Kaduna: Buhari redefines Inland Dry Port, seeks early delivery of other 6 ports
President Muhammadu Buhari last week in Kaduna called on concessionaires of all Inland Dry Ports located in parts of the country to fasten delivery of the facilities as soon as possible and defined the concept of Inland Dry Port.
According to him, “As Ports of origin for exports and ports of destination for imports, the Inland Dry Ports will accelerate the implementation of our economic diversification policy.
“The concept of Inland Dry Port has gained widespread importance with the changes in international transportation as a result of the container revolution and the introduction of door-to-door delivery of cargo.
“It provides importers and exporters located within the nation’s hinterland, especially industrial and commercial outfits, access to shipping and port services without necessarily visiting the seaports.
“It also enables them to process clearance of their import cargo and take delivery of their raw materials and machinery close to their places of business.’’
He said Dry Ports provide exporters the much needed facilities to process, package, consolidate and forward their exports to their customers all over the world without having to physically be at the seaports.
Elated Buhari noted that the development of Inland Dry Ports was an important factor in the nation’s economic development efforts, stressing that Inland Port concept clearly replicates the port economy in the various centres where the dry ports are located inland, thereby generating employment and contributing to the ease of doing business.
Investigations showed that the remaining Dry Port schemes across the federation which include those in Ibadan, Aba, Kano, Jos, Funtua and Maiduguri had been gazetted, and are at various stages of completion.
