The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has appealed for more private sector investment in port infrastructure, saying the Lekki Deep Sea Port has reached full capacity only about three years after it opened.
NPA Managing Director Dr Abubakar Dantsoho made the appeal in London while addressing maritime investors at the ongoing World Ports Conference. He pointed to Nigeria’s rising population, rapid urbanisation and infrastructure gaps as openings for investors in the maritime sector.
According to Dantsoho, growing cargo volumes demand more capacity to handle larger vessels and higher import and export traffic. He stressed that government cannot bankroll the construction of bigger and deeper seaports on its own, and urged investors to look to Nigeria and other African countries.
“Nigeria at independence in 1960 had a population of 45 million people. Today, about 60 years later, there are more than 260 million people. The investment needed in ports to meet this expansion and growth can only happen if the requisite private investment is attracted and retained,” he said.
He said Nigeria had identified the gaps in its port infrastructure and recognised the need to expand capacity for bigger ships and larger export volumes. Because port development is capital-intensive, he added, private capital is essential to speed up expansion across the continent.
“So, the governments in both West Africa and generally in Africa have realized that the government cannot fund development of bigger or deeper sea ports, hence the need for your investment to move speedily into Africa,” he said.
Citing Lekki as proof of rising demand, Dantsoho said the Lagos facility, built at a cost of $1.6 billion with Chinese government funding in partnership with China Harbour, has already used up its capacity.
“But as of today, just about 3 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.
He added that higher cargo volumes also benefit the NPA’s revenue.
“And for us as Port Authority, we are happy that we are capturing more of the cargo, the volumes are going up, because that is the only way that we can also increase our value, the revenue that we expect to make from these transactions,” he said.
Dantsoho also described Nigeria as the main gateway for cargo entering the West African market, given its population relative to neighbouring countries. He noted that Ghana has 34 million people, Côte d’Ivoire 32 million, Benin Republic 14 million and Togo nine million, compared with Nigeria’s more than 260 million.
That gap, he explained, means most cargo arriving in the subregion, especially from China, ends up in the Nigerian market.
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