![The President’s Observation On Nigeria’s Export And Why We Must Improve [Video]](https://tkcdn.tekedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/13062812/prst_nigeria-768x316.jpg "The President’s Observation On Nigeria’s Export And Why We Must Improve [Video]")
“According to the sector operators, the cost of exporting 100 tons of cargo in Nigeria is $35,000, compared to $4,000 in Ghana. Today, the leading ports for West Africa are in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, and Benin Republic. All these countries have modernized their port management systems, leaving Nigeria far behind.
“Nigeria can learn from Morocco’s world-class Tangier-Med port. The port is unique in that it is an industrial port complex, and a platform that has over 1,100 companies. They collectively exported over € 8 billion worth of goods in 2020.
“Companies located at the Tangier-Med port have allowed Morocco to move up the global value chains, including automobiles, automotive parts, aeronautics, agriculture and food manufacturing, textiles, and logistics. Annually, over 460,000 cars are manufactured in the zone for exports. And more interesting is that the bulk of the human resources to do these are Moroccans.”
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From the Speech by Dr. Akinwumi A. Adesina, President of the African Development Bank Group at the Mid-Term Ministerial Performance Review Retreat, Abuja, Nigeria, 11 October 2021
Nigeria scores many own-goals. If not, these port issues would have been fixed. You make certain things in Onitsha, Aba, Kebbi, Lokoja, etc, yet you have to haul them to Lagos to export when you have water bodies to build new ports in Akwa Ibom and Cross River to help Lagos!
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Nigeria has perfected the art of mediocrity, and it remains peerless when it comes to underperformance. We just have a unique way of making everything look complex and ultra sophisticated, even things that have been in existence for centuries. From electricity to port management, all have become celestial science here, way beyond human capabilities and comprehension!
Akwa Ibom has everything to turn Nigeria into a true giant, from water bodies to land resources, clean environment, and anything else you can think of, yet we keep squeezing Lagos as though the country is condemned to survive only there, it’s both pathetic and illogical.
We spend unbelievable amount of time fiddling and theorizing on how to make naira great, yet nobody cares to do the actual things that transform nations. We are incapable of manufacturing at scale, yet the paltry things we manage to scrap together, exporting them becomes another nightmare, but we keep yearning for stronger naira. We are not normal.