The Badagry Deep Seaport project in Lagos State received a boost on Wednesday when the Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting in Abuja approved 2.59 billion dollars for its development.
The Minister of Transport, Muazu Sambo made this known while addressing State House correspondents on the outcome of the council meeting with his counterparts from the FCT and Finance and National Planning on Wednesday.
The FEC meeting was presided by President Muhammadu Buhari.
According to Sambo, the Badagry project will be executed under a Public Private Partnership (PPP) scheme, saying the private sector will inject money into the port and manage it for 45 years.
He said: “I presented a memo at council, with respect to the development of the Badagry Deep Seaport, under the public-private partnership arrangement, where the private sector will inject money for the development of the port and at the end of the concessionary period, the port reverts to the Nigerian government through the Nigerian Ports Authority.
“The project as approved by the council based on the final business case as approved earlier by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission in line with extant laws stands at $2.59 billion.
“It is to be developed in four phases and the concessionary period is 45 years,” he stated.
Sambo said the decision taken by the government would further its goal of making Nigeria the maritime hub of the West and Central African regions.
According to him, the project will help Nigeria generate total revenue of 53.6 billion dollars over the concession period as well as create jobs and attract foreign direct investments, culminating with an enhancement of the wellbeing of Nigerians.
