NPA reveals export cargoes up by 35% in one year

Mohammed Bello-Koko, the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), revealed that between 2021 and 2022, the nation’s metric tonnes of export increased by 34.5%.

Bello-Koko stated that the nation’s export volume increased to almost 5.1 million metric tonnes in 2022 from 3.79 million metric tonnes the year before during a webinar on the export of non-oil items at the 2023 Zenith Bank International Trade Seminar in Lagos.

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Between January and June 2023, 3.5 million metric tonnes of export trade, in his estimation, were facilitated through the country’s seaports.

He continued by saying that the authority had been tracking export increases since 2019.

He added that the authority had been recording growth in export since 2019.

“In 2019, the ports recorded about 2.8 million metric tonnes of export, and it increased to 3.8 million metric tonnes in 2020. The export volume grew in 2021 to 3.79 million metric tonnes, and over 5.1 million metric tonnes in 2022.”

Bello-Koko said the NPA was working closely with other government agencies like the Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Shippers Council and Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, to ensure that imports and exports were cleared out of the port faster.

“We need the Customs to reduce the time it takes to scan and inspect cargo because the faster it takes, the earlier the importer and exporters take their goods,” he said.