Blue Economy
Dantsoho’s Eastern Ports Revolution: Transforming Nigeria’s Maritime Landscape for Economic Diversification
Dantsoho’s Eastern Ports Revolution: Transforming Nigeria’s Maritime Landscape for Economic Diversification
The Nigerian Ports Authority MD is spearheading a comprehensive strategy to revitalize eastern ports, breaking Lagos’ decades-long dominance while positioning Nigeria as a key player in African maritime trade.
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) under Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho’s leadership is orchestrating a fundamental shift in Nigeria’s maritime operations, transforming long-neglected eastern ports into competitive gateways that could reshape the nation’s economic future.
For decades, Nigeria’s maritime story was simple: Lagos first, everywhere else second. The eastern ports of Port Harcourt, Onne, Warri, and Calabar remained underutilized despite their strategic proximity to key industrial clusters and resource corridors. While Lagos absorbed over 90% of maritime traffic, eastern facilities operated below a third of their capacity, hamstrung by weak infrastructure and limited connectivity.
Today, that narrative is changing dramatically.
Dantsoho’s hands-on approach has begun yielding tangible results. His investment-focused tours across eastern ports have generated significant expressions of interest for Rivers, Calabar, and Burutu ports. A milestone moment came on July 31, 2025, when the wholly Nigerian-owned MV Ocean Dragon made its celebrated call at Onne’s West African Container Terminal (WACT).
The vessel, with its 349 TEU capacity, will ply routes across West, Central, and Southern Africa, embodying the federal government’s “Nigeria First” policy and establishing Nigeria as a formidable player in intra-African trade.
This repositioning offers shippers compelling advantages: reduced turnaround times, closer access to South-East and North-Central industrial clusters, lower transportation costs, and more efficient movement of agricultural and mineral products. These benefits align perfectly with Nigeria’s deeper participation in the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) regime.
The NPA introduced revised tariffs effective March 1, 2025, balancing operational costs with competitiveness while advancing the Authority’s 25-year master plan. This plan emphasizes automation, cybersecurity, and sustainability, including a proposed “Green Craft Acquisition Fund” for IMO-compliant vessels.
Strategic partnerships are driving unprecedented growth. Hapag-Lloyd’s weekly service at Onne now connects Eastern Nigeria to global routes, enhancing transshipment opportunities under AfCFTA. Collaborations with the Nigeria Customs Service for 24-hour operations aim to reduce cargo release times and prevent diversions to neighboring ports.
The results speak volumes. Service boat Gross Registered Tonnage rose 129.3% to 4.58 million tons in 2024. Eastern ports now accommodate larger vessels safely, with stakeholders like Indorama reporting significantly higher export tonnages.
The NPA has secured $1.1 billion for comprehensive rehabilitation across eastern ports. At Onne Port Complex, a Public-Private Partnership with WACT Nigeria Limited has advanced Terminal ‘B’ expansion to 62% completion, with over $110 million invested. This upgrade forms part of a broader $2.9 billion Onne Port Expansion Phase 4B project—Africa’s largest port investment over the past decade.
Key infrastructure projects include road network integration at Onne’s Berths 9-11, authority-wide installation of marine fenders, and surveys for shore protection at Escravos breakwaters in Warri. Channel dredging and rehabilitation continue at Warri, Onne, and Calabar to accommodate larger vessels, with draught depths targeted at 11 meters for Onne and Calabar.
Beyond infrastructure, the NPA is central to the federal government’s economic diversification through sustainable blue economy ventures. Ship building, repairs, and dry dock activities are attracting significant attention and investment.
Engr. Greg Ogbeifun, founder of Starz Marine and Engineering Limited in Rivers State, recently disclosed Afrexim Bank’s commitment of a $350 million loan to facilitate shipbuilding and yard expansion. This investment will expand Starz’s shipyard from 500 tons to 10,000-ton lifting capacity, providing quality ship repair and building services previously unavailable locally.
The NPA has acquired state-of-the-art harbor craft, including two 80-tonne Bollard Pull tugboats (M.T. Maikoko and M.T. Da-Opukuro)—the first of their kind in Africa. These vessels have eliminated berthing and sailing delays, contributing to an average vessel turnaround time of 5.16 days.
