Terminal operators demand policy consistency to drive investment decisions in Nigeria

Terminal operators at Nigeria’s biggest ports say continuity and consistency in policy regulations are necessary to enable foreign investment flows into Nigeria.

At the 31st annual Nigerian Economic Summit in Abuja, Frederik Klinke, the Chief Executive Officer of APM Terminals Nigeria, told a roundtable panel that while there is optimism about reforms taken by the government, they need a regulatory environment for predictability that guarantees that the rules will not change.

“What investors are concerned about is long term predictability. When you operate in a volatile inflation and forex environment like Nigeria, investors understand that but there has to be assurance that the regulation in place allows for such volatility by enabling investors to adjust tariffs when inflation runs high. If that is not in place, that it becomes a huge hindrance to business.”

APM Terminals is Nigeria’s largest port operator, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and a unit of Danish shipping company Maersk.

Read also: APM Terminals commits $60m to make Onne Nigeria’s first green port

During the opening ceremony, Kashim Shettima, Nigeria’s vice president, said the reforms introduced by President Bola Tinubu were of “good intentions” but acknowledged Nigeria faces problems, which he said are surmountable.

“The government is ready to receive and implement recommendations that will emerge from your deliberations. We will industrialise Nigeria through power, logistics and technology,” he said.

Meanwhile, other private sector players like Jobson Ewalefoh, director general of the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, said that Nigeria’s biggest hindrance to investors “goes beyond the funding of physical assets” to infrastructural issues.

“As a country, we cannot run away from the fact that we have an infrastructure challenge. Our infrastructure gap represents a significant challenge and transformative opportunity. Public resources can no longer support the transformation we envisage,” he said.

He said his company is trying to solve these problems by hastening the process of privatisation and concession approval from the Bureau of Public Enterprises. “Nigeria is open for business,” he said.