Oyetola Promises To Tackle Ports’ Congestion; Connect Rail

Gboyega Oyetola, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, has disclosed that all will his efforts will be channeled towards revamping the country’s maritime sector under the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The minister, according to his media office made this known when he paid a working visit to the management and staff of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, on Monday.

He also used the occasion to inspect facilities at the country’s major seaports in Tin Can and Apapa.

Oyetola said there’s an urgent need to renew the infrastructure in the seaports across the country, which he claimed are on the verge of total collapse.

He also assured that enough scanners would be deployed to the ports to avoid unnecessary delays, noting that where the scanners already exist, he would interface with concerned government agencies to ensure their proper usage for efficiency at the ports.

Oyetola said he’s in a hurry to leave a lasting legacy in the sector “for generations to come.”

He said, “I, therefore, enjoin you to be good ambassadors of this newly created ministry by displaying the highest level of character at your respective duty posts. Your attitude to work must change. We must imbibe the ethos of hard work, discipline, decency, and selflessness as this is the only way we can deliver on Mr. President’s renewed hope agenda.

“Nigerians expect a lot from the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. We must not fail them. We must increase our contribution to the country’s GDP. We have identified some of the low hanging fruits that will make an immediate impact. We shall vigorously pursue them. I am in a hurry to make an impact.

“U have no business heading the Marine and Blue Economy Ministry if I can not make an impact. I want to make an impact. But I can not do it alone. I need your cooperation. I need your support. We have the potential to grow our economy and create more jobs through this novel ministry. We must put everything to work to deliver on the Renewed Hope Agenda of Mr. President”.

He added: “We fully understand the crucial importance of our ports to the nation’s economic development and international trade. We will work towards improving the operations of our ports. Some of the access roads to our ports are in bad shape.

“We shall liaise with the Federal Ministry of Works to ensure some of these roads are fixed in no distant time to ease our operations at the ports. We shall very soon commence the infrastructure renewal of our ports, including pursuing the rail to port project as part of efforts to decongest our ports.”

Oyetola, a former governor of Osun state was initially appointed as the Minister of Transportation by President Tinubu but was later reassigned to the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.

Meanwhile, not a few analysts in the maritime sector are watching him keenly to see whether the minister will succeed in decongesting the ports as he has promised, because all his predecessors have seemingly failed in this direction.