The Electronic Call-up (Eto) system and Export Processing Terminals have streamlined operations, boosting export volumes by 60% in some terminals. The opening of ‘Road D’ at Onne has alleviated logistics bottlenecks, earning commendations from truckers and supporting multimodal transport aligned with International Association for Ports and Harbours standards.
The transformation is already reflected in financial projections. The NPA anticipates N1.28 trillion in revenue for 2025, up from N894.86 billion in 2024, with eastern port development contributing significantly to this projected increase.
New incentive regimes encourage patronage of non-Lagos ports, including discounts and streamlined processes for eastern corridors. These align with the federal government’s infrastructure modernization, operational efficiency, and indigenous participation emphasis in the maritime sector.
The impact extends beyond ports to regional economies. Manufacturers in Aba, traders in Onitsha, and industrial clusters in Nnewi can now route cargo through nearby eastern ports, saving substantial time and costs. This transformation positions Onne to strengthen its dominance as the Gulf of Guinea’s offshore logistics hub while establishing Port Harcourt and Calabar as vital lifelines to South-East Nigeria and Central Africa.
Under Marine & Blue Economy Minister Adegboyega Oyetola’s supervision, these comprehensive efforts promise sustained ease of doing business and blue economy optimization. As transshipment figures rise and trade surpluses grow, the eastern ports are positioned for increased vessel traffic and investment, contributing to Nigeria’s maritime renaissance.
Dr. Dantsoho’s extensive experience—from youth corps service to rising through NPA ranks—has positioned him as President Tinubu’s most seasoned maritime appointee. His leadership is creating an enabling environment for unfettered growth in Nigeria’s blue economy ecosystem, potentially establishing Nigeria as West and Central Africa’s leading maritime nation.
The eastern ports transformation represents more than infrastructure development; it’s a strategic repositioning that could fundamentally alter Nigeria’s economic geography and maritime influence across Africa.
Blue Economy
Water Transport Operators Push For Recognition At The Table As FTAN Demands Tourism Policy Reforms
Water Transport Operators Push For Recognition At The Table As FTAN Demands Tourism Policy Reforms
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
Nigeria’s tourism sector needs urgent policy reform, stronger collaboration and fresh investment to compete globally and water transport operators who are members of the Federation of Tourism Associations of Nigeria (FTAN) want that conversation to include the boats, ferries and waterway routes that move millions of Nigerians and could move even more tourists.
That was the underlying idea raised by Comrade Babatope Fajemirokun National President of Waterfront Boat Owners and Transporters Association of Nigeria (WABOTAN) represented by Chief Raymond Gold, National PRO of WABOTAN, at the ninth Nigeria Tourism Investors Forum and Exhibition (NTIFE), held over two days in Abuja under the theme “Tourism Transformation Through Collaboration, Policy Alignment and Investment.” The events took place between Thursday 30 to Friday 31 of July 2026. Waterfront Boat Owners and Transporters Association of Nigeria (WABOTAN), is a corporate member of FTAN
The forum drew policymakers, investors, tourism operators and development partners.
FTAN President Dr Aliyu Badaki used his welcome remarks to press the Federal Government to overhaul tourism-related laws and regulatory frameworks that he said breed duplication, institutional conflict and legal uncertainty for operators. He said the federation’s newly developed Tourism Transformation Mandate (TTM) is meant to unify every segment of the tourism value chain.
Babatope Fajemirokun, through Chief Gold emphasizes the fact that this value chain for Nigeria’s coastal cities, riverine communities and inland waterway corridors, runs directly through water transport.
Badaki argued that fragmented efforts and weak coordination have held back the sector for years, and called for regulation that enables rather than inhibits growth.
Minister of Art, Culture, Tourism and Creative Economy, Hannatu Musawa, who declared the forum open, described tourism as a strategic pillar for economic diversification. She said government cannot finance tourism transformation alone and that private capital must lead, with government’s role limited to creating an enabling environment for investors.
In his keynote address, Sen. Ibrahim Ida called for stronger collaboration among government, the private sector and host communities, saying tourism can generate jobs, foreign exchange and diversification if properly harnessed.
Panel sessions, moderated by Justina Ovat of Calabar Hospitality House Limited, featured Nigeria Tourism Development Authority (NTDA) Director-General Dr Ola Awakan, who called for policy consistency and investor-friendly incentives, and Dr Philip Maga of the National Institute for Hospitality and Tourism (NIHOTOUR), who flagged the need for stronger workforce training to close skills gaps across the hospitality industry.
