UGO AMADI
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, has called on global investors to take advantage of the investment opportunities in Nigeria’s maritime sector, highlighting the Federal Government’s policies aimed at positioning the country as a major maritime hub in Africa.
Dantsoho made the call at the World Ports Conference in London, where he showcased the maritime policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration and outlined investment opportunities in Nigeria’s ports and associated sectors.
Addressing a select group of maritime investors from across the world, the NPA Managing Director said Nigeria’s growing population, rapid urbanisation and infrastructure gaps in its ports sector present significant opportunities for private investment.
He noted that the Tinubu administration had introduced investment-friendly policies to create an enabling environment for private sector participation in port development.
Dantsoho, who is Vice President of the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) and Chairman of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA), described Africa’s largely untapped resources as an attractive destination for port investment and development.
He stressed that governments across Africa could no longer shoulder the enormous financial requirements for developing bigger and deeper seaports, urging investors to move quickly to take advantage of the opportunities.
According to him, Nigeria’s population has grown from about 45 million at independence in 1960 to more than 260 million, creating increasing demand for port infrastructure and capacity.
He said attracting and retaining private investment was essential to expanding port capacity and meeting the country’s growing import and export requirements.
“In Nigeria, we identified that infrastructure gap, especially in our ports’ development, and we realised that we must do something quickly, both in terms of the capacity to receive bigger vessels for import and also the capacity to move higher numbers of cargo for export,” he said.
The NPA boss cited the Lekki Deep Sea Port as an example of the scale of investment required to address Nigeria’s infrastructure needs.
He disclosed that the $1.6 billion facility, developed through Chinese investment and collaboration with China Harbour, had exhausted its available capacity barely three years after commissioning.
“But as of today, just about three years later, the capacity of the new deep-sea port, that is Lekki, has been exhausted. So, which means that clearly, we need more capacity to be able to contain the volumes,” he said.
Dantsoho described the rising cargo volumes as a positive development for the country’s port industry, noting that increased traffic would also enhance the NPA’s revenue generation.
He further identified Nigeria as the major destination for cargo entering the West African market, attributing this to its large population and market size.
Comparing the populations of countries in the sub-region, he cited Ghana’s 34 million, Côte d’Ivoire’s 32 million, Togo’s nine million and Benin Republic’s 14 million, against Nigeria’s population of more than 260 million.
According to him, the figures underscore Nigeria’s market potential and the need for increased investment in port infrastructure to accommodate growing cargo volumes.
He maintained that the infrastructure funding gap across West Africa could only be addressed through stronger private sector participation, urging international investors to channel capital into port expansion and development projects across the region.
