By Richards Adeniyi
A cashew exporter, Mr Godwin Okoh, recently urged the Federal Government to open more ports to encourage exportation of agriculture produce to save cost.
Okoh, the Manageing Director of 0g2Tech Consulting and Investment Ltd in an interview in Lagos said the perennial gridlock of roads leading to Apapa ports in Lagos State was making export too costly.
He said that his container-load of cashew had been on the road to Apapa Port for three weeks due to heavy vehicular traffic.
According to him, the situation of the ports’ access roads is not business-friendly as truck owners charge according to time and number of days spent by their trucks.
“Our running cost is increasing by the day because of the traffic, coupled with duplication of functions by agencies that collect sundry levies without issuing receipt for them.
“If more ports are put to use, these problems at the Lagos ports will be no more. Investors and the host communties will also benefit. That of Lagos has become overstretched, resulting in tales of woes by all,” Okoh claimed.
He attributed rejection of Nigeria’s exports by end users in the international market to undue delays in transit.
According to him, most of the country’s exports are primary produce which are time bound and do not need to be delayed in transit.
He added that if other ports were opened, more people would go into trading because of proximity of the ports to them and their farms.