By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Danish shipping giant, Maersk has refuted claims made by Nigerian President, Bola Tinubu regarding a purported $600 million investment to enhance the country’s port infrastructure, saying it is unaware of such deal.
President Tinubu, speaking at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, announced that A.P. Moller-Maersk had committed to a substantial investment aimed at expanding the capacity of Nigerian ports. This move, he stated, would enable the ports to accommodate larger container ships and bolster economic growth through increased trade.
But, Maersk has countered the assertions, saying, “No such agreement is in place, and no deals have been signed,” a company spokesperson told Lloyd’s List, a leading online maritime publication.
According to Lloyd’s List, the company said that its Chairman Robert Maersk Uggla met President Tinubu over the weekend, but no new investment deal was signed.
A statement issued by the Nigerian Presidency on Sunday said the Chairman of A.P Moller-Maersk, Mr. Robert Maersk Uggla, disclosed the decision during a meeting with President Tinubu on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum Special Meeting on Global Collaboration, Growth and Energy for Development in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on the same day.
“We believe in Nigeria, and we will invest $600 million in existing facilities and make the ports accommodating for bigger ships,” Uggla was quoted as saying.
However, Maersk says it is unaware of this deal.
According to the company’s source, “Maersk has been present in Nigeria for 35 years and, as a global provider of logistics services, we remain committed to develop opportunities for growth to people, the port sector and businesses locally,” the company said in a statement to Lloyd’s List.
“Therefore, it is natural to have an ongoing dialogue with the administration. However, we are not able to comment on any investment talks.”
Maersk is due to report first-quarter results on Thursday, meaning that the management is in a regulatory quiet period limiting what they can say publicly about the company’s activities.
Heritage Times reports that the West African country has promised to revamp its ports, including in the commercial capital Lagos, to ease congestion.
Tinubu’s statement explained that his government would support the modernisation and automation of its ports to improve trade, reduce corruption and boost efficiency. He claimed that the purported Maersk investment would “complement the administration’s ongoing $1bn investment in seaport reconstruction across the eastern and western seaports of Nigeria”.
This is not the first time Tinubu’s claim is being faulted at the international stage.
Heritage Times recalls that the Nigerian presidency had in 2023 claimed that United Arab Emirates (UAE) had lifted the visa ban imposed on Nigerian travellers after a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and his UAE counterpart, Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, in Abu Dhabi.
It also claimed that there was an agreement for immediate resumption of flight schedules of both Etihad Airlines and Emirates Airlines into and out of Nigeria without any further delay.
Recall that both airlines suspended their operations in the country due to their inability of remit home millions of dollars earned from their operations, courtesy of the forex problems in the country.
These claims however were later denied by UAE authorities.
