From left: Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Mohammed Bello-Koko and Port Manager, Lagos Ports Complex, Apapa, Charles Okaga during the tour of the ports in Lagos, Monday.

Nigeria’s pioneer Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has said there is urgent need for immediate rehabilitation of the critical infrastructure, especially at the Lagos Ports Complex and Tin Can Island Ports Complex both in Apapa.

The Minister, who was conducted on a maiden tour of the Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports in Lagos by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko, Monday, said while speaking with newsmen shortly after tour that there was urgent need to forestall a collapse of the ports’ infrastructure and therefore there must be immediate rehabilitation of the infrastructure.

He however, called on terminal operators in the ports to collaborate with the Federal Government to rehabilitate the collapsed quays and other areas that require urgent rehabilitation in order to forestall a total collapse.

“To avoid the collapse of the port we need to rehabilitate the port as a matter of urgency and dredging must continue and we can put other things in place. I have gone round to see the things for myself. I have been having ministerial briefing since the last 10 days and I have seen a lot of things such as the challenges and the need to activate a lot of things about our ports.

“Infrastructure is almost collapsing with what I have seen so far and it’s a major rehabilitation that have to be carried out and the dredging has to continue.”

The former governor of Osun state, however, applauded the management of the NPA, saying they needed to be supported to acheive the desired reports.

“I am impressed with the management of the authority we need to support them and I am looking forward to a situation where the terminal managers will be willing to contribute to the rehabilitation of the ports. It’s important and if they do that, they will make more money for themselves, it should be a collaboration with the terminal and the government.”

“We are carrying out remedial work on the quay wall very soon and I have asked them to let us have the report of what they carried out so far, we need to know the numbers so that we can get approval from the president for remedial work.”

“Absolutely we need to restructure and put the right infrastructure in place and it’s a way of revitatlising the economy we rely so much on oil and there are lot of other opportunities that has remained untapped for so many years and we must commend the president for creating the ministry.”

The Minister also stated that he would engage with the Federal Ministry of Works on rehabilitation of the port access roads.

“On access road, it’s important to put it in place, we need to engage the minister of works to see what we can do together and I have discussed with the Ministry of Transport to see what we can do with the rail. I believe with all those things in place, we are good to go,” he stated.

The NPA MD led other top management of the agency including Executive Director, Marine and Operations, Onari Brown, Executive Director, Finance and Administration, Aderenle Adesina, General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communications, Mrs. Josephine Moltok and Port Manager, Lagos Ports Complex, Charles Okaga, among others to accord the Minister a warm welcome.

He pledged the commitment and unalloyed support of the entire management team under his watch for the Minister with a view to ensuring Federal Government’s desire to optimally harness the country’s rich blue economic potential for the benefit of all citizens was achieved.