The Federal government has expressed commitment to collaborate with the Oyo State government to ensure that the moribund Inland Container Depot, known as Ibadan Dry Port at Erunmu in Egbeda Local Government Area of Oyo state becomes operational this year.
The abandoned Dry Port, which was established in 1999 to facilitate trade has not been functional due to some inherent bottlenecks.
The South West Zonal Coordinator, Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Dr. Olurotimi Anifowose gave the hints in Ibadan on Thursday during a courtesy visit to the state Commissioner for Commerce, Trade, Industry and Cooperative, Princess Taibat Adeyemi -Agaba.
Anifowose promised to meet all the stakeholders with a view to revamping the port.
He reinstated the readiness of the federal government to revive the moribund port owing to its benefits to the socio-economic development of the country.
“I have a mandate to remove all the bottleneck and ensure the Inland Container Depot is operational.
“What we will first of all do is to work on the level of awareness about the activities of our organisation in the South West zone of Nigeria.
“You see over the years ,we have not really brought ourselves into the consciousness of the stakeholders either active or passive stakeholders as much as we should.
“So,the first focus that we are going to look at is to use every medium to make sure that we let people know that we are here and for them to know what we are here for, in such a way, by the time they see the benefit, by the time they see the much of relevance that we have to add to their business, they would come looking for us.
“The second thing that we intend to do is to intensify on the enlightenment of the stakeholders.
“As much as possible the information you have for last year may not suffice for this year. What we are going to do is to lay emphasis on the specific. And we want to do more on collaborative effort with government agencies, corporate bodies and individuals.
“With regard to the bottleneck, I know that the average stakeholder in the South West is looking forward to the successful take-off of the Depot.
“And like I said, the bottlenecks are there, but am meant to come and remove the bottleneck and I will crave the indulgence of everyone to support us with prayer so that we will remove the bottleneck and then we have a successful Ibadan Container Depot (ICD) .”
Adeyemi-Agaba in her remarks explained that the state government was ready to provide needed support and collaborate with relevant stakeholders to ensure that the Dry Port commenced operation.
She sought for cooperation of members of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council and the Nigerian Export Promotion Council to facilitate trade and boost the economy of the country.
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