Borno State Governor, Babagana Zulum says the Jauri Inland Dry Port located

in Maiduguri, Borno State, would be ready by December.

Zulum who disclosed this when he paid a courtesy visit to the Nigerian

Shippers’ Council headquarters in Apapa, Lagos said, by establishing inland

dry ports, the state would tackle the issue of unemployment among the

youth and assured the speedy process of establishing an inland dry port in

Maiduguri.

Earlier, the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Pius

Akutah, said the importance of Borno State as a border town to three

countries, cannot be over-emphasised, adding that having an inland dry port

in the state would boost international trade between Nigeria and other

countries under the African Continental Free Trade Area, in which Nigeria

opened its borders to the whole of Africa as one market.

He also said, the transit park area developed in the state had one of the

critical infrastructures to service the IDP, adding that, the essence of the

initiative, which would be a public-private partnership, was not for the

government to drive the day-to-day running but for the private sector.

He declared that the two entities should come together and fast-track the

process of harmonizing and agreeing among themselves, adding that, the

country currently has seven inland dry ports, though only two have been

completed.