The minister of marine and blue economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has assured foreign investors that Nigerian ports are viable and safe for investment.

Mr Oyetola said this in a statement on Sunday in Abuja, signed by Anastasia Ogbonna, the ministry’s director of information and public relations.

Mr Oyetola had earlier received a delegation from DP World, owners and operators of the Port of Dubai.

He reiterated the federal government’s readiness to cooperate and welcome investments for the development and management of infrastructure in its port system.

According to him, the federal government is keen on deepening the private sector.

“Over the weekend when I received a delegation from the DP World, I affirmed that the government is open to investments in the sector and assured that the ministry will provide the needed impetus to interested parties for such ventures.

“I welcome the proposal by the Port of Dubai to establish industrial park to complement the ports and provide a logistics base for processing for exports.

“We have an extensive coastline and abundance of lands suitable for the development of industrial parks,” he said.

The minister urged the Dubai delegation to come up with a formal proposal for the interest for consideration by NPA.

Mr Oyetola said that the government was working to digitise and automate all port processes to reduce human and physical interface to the barest minimum.

This, he said, was asides ongoing modernisation plan to increase the draught level of the nation’s ports to a range of between 16 to16.5 meters, to regain Nigeria’s status as a transshipment hub.

He noted that the government’s ininitiatives varied and were not limited to implementing the cargo tracking system, the port community system, and the national single windows.

According to him, these are all geared towards increasing efficiency and reducing turn-around- time at the ports.

Earlier, leader of the delegation, Sultan Ahmed Bin-Sulayem, said that the company operates in 48 countries and had more than 90 terminals around the world with registered presence in most African countries.

According to him, DP World runs one of the most efficient port systems in the world and hope to deploy their expertise and experience in Nigerian port systems if given the opportunity.

(NAN)