FEC okays new port for Badagry

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) has approved development of an outline business case for the Green Field Port in Badagry, Lagos State, in line with Nigeria’s economic diversification efforts.

The Council also approved the multilateral competent authority agreement for the exchange of country-by-country report.

Briefing newsmen at the end of the meeting in Abuja yesterday, Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed, and his Power, Works and Housing, as well as Transportation counterparts, Babatunde Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi, said that, as prelude to establishing the port at Badagry, the Council ratified documents submitted to it by Amaechi.

He said the essence of the agreement was to give the government a firmer grip on its tax laws and also prevent tax evasions and avoidance by multinational companies.

He said: “A situation where multinational companies operate in more than one countries, it is quite easy for them to move profit from one territory to another where laws are more favourable, and what has happened over the years is that the revenue companies lost a lot of money.”

Besides, Fashola said the agreement would assist Nigeria in tackling issues of transparency and boost on-going fight against corruption.

He said the agreement would ensure that multinational firms, which operate in two or more countries, file their yearly returns in every area they operate to prevent cover-up.

Fashola, who said the Badagry Port was long overdue, noted: “Now, some of our competitors on the continent like Djibouti are building bigger ports. So, if we don’t build this port, we risk becoming uncompetitive and we risk a threat to our maritime hub status, in the sense that we may become a trans-shipment port instead of a port of original destination.”
Amaechi, on his part, said under the agreement, it was expected that the project would take about five years to be completed and is expected to generate $2.558 billion revenue or more.