Buhari to attend international maritime conference

President Muhammadu Buhari will on Monday declare open the first International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) African regional conference.

The event, scheduled to hold at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja, will be chaired by Abdulsalami Abubakar, former military head of state.

Addressing a press conference in Lagos on Friday, Hadiza Bala Usman, managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and vice president (Africa Region) of the association, explained that the conference, themed African Ports and Hinterland Connectivity, would draw maritime stakeholders from within and outside Africa.

She said upon her election as VP, she saw the need for industry players on the continent to synergise and work towards shared growth and prosperity.

This, she noted, brought about the idea of the conference, which is geared towards improving the capacity of African ports for efficiency and competitiveness.

Usman said the theme of the conference “is in recognition of the importance of the ease of cargo transference from ports locations to various destinations of use. For ports in the region to attain their potentials, the deployment of multimodal means of transportation which ensures that cargoes are moved without delay and to the satisfaction of clients has become a compulsory factor”.

“At the end of the conference, we are hopeful that we would be able to produce a document which can form the basis of policies that would guide our governments in the very important task of improving service delivery at African Ports.”

Sponsors of the event include Integrated Logistics Services (INTELS), Dangote Group, African Circle, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Bonny Channel Company (BCC), DISN, and Depasa Group of Companies, STARZ, INDORAMA, PTML, Lekki Port, NEM Insurance, and DUTUM.