Project Coordinator/Consultant to SIFAX Container Terminal, Capt. Iheanacho Ebubeogu (left), explaining a point to the Ministerial Implementation Committee of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, led by the Director, Maritime Services, Auwal Suleiman, during their visit to company’s new container terminal at Ijora Courseway, Lagos
Impressed with the standards that SIFAX Group set in siting a new bonded container terminal in Lagos in terms of space and equipment, among others, the Federal Government said it would support the company’s vision for the facility.
The container terminal located at Ijora was established to address the traffic congestion around the Lagos ports. Sited on the fringes of the port environment, it will easily receive consignments from both Apapa and Tin Can Island ports through barges, thereby avoiding the traffic congestion on the port access roads.
Speaking during an assessment visit by the Ministerial Implementation Committee of the Ministry of Transportation, leader of the delegation and Director, Maritime Services, Auwalu Suleiman, said the committee was satisfied with the facilities provided. He commended the company’s huge vision for the inland container depot.
“We are here at the instance of the Minister of Transportation to inspect the terminal and ensure that it conforms to all relevant requirements stipulated by law in setting up an inland container terminal. So far, we are impressed with the standards you have set in terms of space, equipment, facilities, your vision and future plan,” Suleiman said.
“It is also our intention to recommend to the government that this terminal should be adopted as a model for all future off-docks that would be sited in Nigeria. We have compiled all your needs and complaints and they will be forwarded to all the relevant authorities for proper and immediate action.”
Earlier, the Group Executive Vice Chairman, SIFAX Group, Dr. Taiwo Afolabi, informed the delegation that the terminal’s concept and design were in line with the company’s existing business plan of continuous expansion, according to the Corporate Affairs Manager, Muyiwa Akande.
Afolabi, who was represented by the Executive Director, SIFAX Off Dock, Capt. Ibraheem Olugbade, listed the other aspects of the company’s business plan to include “providing solutions, growing improvements in the maritime sector and the logistics value chain, meeting customers’ expectations and complying with government’s regulations.”
He appealed for government’s support in achieving the vision of the terminal, especially the dredging of the waterways to enable barges access it.
The committee comprised officials from the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and National Inland Waterways (NIWA).
