Press Releases

Yar’Adua, Fashola Commend Gains Of PPP

Jun 19, 2008 - President Umar Musa Yar’Adua and the Lagos State Governor Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) Thursday hailed the Private/Public Partnership initiative as the only viable means to achieve the objectives of Vision 2020.

The duo who spoke at the commissioning of the Apapa Container Terminal, agreed that the potentials of the partnership held the key to the nation’s emergence as one of the greatest economies in the world in the next decade.

Speaking at the colourful ceremony also attended by the crème of the stakeholders in the maritime sector, President Yar’Adua said his administration recognized the Private Public Partnership initiative as a driving force to fast track the nation’s economic development adding that the Federal Government was committed to constructive engagement of the private sector to achieve its policy objectives.

“Our administration has consistently emphasized the role of the private sector as a driving force in our efforts to develop our economy”, the President said adding that the Public/Private Partnership policy was anchored on the need to ensure efficiency in the running of government business.

Yar’Adua said the Federal Government’s Port concession policy was conceived with the aim engaging the private sector constructively in the development of the nation’s ports as a critical sector in the development of the nation’s economy.

Commending the APM Terminal Apapa Limited, the concessionaire of the Apapa Container Terminal for the effective transformation recorded at the terminal in the two years of managing it, the President declared “what we see here today is evidence that the successes here can be replicated in other sectors of our economy”.

He continued, “It is an evidence in the sense that within two years of handing this port over to the Private Sector, significant improvement has been recorded”, pointing out that what the company has been able to achieve within the period was a thing of national pride.

The President directed the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to intensify the monitoring of other concessionaires to ensure strict compliance to the tenets of the agreement as well as ensuring that safety remained of high priority.

In his address, Governor Fashola said the decision to invest in Nigeria as the largest market in the Continent of Africa was not a favour but an evidence of a partnership that works. According to the Governor, Nigeria remains the most enterprising nation in the whole of the African Continent and a decision to invest here was a wise one.

The Governor commended the APM Terminals Apapa Limited for killing the fear of investing in the nation’s economy and having the wisdom to invest in the country, adding that it was a good decision as investors across the world were moving towards the African Continent where Nigeria plays a very important role.

Expressing gratitude to the President for his interest in the development of Lagos, Fashola declared, “I believe that it is no longer disputable that if Lagos works Nigeria will work, especially as Lagos stands as engine that drives the economic wagon of Nigeria”.

In her own remarks, the Minister of Transport Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke said the initiative to engage the Private sector in the development of the nation’s ports was based on the overall need to redirect the management of Public facilities in the efficient running of the ports.

The Minister, who decried the lack of a strong regulator in the Maritime sector, gave assurance that the issue would soon be addressed by appointing a temporary regulator at the shortest possible time.

Also in his remark, the Chief Executive of the APM international Mr. Kim Fijfer said the company was in Nigeria to be part of the emerging economy of the country which according to him would be Africa’s major market, adding that the Nigerian economy had recorded tremendous growth in the last few years.

Earlier in his welcome address, former President and Chairman of APM Terminal Apapa Limited, Chief Ernest Shonekan said the company has invested over $10 billion in the last two years adding that it would remain a trail blazer in the efficient running of the nation’s ports.