18,000 Twenty Equivalent units (TEU), which is more than four times the number that can currently be handled by our other ports.
”The minister added that the project was self-sufficient in required electricity, saying that would generate up to 10 Mega Watts, while the total capacity is 16 megawatts.On cargo evacuation and linkage of rail to the seaport, he said that the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi would have been in a better position because he would have given you detailed information as to the progress being made with the issue of rail.
Insidebusiness
