Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, yesterday, disclosed that the Federal Government and the Lagos State government will earn revenue of over $201 billion in 45 years when the Lekki Deep Sea Port becomes fully operational.
The minister stated this in Lagos, when he undertook a tour of the $1.53 billion mega projects.
Accompanied by heads of parastatals under the Ministry of Transportation, Mohammed expressed joy at the quality of work done, assuring that the port would become operational in the last quarter of 2022.
According to him, when fully operational, the deep seaport, “will create 169,972 jobs and bring revenues totalling 201 billion dollars to state and Federal governments through taxes, royalties and duties. The direct and induced business revenue impact is estimated at $158 billion in addition to a qualitative impact on manufacturing, trade and commercial services sector.”
Describing the project as a game-changer, the minister added that the port boasts of $800 million on construction alone, stressing that “the aggregate impact has been put at $361 billion in 45 years, which will be over 200 times the cost of building it.”
Speaking on the gains that await the nation, the Minister said: “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. That’s big.
“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 teu, which is more than four times the number that can currently be handled by our other ports.
The project is self-sufficient in required electricity. It is now ready to generate up to 10 Mega Watts and the total capacity is 16 megawatts.”
