Construction completed on Nigeria’s $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Sea Port
The new 8.8 million square-foot port is expected to spur growth across the country by making Africa’s largest city a centre for shipping and tourism
JERUSALEM — The $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Sea Port project, expected to be completed this summer, will usher in a new era of Nigeria’s oil and gas industry, President Muhammadu Buhari said Wednesday.
“This project is an important step in helping the nation get back on its feet,” Buhari said in his State of the Nation Address, at his side was Minister of State for Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola.
“As we have been saying all along, the oil and gas industry is a pillar for Nigeria’s growth,” Buhari said, announcing the federal government’s allocation of $9 million for the port.
The new 8.8 million square-foot port is expected to spur growth across the country by making Nigeria’s largest city an important link for shipping and tourism, said Fashola, chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority.
“This project is going to ensure that Lekki stays relevant and at the centre of the Nigerian oil and gas industry. This is very very important for the socio-economic and political development of our country,” said Fashola.
By its completion in September, the port will be Nigeria’s second deep sea port.
The federal government initially planned to spend $4 billion on the Lekki project, which was to be built off the mouth of the Calabar Lighthouse on Lagos Lagoon.
The project was later reduced to $1.5 billion due to the ongoing global oil price drop.
The new port will be built in Lekki, Lagos, and will have a deepwater basin about 3.8 miles (6 kilometers) deep. It will serve as the terminal for the super-deepwater Lekki terminal. The terminal can handle 8.1 million barrels of oil per day, according to the Federal Government.
The shallow basin and deepwater berth are currently used for transporting oil from Lekki and the nearby terminal to the Port Harcourt and Port-Gidah terminals, respectively.
Last year, the Nigerian Government approved the Lekki terminal as the future terminal for Nigeria
