LAGOS, May 1: Nigeria hopes to begin the sale of its seaports under the government’s slow-moving privatization programme later this month, officials said on Wednesday.

Nigeria is selling off a number of state-run companies in a bid to boost competition and bring foreign capital into the country.

The government-appointed privatization agency BPE said the sale of the state-run main port in Lagos and three others would begin before end of the month.

“It is hoped that by the end of May, the BPE and the ministry of transport would have received a final port reform action plan clearly defining the direction and extent of reforms required for the seaport system,” BPE official Ibrahim Njiddah told reporters. Port operators have kicked against the sale plan, but the agency said it would be in the overall interest of the nation.—AFP