The Minister of Trans
port, Senator Idris Umar says the Federal Government has approved the dredging of the channels of five seaports in the country including Bonny to enable them accommodate bigger vessels from abroad.
Senator Idris disclosed this during the inaugural ceremony to mark the arrival of one of Maersk Lines biggest vessels which berthed recently at Onne port.
The minister who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Transport, Mr Nebolisa Emodi, said that the five Seaports include Calabar, Lekki, Badagry, Ege, Olokola and Ibaka.
According to him, the Bonny Channel dug 12 metres deep will enable international ships with the capacity to carry 4,500 containers anchor at the Onne Port, thereby boosting economic activities in the area.
He stressed that the Onne Port would henceforth receive ships from Europe and Asia, reiterating government commitment to reposition maritime sector for the socio-economic development of the nation.
Umar noted that when the project was completed, they would accommodate all kinds of vessels and thus make the nation the transport home for large ship consignment in Sub-Saharan Africa.
“The nation was in the right direction to becoming the transport and economic hub of West Africa and Central Africa,” he said.
He explained that with the large shipment of goods to the ports, the cost of importation and goods would reduce drastically, maintaining that the vessel from local ports around the region and from neighbouring countries would now use Lagos and Onne as transhipments ports.
The Minister added that the Federal Government through a Public Private Partnership (PPP), had also embarked on the dredging of the Bonny channels to enable large ships, berth at the ports.