Many issues naturally arise from the approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last week, of a deep sea port for Lagos. The most prominent is the political significance of the decision against the backdrop of allegations that the President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, may be hesitant in approving such a gigantic project with several positive draw-down effects on the economy of that hotbed of opposition to his presidency. Not only has it given a lie to that assumption, it has proven, once again, that the President on most occasions, rise above political partisanship on issues that border on the welfare of Nigerians.
The Jonathan administration chose to approve the new Lekki deep sea port in spite of strong arguments against Lagos which already has two of the nation’s biggest ports. Not only do they handle over 80% of the nation’s maritime activities, port operations are chiefly responsible for the traffic congestion and environmental chaos in that emerging mega city. Indeed, the arguments against Lagos are strong. With as many as seven littoral states, five of which are controlled by the Peoples Democratic Party, President Jonathan could have chosen from several other options. But he would not be swayed.
The gimmick-or is it blackmail-by the Lagos state government, also played a part. The state government and apologists of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) would have cried blue murder and inputted political meanings if FEC had decided otherwise, regardless of the plausibility of the reasons offered. This attitude-that politics is a factor in such decisions-has a foundation in time; it is understandably a throw-back to the running battles that former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu –now APC national leader — had with President Olusegun Obasanjo between 1999 and 2007.
Though a fellow Yoruba of the South-West, Obasanjo had issues with many of the projects and policies that Tinubu initiated, and for which he expected support from Abuja. Among them was the state’s $225 million barge-mounted electricity generating project in Egbin. Originally designed to produce a total of 290 megawatts of electricity, the terms of the deal initiated with Enron, the US power firm on August 1, 1999, was opposed by Obasanjo. The disagreement had forced the three barges brought in by Enron to generate an initial 90 mw of electricity for the emergency phase of the agreement to remain idle, at a huge cost to the Tinubu administration.
The creation of 37 additional Local governments (Development Centres) in Lagos was another source of disagreement for which the President had withheld the state allocations. Obasanjo had claimed that the Lagos State Government must revert to the 20 local government structures before its Local Government funds would be released, in spite of the pronouncement to the contrary by the Supreme Court.
With the experience, Lagos state has always chosen to be on the offensive. Every action of the Federal government that is not in sync with its policies or expectations is attributed to ulterior political considerations. With time, it has become a convenient tool for blackmail. It appears not to have woken up to the new dawn that decisions are no longer subjected to such ulterior political considerations.
Beyond all these, the other question is whether it makes economic sense to concentrate the nation’s maritime economy in a single state when Warri, Port Harcourt, Calabar and other ports are begging for patronage. In Delta state alone, there are as many as three ports (in Burutu, Koko and Warri) with huge potentials only if they are expanded.
Those who made-and won-the argument for the location of Nigeria’s first deep sea port in Lagos say it is the best option to decongest the Apapa port as well as the Lagos environment. A good argument, I dare say, though many experts may disagree. They insist the battle against road traffic and the challenges of congestion can hardly be won with such a project, arguing that the same argument was adduced when Tin Can port was conceived in 1977 to decongest the ever busy Apapa port. It is difficult to discountenance that economic consideration may have won the case for Lagos rather than elsewhere since existing ports in Lagos-some of the busiest in Africa-have, since, far exceeded their capacities. But it is equally difficult to discountenance the argument that another sea port for Lagos will negate efforts to decongest Lagos and clean up the state’s environment, notorious for its traffic snarls and air pollution.
Going by operational statistics, the Lagos ports with an installed capacity of 60 million metric tons per annum are over-stretched already. Today, they are forced to handle over 100 million metric tons [er annum, with car imports accounting for the larger bulk. Last October, for instance, as many as 11,652 units of vehicles were handled by the ports.
Estimated to cost about $1.354 billion, the Lekki port will be constructed through a Public Private Partnership arrangement, with the federal and Lagos state governments contributing 20 and 18.5 per cent equity respectively while other private investors will make up the balance of 61.85 per cent stake in the project. To be delivered within a record four years, the port will thereafter be operated on a concession basis for a period of 45 years, after which it will revert to the Federal Government.
Its potentials for revenue accruing to government are enormous: more than $9.3 billion will accrue to Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) from marine services, royalties, customs charges and share profits from the investments. More importantly, in addition to the new port creating no less than 162,000 jobs, there are other benefits estimated at over $379 billion during the concession period.
Though it will be four years in coming, the new deep sea port is indeed a project of promise with potential to define the economic development strategy of President Jonathan administration. For him too, it is equally a statement in rising above political partisanship in seeking the development of the country. Hopefully, it will redefine cross-party relationships and put to rest, finally, the notion that the PDP federal government does not enjoy a cordial relationship with Lagos, starting place of the opposition.
• Jones sent in this piece via Abimbolajones2013@yahoo.com