(NEWS RELEASE)
The Buhari Media Organisation (BMO) has described the drastic reduction in the cost of berthing ships in Nigerian ports from $150,000 to $20,000 as another laudable feat of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration.
This feat, which has earned international ovations has also won the country the first-ever “Outstanding Achievement in Collective Action Award” of the Switzerland-based Basel Institute on Governance.
In a statement signed by its Chairman Niyi Akinsiju and Secretary Cassidy Madueke Akinsiju, the group said this has attracted international reviews, and countries such as Egypt, Ukraine, and India are now borrowing a leaf from the Nigerian model to produce similar gains in their ports’ operations.
“This is a people-oriented policy and a big incentive to business and trade that will greatly reduce the overhead cost of doing business, the price of transportation and by extension, the prices of goods and services”.
The pro-Buhari group also celebrated this administration for being responsive. “Over time, there have been issues around the cost of doing business in our ports compared to other ports.
“This impressive reduction is a reflection of the government’s conscious effort to enable ease of doing business and trade.
“For a country that is physically hamstrung in terms of seeking more revenue, the government has done so much by trading off seeking higher earnings from payment of levies and encouraging growth and more transactions.
“Aside from the facts that the reduction will lead to increased trade at the level of the Nigeria ports and make our ports more competitive compared to our neighboring ports, it is also going to, by implication, reflect on our inflation rate either at the level of direct consumption or manufacturing because the bulk of our raw materials come from abroad.
“We join well-meaning Nigerians to celebrate President Muhammadu Buhari for this insight and for creating momentum for international trade”, the statement added.
