NPA MD, Dantsoho, Tasks African Countries to Translate Marine Comparative Advantages into Opportunities for Collective Prosperity
REGIONAL COOPERATION: President of the Port Management Association of West & Central Africa (PMAWCA)/ Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho (Right) and Secretary-General of PMAWCA Mr. Koffi Jean-Marie at the ongoing Meeting of the Board of Directors of (PMAWCA) in Luanda – Angola.
By Our Correspondent
The President of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, has expressed the need for African countries to translate marine comparative advantages into opportunities for the collective prosperity in their individual countries.
Speaking on the occasion of the PMAWCA Board of Directors and Ports Statisticians Network Meetings in Luanda, Angola, Dantsoho pointed out that the sustainability of African countries depends heavily on the sustainability of their different seaports
He added that apart from being linked by water, countries in West and Central Africa are equally linked by opportunities and challenges.
Dantsoho said, “The need to translate our marine comparative advantages into opportunities for the collective prosperity of our respective countries has never been more pressing than it is now.
“We must not lose sight of the fact that the demonstrated global leadership of ports in the contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) shows that the sustainability of the world, especially Africa, rests heavily on the sustainability of our Ports.
“As I stated last week in my engagement with the PMAWCA Women Network at the NPA headquarters in Lagos, apart from being linked by water, countries in West and Central Africa are linked by challenges and opportunities and With the increasing realization of the leverage that economic cooperation confers in the international arena, we will be doing great disservice to ourselves if we fail to maximize this unity through intensified collaboration of our ports.”
The PMAWCA President also pointed out that data remains the major driver of effective decision making in port management.
He was full of commendation for President Bola Tinubu for the creation of Marine and Blue Economy Ministry, stating that the Ministry has made implementation of audacious plans for the sector easier.
According to him, “Coming together with the Statisticians Network, this meeting presents a smart model for regional synergy and partnership, which this administration intends to champion, especially given that data remains the major driver of effective decision-making in Port Management.
“With the visionary creation of the new Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, which has re-energised our resolve to invest more in sector-specific talent development to harness more ideas from operational think tanks such as the PMAWCA.
“The administration of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has made the implementation of our audacious plans easier with the visionary creation of the new Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, which has re-energised our resolve to invest more in sector-specific talent development to harness more ideas from operational think tanks such as the PMAWCA.
“Statisticians Network gives us the capacity to expand training opportunities across member ports. The modernisation of our ports and full automation of our processes through the Port Community System (PCS) and its corollary, the National Single Window (NSW), which is gaining momentum, must be accompanied by strengthened economic cohesion among PMAWCA members, and I will like to register Nigeria’s unwavering commitment to achieving this as soon as possible.
“The specific objectives of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) which includes the progressive elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade in goods, liberalization of trade in services and cooperation amongst others is pregnant with a lot of opportunities for wealth creation and prosperity, which I am convinced that our partnership and holding of hands under the umbrella PMAWCA will equip us to safely midwife for the benefit of our respective national economies with domino effect on the economy of the sub-region.”
“At the Board of Directors’ meeting, we will be reviewing the outcomes of 2024 activities, examining our recommendations and budgets well as deliberating on the strategic direction of our esteemed Association.”
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