Lekki deep seaport to contribute $360bn to Nigeria’s economy, FG

Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, has stated that when the Lekki deep seaport is completed and operational, it will contribute $360 billion to the Nigerian economy over the next 45 years.

“It also depends on how much the economy grows before then,” said the minister, who gave the assurance on Sunday in Lagos after inspecting the project. The expansion will be hampered by the economy’s growth.

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“Because the deep seaport was a privately funded project, contractors will be able to collect revenue from commercial activities over time before handing over to the federal government.”

“However, taxes will be collected here, and even they (Contractors) will have to pay taxes; I’m not sure if any taxes were mentioned in the agreement, but I doubt there is any tax exemption.”

“So, we’ll collect taxes here, and the reason we’re giving them the project is because of the taxes we’ll collect here, which will help us build other projects.”

Contractors will have to recover the money they invested in the project, according to Amaechi, who added that “in financial terms, in the process of recovering their money, they will contribute to the nation’s GDP annually.”

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Concerning the seaport’s expansion, the Minister expressed concern that the port would not be large enough to accommodate high-level economic activities in the future.

“The argument we had in cabinet was that the need for a deep seaport at Lekki was a result of the fact that demand for port activities in the country has outstripped supply of tincan and Apapa around Lagos,” he said.