Hospitality entrepreneur Lanre Balogun urged investors to prioritise disciplined, long-term planning.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigeria’s water transport sector, NTIFE’s reform push is not a side conversation. Rather, it is a direct stakeholder issue. FTAN’s corporate membership includes Waterfront Boat Owners and Transporters Association of Nigeria (WABOTAN) and the Association of Tourist Boat Operators and Water Transporters of Nigeria (ATBOWATON), both drawn from the ranks of operators who run the boats, ferries and water taxis that already serve Lagos’s creeks, the Niger Delta’s riverine towns and coastal leisure routes. Their presence inside FTAN means the federation’s demand for regulatory clarity and coordinated policy carries an inland-waterways and blue-economy dimension that goes beyond hotels and heritage sites.
That matters because water tourism sits at an awkward regulatory junction in Nigeria. A tourist boat operator answers not only to tourism authorities but potentially to NIWA, LASWA (in Lagos) and NIMASA on safety standards, and state government tourism boards, precisely the kind of overlapping jurisdiction Badaki described as breeding “duplication, institutional conflicts… and operational uncertainty.”
The 2026 Supreme Court ruling affirming NIWA’s regulatory authority over inland waterways nationwide, following the NIWA-LASWA jurisdictional dispute, is a live example of the kind of institutional friction FTAN’s Tourism Transformation Mandate is meant to resolve, at least on the tourism side.
Musawa’s call for private capital to lead tourism investment also lands squarely on water transport operators’ desks. Vessel acquisition, safety retrofitting, jetty infrastructure and life-jacket compliance all require capital that small-scale operators, including WABOTAN’s member-cooperative structure, have struggled to access, a gap that echoes the long-running CVFF disbursement failure in the cabotage shipping sector and underscores why financing bottlenecks are not unique to cargo and passenger shipping alone.
If FTAN’s push for policy alignment succeeds in drawing water transport formally into Nigeria’s tourism investment architecture, operators like WABOTAN and ATBOWATON could gain a stronger claim to inclusion in infrastructure programmes such as the Omi-Eko electric ferry project and LASWA’s ferry safety development initiatives, turning routine commuter water transport into a recognised leisure and tourism asset, not just a transportation afterthought.
For a sector accustomed to being regulated but rarely consulted, this call by Babatope Fajemirokun is a modest but meaningful call.
Blue Economy
NIMASA Deepens Seafarer Welfare Push, Signs Off Renewed Mission to Seafarers Collaboration
NIMASA Deepens Seafarer Welfare Push, Signs Off Renewed Mission to Seafarers Collaboration
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has restated its commitment to improving the welfare of Nigerian seafarers, pledging deeper collaboration with the Mission to Seafarers (MtS) as part of ongoing reforms in the sector.
The commitment came as the Director-General, Dr Dayo Mobereola, received a delegation from the Mission to Seafarers at the agency’s Lagos headquarters, led by the Chairman of MtS Lagos, Chief Adebayo Sarumi, alongside the Regional Director for Africa, Reverend Cedric Rautenbach.
Speaking on behalf of the DG, NIMASA’s Executive Director for Operations, Engr. Fatai Taiye Adeyemi, said the agency would continue tightening certification processes, expanding capacity development programmes, and strengthening welfare policies for seafarers both at sea and in port, in partnership with stakeholders such as the Mission to Seafarers.
Chief Sarumi commended NIMASA’s ongoing reforms and expressed confidence that closer collaboration would translate into tangible welfare gains for Nigerian maritime professionals. Reverend Rautenbach, for his part, clarified that while the Mission to Seafarers and Nigeria’s Port Welfare Committees pursue a shared objective which is the the wellbeing of seafarers. The two bodies operate on distinct, complementary mandates, making coordination between them essential to strengthening on-ground support at Nigerian ports.
The meeting covered decent working conditions, welfare service gaps, and areas of mutual collaboration. NIMASA said the engagement aligns with its obligations under the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) 2006, and forms part of a broader push toward stronger regulatory oversight and stakeholder engagement on seafarer rights.
