The Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho has said the centrality of Abuja coupled with its rich agro-allied potentials is germane to strengthening NPA’s commitment to supporting the Federal Government’s efforts to continuously grow non-oil revenue by connecting local value producers in the non-oil value chain to identified international clusters of demand for their goods.

According to him, Abuja’s centrality accentuates, presents a seamless linkage with the comparative advantages inherent in all regions of the federation that can be harnessed to sustain growth of Nigeria’s exports.

He said NPA is always proud to be associated with the noble cause the Abuja International Trade Fair represents, especially seeing that trade remains the most veritable tool for actualising most of Nigeria’s economic aspirations.

The NPA boss used the opportunity of the occasion of the “NPA Special Day” to invite the entire trading and investing public to explore the tailor-made simplified export processes and other vistas of opportunity present at the NPA.”

He said: “In our bid to contribute to the strengthening of the domestic economy through the promotion of balance of trade, we established the Export Process Terminal (EPTs) to simplify the hitherto burdensome process of exporting Nigerian goods.”

Dantsoho explained that the EPTs were conceptualisedas one-stop-shop for cargo consolidation, stuffing, documentation, packaging, certification and onward shipment through electronic call-up to the ports in quick turnaround time thus eliminating the duplications and bureaucratic overlaps that previously rendered exports.

He said to facilitate the port-hinterland connectivity and create pathways for Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to play in the export value chain; the EPTs have been structured to have a seamless handshake with the Domestic Export Warehouses (DEWs) in synergy with the Nigerian Exports Promotion Council (NEPC) as well as the Inland Dry Ports.