In a bid to rehabilitate ports across the country, the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA has secured a $700million loan from Citibank to revamp Tin Can and Apapa Ports.
Speaking during the signing of a mandate letter with Citibank Nigeria in Lagos,  Managing Director, NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, said the agency negotiated a loan of $700million from the Citibank to be funded by the UK Export Finance (UKEF), an export credit agency, to rehabilitate the Apapa and Tin-Can Island ports, Lagos.
He said NPA has opened discussion with another funding agency to secure financing for upgrading of the Eastern Ports including Calabar, Warri, Onne and Rivers Ports, as well as the reconstruction of Escravos breakwater.
Bello-Koko said the mandate letter would be sent to Debt Management Office for final review and approval.
The funds, he continued, are ready and the reconstruction of the Lagos ports will start soon, as the NPA perfects plans to sign another mandate letter for the upgrading of the Eastern ports in about a month.
“In the last two years, NPA has realised the need for us to rehabilitate and reconstruct the ports all over the country.
“We have been having discussions with multilateral funding agencies who have sent various proposals that we have reviewed.
“What we did is to further discussion with interested parties and we realised it is better to separate the ports in Lagos from the ports in the East, and we are in discussion with another funding agencies to fund the construction of ports outside Lagos”, he stated.
The NPA boss further said the Citibank facility was the cheapest for Nigeria because it came with affordable interest rate.