Dala Dry Port: How Kano Could Become Nigeria’s Northern Trade Gateway By Okwo Romeon — Abuja
For decades, distance from Nigeria’s seaports has imposed a hidden tax on Northern Nigeria — adding kilometres, transport costs, delays and road congestion to almost every container moving from Lagos to Kano and beyond. The Dala Inland Dry Port in Kano, combined with the Federal Government’s expanding Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge rail network , could change that equation and reposition Kano at the centre of a new north-south trade corridor. Dala Dry Inland Port Kano What is taking shape in Kano is therefore bigger than a dry port or a railway project. It is the potential creation of a logistics gateway linking Nigeria’s maritime economy in Lagos with the commercial, industrial and agricultural economy of the North — and, ultimately, markets across the Sahel . From Lagos Ports to Kano: The Cost of Distance Currently, a container from Apapa or Tin Can Island Port to Kano spends 10-14 days on the road via Lokoja-Abuja-Kaduna corridor . Trucking cost : N2.5m - N3.5m per 40ft container. The...