Nigeria Watch
Beyond the courtesy-visit optics, this meeting lands on a fault line that has dogged Nigerian seafarer welfare for years: fragmented institutional responsibility. NIMASA regulates and certifies; Port Welfare Committees are meant to deliver frontline services at berths; the Mission to Seafarers, a faith-based international NGO, fills gaps neither statutory body always reaches. These gaps are chaplaincy, shore leave support, emergency assistance, and advocacy for stranded or abandoned crew.
Rautenbach’s point about “distinct but complementary mandates” is worth pressing on, because in practice that distinction has often meant duplication in some areas and total absence in others.
Nigerian seafarers have long reported patchy access to welfare facilities at ports like Apapa, Tin Can Island, and Onne. Such reports include inconsistent internet access, poor rest facilities, and slow response to cases of wage default or abandonment by errant shipowners, issues MWUN has repeatedly raised in past CBA compliance disputes.
NIMASA’s MLC 2006 framing is the right one, but enforcement, not policy language, remains the industry’s persistent complaint. If this renewed MtS partnership is to mean more than another photo-op at headquarters, it should translate into a documented, port-by-port welfare service map: which ports have functioning seafarer centres, which Port Welfare Committees are actually active, and where the Mission to Seafarers’ Flying Angel network is present versus where seafarers are effectively on their own.
Nigerian crews calling at their own national ports deserve better than welfare support that depends on which NGO happens to be in town.
NIMASA Bets on Youths to Power Nigeria’s Blue Giant Ambitions
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) has restated that the country’s push to become Africa’s “Blue Giant” will rise or fall on how well it equips young Nigerians for the blue economy, with the agency’s Director-General, Dr Dayo Mobereola, describing youth capacity-building as the engine room of the National Marine and Blue Economy Policy.
Mobereola made the point at the 10th Taiwo Afolabi Annual Maritime (TAAM) Lecture at the University of Lagos, where he was represented by NIMASA’s Director of Reforms Coordination and Blue Economy, Mrs Nneka Obianyor. He linked the agency’s youth agenda directly to President Bola Tinubu’s economic diversification drive, noting that the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has directed NIMASA to prioritise skills development and job creation for young Nigerians in the sector.
Director-General of NIMASA, Dr. Dayo Mobereola
To back that up, Mobereola pointed to a cluster of NIMASA programmes already running: the long-standing Nigerian Seafarers Development Programme (NSDP), a newly launched Blue Economy Accelerator Initiative, skills acquisition centres spread across the six geopolitical zones, and the rollout of Institutes of Maritime Studies in select Nigerian universities. He framed these as deliberate interventions meant to build capacity, generate employment, and spur innovation among the country’s youth population.
Separately, NIMASA used the UNILAG engagement to go beyond ceremony, running an interactive session with doctoral and master’s students on shipping development, maritime logistics, cabotage implementation, and maritime labour regulation. The session was led by the agency’s Director of Cabotage Services, Ms Gloria Anyasodo, and was pitched as part of a broader effort to strengthen ties between academia and industry in tackling the maritime sector’s practical challenges.
Nigeria Watch
The optics are good; the test, as always, will be delivery. NIMASA has no shortage of youth-facing initiatives on paper. The NSDP has existed for years, skills centres have been announced before, and Institutes of Maritime Studies have been floated in past budget cycles. What’s new here is the Blue Economy Accelerator Initiative, and it arrives with the same vagueness that has dogged similar rollouts: no disclosed funding envelope, no timeline for the six geopolitical zone centres to be fully operational, and no public framework for how graduates of these programmes are absorbed into shipping, logistics, or cabotage jobs afterward.
That absorption question matters more than any lecture-hall soundbite. Nigeria’s maritime training pipeline, from MAN Oron to the seafarer certification backlog that this publication has tracked, already produces more qualified hands than the domestic fleet and port ecosystem can currently employ. This is a mismatch tied directly to the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund’s decades-long disbursement failure and the slow pace of indigenous vessel acquisition. Training more youths without fixing that bottleneck simply shifts the frustration downstream, from unemployment to underemployment.
There’s also an accountability gap in how these announcements are made. They are usually made through a lecture delegation rather than a costed policy document. If NIMASA and the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy are serious about youths driving the Blue Giant ambition, the next disclosure should include enrolment numbers, the accelerator’s funding source, and most critically, the placement data showing how many NSDP and skills-centre graduates have actually found sea-time or shore-based maritime employment. Until then, this remains a well-intentioned promise stacked on top of several older, still-unfulfilled promises.
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