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At the just-concluded World Ports Conference successful Kobe, Japan, Port professionals drawn from 64 Countries endorsed the predetermination of the managing manager of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, arsenic vice president of the International Association for Ports & Harbours (IAPH).
Following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration’s support of the National Policy connected Marine & Blue Economy, Dantsoho’s predetermination arsenic vice president of the IAPH is simply a testament to Nigeria’s increasing power successful the maritime community.
IAPH is simply a non-governmental organisation (NGO) headquartered successful Tokyo, Japan. In November 1955, immoderate 100 satellite larboard leaders gathered successful Los Angeles to denote the instauration of IAPH. Over the past six decades, IAPH has developed into a planetary confederation of ports, representing contiguous immoderate 190 ports and 167 port-related businesses successful 89 countries arsenic of 6 December 2024. The subordinate ports grip good implicit 60 per cent of the world’s sea-borne commercialized and implicit 60 per cent of the world’s instrumentality traffic.
IAPH aims to beryllium the planetary commercialized relation of prime for larboard authorities and operators, representing their interests astatine the regulatory level astatine the International Maritime Organisation, the World Customs Organisation (WCO), the International Standards Organisation (ISO) and different planetary alliances specified arsenic the Global Maritime Forum and the World Economic Forum.
IAPH has consultative presumption and works connected behalf of ports with further United Nations bodies specified arsenic the United Nations Conference connected Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations Global Compact.
Agenda for African Port Growth
Against the backdrop of his inauguration arsenic Vice President (Africa) of the International Association of Ports and Harbours, Dantsoho outlined his cardinal priorities for advancing larboard improvement crossed the continent.
Speaking aft his inauguration astatine the precocious concluded World Ports Conference, themed “Reinvention and Prosperity successful Turbulent Times”, Dantsoho said his absorption volition beryllium connected effectual argumentation implementation, enhanced collaboration, strengthened cooperation, and improved commercialized facilitation wrong Africa’s larboard sector.
African ports, helium noted, play a captious relation successful planetary commercialized but look challenges specified as; infrastructure deficits, argumentation inconsistency, and constricted technological adoption.
However, the NPA MD said unified enactment among African larboard authorities and stakeholders to code challenges facing African ports would beryllium cardinal to his enactment docket astatine the IAPH.
According to him, his administration, done the deployment of larboard innovativeness volition seizure tangible, sustainable concern returns successful high-risk environments.
“This work has fired up my resoluteness much than ever earlier to beryllium the vanguard of galvanising nationalist and determination argumentation enactment steps geared towards institutionalising ports’ eco-friendliness successful enactment with the dictates of IAPH’s World Ports Sustainability Program.
“Reinvention and prosperity successful turbulent times done the deployment of larboard innovativeness to seizure tangible, sustainable concern returns successful high-risk environments is simply a planetary exigency that the satellite tin astir efficiently surmount if IAPH members talk with 1 dependable done renewed collaboration and cooperation,” helium said.
The NPA brag further stated that helium volition champion afloat automation of African ports to destruct commercialized barriers.
“I mean to deploy my existent relation arsenic President of the Pan-African Association for Port Cooperation (PAPC) to much intentionally beforehand collaboration and cooperation. Cognisant of the catalytic relation of automation arsenic the linchpin of ports’ ratio and sustainability, I mean to infuse greater enactment down the necessity of afloat automation of African Ports arsenic the astir veritable instrumentality for elimination of commercialized barriers,” helium concluded.
Dantsoho said that the ongoing ports reconstruction crossed Africa volition engender efficiency, commercialized facilitation, and revolutionise the manufacture connected the continent.
According to him, “Now, for those of america from Africa, we are usually identified arsenic the caller frontier due to the fact that of the large imaginable of our continent.
The continent of Africa has a colonisation of astir 1.5 cardinal people. In presumption of coastline, we person astir 34,000 km of coastline. Unfortunately, successful the country of infrastructure and the larboard system, we person been falling behind. And present we person realised that it is important to bash a batch of catching up precise quickly.
“I privation to accidental that it is absorbing to observe that astir of the ports successful Africa present are putting a batch of backing into larboard infrastructure. For example, we person the Simado task successful Guinea Conakry, which is going for astir $11...
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