| The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on Thursday gave operational licences to five Export Processing Terminals (EPTs) to scale-up exports in the country. The five export processing terminals licensed are: Diamondstar Port and Terminal Ltd., at Lilypond Terminal, Ijora; Esslibra Terminal in Ikorodu and Sundial Global Ltd., Navy Camp site, Kirikiri. Others are: Bellington Cargo Ltd., Okokomaiko, Lagos-Badagry Expressway and Tenzik Energy Ltd., Kirikiri Lighter Terminal 1. Managing Director, NPA, Mr. Mohammed Bello-Koko, while presenting the licences to the operators in Lagos said that the exercise reflected the authorities’ unflinching resolve to transform Nigeria’s export potential to reality. Bello-Koko, represented by Mr. Onari Brown, Executive Director, Marine and Operations, added that the authority had used the project to encourage local content in the export value chain. He said the authority would offer the necessary support policy wise, to ensure the growth and stability of the terminals. “The need for EPTs is underscored by the limitations of current port facilities in the Lagos area, which are operating beyond their ‘as built capacity’ for cargo handling. “The EPTs are, therefore, holding areas positioned in Lagos and Ogun states to help exporters prepare their arrival at port terminals in view of the traffic management challenges in Lagos. “This initiative signposts the NPA’s commitment to the implementation of the National Action Plan on Agro-Export and the desire of the Federal Government to diversify the economy from oil export to non-oil exports,” he said. Read also: Twitter co-founder, Jack Dorsey, set to launch new social app He said the licensing exercise, which commenced in April 2021, had 30 companies expressing interest and were later streamlined to 10, out of which five met the authority’s requirements to join the Lilypond Export Processing Terminal. He said the remaining six, which held provisional licences, would be dropped at the end of this month if they failed to meet the requirements to enable the authority consider other applicants on the waiting list. He said the integration of the barge and train movements would complete the circle, and the authority looked forward to collaborating with Nigerian Customs to achieve this. Bello-Koko said NPA was not unaware of the existence of export warehouses handling manufactured products. He said the authority was working with the Export Command of the Nigerian Custom Service to evolve seamless modalities. Also, Mr. Mohammed Babandede, Comptroller Lilypond Export Command of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), noted that the only way the country would grow was through the promotion of export. Responding, the export terminal operators appreciated the NPA for the licenses given, adding that the exercise would make country a high volume non-oil exporter in the world. They pointed out that their target was to bring ease to export business and address the huge imbalance in trade, and promised to handle goods with utmost professionalism. The Star |