ABUJA (Reuters) – Nigeria has secured a $600 million investment in port infrastructure from Danish shipping company AP Moller-Maersk, the presidency announced in a statement on Sunday.
The investment was secured during a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and Moller-Maersk Chairman Robert Maersk Uggla on the sidelines of a World Economic Forum meeting in Saudi Arabia.
“We believe in Nigeria and we will invest $600 million in existing facilities and ensure that the ports can accommodate larger ships,” Uggla was quoted as saying by the Nigerian presidency during the meeting.
Nigeria has promised to renovate its ports, including that of Lagos, the commercial capital, to reduce traffic jams that frustrate businesses.
Tinubu told the meeting that his government would support the modernization and automation of its ports to improve trade, reduce corruption and increase efficiency.
“A bet on Nigeria is a winning bet. It is also a bet that pays off beyond what can be obtained elsewhere,” he said. “We need to encourage more revenue expansion opportunities and minimize transshipments from larger vessels to smaller vessels.”
(Reporting by Felix Onuah in Abuja and Kanjyik Ghosh in Bengalulu; Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; editing by Lisa Shumaker and Matthew Lewis)
