The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, says inability to do away with human contacts in port operations is affecting its efficiency.
Amaechi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Tuesday that the country had not developed enough technology to run the ports without human contacts.
He said continuous training of ports workers in technology would translate to its efficiency and ultimately become competitive.
“You move in your goods and take it out in 24 hours and this makes the ports more competitive than keeping goods for 40 days.
“When you compare Nigerian economy with the economy of other countries, you have to look at the factors of production.
“If those factors of production are cheaper in those countries, then the cost of goods in those countries will be cheaper than the cost of shipping goods there.
“It also includes seaports. If the seaport activities are costly, it will be less competitive,” Amaechi said.
He said that people were rushing to Dubai to ship in goods into many countries because it operates mostly on zero cost.
The minister said that the present management of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) was working hard in ensuring seamless operations at the nation’s ports.
