AfCFTA: NPA Launches First Export Processing Terminal In Lagos

To make export-bound cargoes access the Lagos Seaports -Apapa and Tin-Can Island- seamlessly, the managing director of the NIgerian Ports Authority (NPA), Mohammed Bello-Koko, on Tuesday commissioned first Export Processing Terminal (EPT), In Lagos.

Diamond Star EPT, which is the first of the 10 licensed terminals to be commissioned by the NPA, is to make Nigeria optimise the advantages of the benefits inherent in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement.

Speaking to LEADERSHIP at the event, the NPA boss, said the initiative signposts the NPA’s commitment to implementation of the National Action Plan on agro-export and the FG’s desire to diversify the national economy from oil export to non-oil export.

He, however, stated that, the authority was positioned to infuse greater efficiency into the logistics surrounding the entry of export boxes into the ports and the eventual loading on sea-going vessels.

“The launch of this and other terminals also strategically positions Nigeria to optimise the advantages of the benefits inherent in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AFCFTA) Agreement. The need for the Export Processing Terminals (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,” he pointed out.

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The EPTs, he said, are holding areas positioned in Lagos and Ogun States to help exporters prepare their arrival at port terminals in-view of the traffic management challenges that are visible in Lagos.

Bello-Koko, however, applauded the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), for creating an export command, saying, the authority wasn’t unaware of the existence of export warehouses handling manufactured products.

He stated that the NPA will work with the Customs’ export command to bring up seamless modalities that will govern that  aspect.

“To emphasise the importance of export in our strategy, movement of export boxes from the Lilypond Export Terminal shall be directly through Warehouse Road to cut down on time for arrival into the port. Similarly, movement of export boxes to Tin-Can Island Port shall be from the DiamondStar consolidation point at Emmadunamix Terminal, Okota,” he stressed.

The managing director of Diamond Star Port and Terminals Limited,  Olatunji Baale, said, the company has the capability and competence to render prompt services to exporters and other stakeholders in the value chain.

According to him, there would seamless delivery of export boxes all the terminal is a one-stop-shop that houses all the government agencies in the export value chain.

Baale said the terminal can handle about 50,000 boxes of export containers on a weekly basis, and will help to grow Nigeria’s export trade by reducing the trade imbalance.

Also speaking, the Assistant Comptroller General (ACG), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Zone A, ACG, Adeyanju Aremu, said the service has developed Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), to remove impediment along the export value chain.

Aremu, said: “we have developed a standard operating procedure for our export operation to ensure that all form of impediment are removed along the trade value chain in line with global standards.”