– Says 2m TEUs inadequate for 200M Nigerians
Mkpoikana Udoma
Port Harcourt — The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, has called on private sector investors to ramp up investments in Nigeria’s Eastern ports, emphasizing the urgent need for improved infrastructure to meet the nation’s growing maritime demands.
Dantsoho made the call during a two-day operational tour of the Onne and Rivers Port complexes, where he visited major terminals such as Intels, Indorama, West African Container Terminal, Notore, and others, as part of NPA’s drive to attract significant investments to the ports.
“With the quantum of investments our maritime neighbors, especially along the West and Central African coast are attracting, we can only stay competitive if we redouble our investment drive in order to provide requisite infrastructure and equipment to attract the sizes of vessels that scale up our cargo throughput to adequately serve our huge population,” Dr. Dantsoho stated.
Highlighting Nigeria’s current throughput of 2 million twenty-foot equivalent units, TEUs, annually, Dantsoho described the figure as insufficient for a population exceeding 200 million.
“The reality of Nigerian ports processing 2 million TEUs of cargo to service a population of over 200 million is an anomaly that has to be urgently addressed through the deployment of huge investments,” he said.
He further reiterated the NPA’s commitment to providing an enabling environment for investors under the directive of the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, led by Alhaji Gboyega Oyetola.
“As far as this management is concerned, we have the mandate of the Honourable Minister to create the enablers for increased investment, and we are poised to do just that,” Dr. Dantsoho assured.
The NPA boss also appealed to private sector operators to take advantage of the investment-friendly policies of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
“Let me seize this moment to reiterate my earlier plea to investors to take maximum advantage of the investor-friendliness of His Excellency President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, to infuse greater investment and be assured of guaranteed return on investment,” he said.
As the first Nigerian elected President of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa, Dantsoho pledged to leverage his role to deepen Nigeria’s competitiveness in the region.
He noted that the NPA’s investment drive is critical to positioning the country as a maritime hub in West and Central Africa, capable of handling larger vessels and boosting cargo traffic.
