Abuja – Disturbed by the slow pace of work on most of the Inland Dry Ports (IDPs) also known as Inland Container Depots (ICDs) in the six geopolitical zones of the country as a result of paucity of funds, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) said it is currently working on assisting the concessionaires to attract investors and necessary funding.

The Council, it was gathered, is concerned that apart from the Kaduna IDP which has taken off since January last year, the other IDP projects are yet to be completed by the concessionaires due to lack of finance. To ensure that the concessionaires complete their projects as soon as possible, the Council has approached the Commonwealth Enterprise Investment Council (CWEIC) to be involved in the search for interested investors for the IDP projects.

It was gathered that the Executive Secretary, NSC, Mr Hassan Bello, has already visited the London office of the body which was established in 2014 with mandate from Commonwealth Heads of Government to promote intra-commonwealth trade and investments across the 53 member countries.

CWEIC is responsible for organising the Commonwealth Business Forum alongside the biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and Commonwealth Trade Ministers Meeting on alternative years.

Bello also led the management team of the Council to attend the Advisory Council Meeting of CWEIC held recently in Lagos during which a lot of business opportunities across and beyond Nigerian were laid bare.

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