Blue Economy
The ₦1.56 Trillion Paradox: When One Port Generates 149 Times a Ministry’s Budget
Nigeria’s maritime sector has produced a mathematical contradiction so stark it defies logic: Tin Can Island Port Command generated ₦1.56 trillion in revenue for 2025, yet the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has proposed a mere ₦10.5 billion budget for 2026 to oversee the entire sector.
By Bode Animashaun
Nigeria’s maritime sector has produced a mathematical contradiction so stark it defies logic: Tin Can Island Port Command generated ₦1.56 trillion in revenue for 2025, yet the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has proposed a mere ₦10.5 billion budget for 2026 to oversee the entire sector.
The numbers tell a story of extraordinary productivity strangled by inadequate investment. One customs command alone generates 149 times what the ministry responsible for ports, shipping, inland waterways, and fisheries is requesting to operate for an entire year.
Record-Breaking Performance Amid Resource Scarcity
Speaking with journalists last week, Comptroller Frank Onyeka of Tin Can Island Port Command revealed that as of December 23, 2025, his command had not only hit its revenue target but exceeded it by ₦51.8 billion. This surplus alone is nearly five times the ministry’s entire budget proposal.
The comptroller attributed this landmark achievement to “targeted administrative reforms, improved processes and collective responsibility.” But the centrepiece of his success story was the One-Stop Shop initiative — designed to eliminate the multiple alerts and delays that have plagued Nigerian ports for decades.
“We deliberately addressed multiple and unnecessary alerts, which previously slowed clearance processes and created room for abuse,” Onyeka explained, noting that the B’Odogwu trade modernization system played a crucial role in the command’s unprecedented performance.
The results speak for themselves. In August 2025, Tin Can Island recorded ₦16.4 billion in a single day — the highest daily revenue in the command’s history.
The Ministry’s Impossible Mission
While one port command celebrates record revenues, Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, appeared before a joint sitting of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport and House committees with a sobering message: the ₦10.5 billion budget proposal for 2026 is “grossly insufficient to execute the ministry’s mandate.”
The proposed allocation breaks down to ₦8.24 billion for capital expenditure, ₦453.86 million for overheads, and ₦1.81 billion for personnel costs. According to Minister Oyetola, this would only sustain minimal operational continuity rather than deliver meaningful reforms or sectoral growth.
But the reality is even grimmer than the proposal suggests. In 2025, the ministry’s revised capital budget of ₦3.53 billion recorded actual cash release of just ₦202.47 million — a mere 1.7%. If this pattern continues, the ministry might receive only ₦178.5 million for capital projects in 2026, even if the full budget is approved.
A Sector Strangled by Its Own Success
The ministry oversees subsectors that handle more than 90% of Nigeria’s international trade by volume. Yet its revenue-generating agencies — NPA, NIMASA, and the Nigerian Shippers’ Council — face what Minister Oyetola described as operational constraints due to excessive deductions at source by the office of the accountant-general.
“Although these agencies are self-funding and making significant remittances to the consolidated revenue fund, their operations are constrained by excessive deductions,” the minister told lawmakers. “These deductions have weakened liquidity and reduced operational flexibility, contributing to port congestion, higher logistics costs, cargo delays, revenue losses, and inflationary pressures.”
In a particularly telling observation, Oyetola noted: “What looks like an accounting issue has become a national economic concern.”
Adding insult to injury, the Budget Office wrongly placed the 2026 budget of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN) under the Federal Ministry of Transportation, despite CRFFN being an agency of the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. This misalignment, according to the minister, undermined clarity in oversight and policy coherence within the maritime logistics value chain.
The Human Factor: Onyeka’s 10 PM Work Ethic
Comptroller Onyeka didn’t shy away from discussing the personal dimension of his command’s success. He spoke candidly about his “10:00 PM work ethic” and the challenge of succeeding DCG Dera Nnadi, whose legacy, he said, “left very big shoes to fill.”
The importation of bulk cargo, general merchandise, and used vehicles remained the major drivers of revenue. But it was the interventions — demand notices to recover underpayments and the implementation of the One-Stop Shop initiative — that transformed performance.
The One-Stop Shop represents a micro-version of what the National Single Window promises at national scale. If one customs command can achieve such results with targeted reforms, what could the entire maritime sector accomplish with adequate investment?
The Mathematics That Should Alarm Policymakers
Consider these figures:
- Tin Can Island Port surplus (2025): ₦51.8 billion
- Ministry’s total budget proposal (2026): ₦10.5 billion
- Ratio: The surplus from one port is 4.9 times the ministry’s entire budget request
Or viewed another way:
- Tin Can Island revenue (2025): ₦1.56 trillion
- Ministry’s capital release (2025): ₦202.47 million
- Ratio: One port generates 7,704 times what the ministry actually receives for capital projects
These aren’t just numbers — they represent a fundamental misalignment between the sector’s revenue contribution and its operational capacity.
What Needs to Happen
Senator Wasiu Eshilokun, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Marine Transport, assured that the National Assembly would carefully examine the proposals, noting the strategic importance of the marine and blue economy to national development.
But careful examination must translate into action on several fronts:
First, the 1.7% capital budget release rate is unacceptable for a sector handling 90% of Nigeria’s international trade. If the government can’t release approved budgets, it should either increase releases or stop the charade of budget approvals altogether.
Second, the excessive deductions strangling self-funding agencies must be addressed. These agencies generate billions in revenue and remit to the consolidated revenue fund. They shouldn’t be starved of operational funds in the process.
Third, basic administrative competence demands that CRFFN’s budget be correctly placed under the ministry it actually reports to. If the bureaucracy can’t get organizational charts right, how can it implement complex reforms?
Finally, and most critically, policymakers must recognize that adequately funding a sector that generates trillions isn’t charity — it’s investment with proven returns.
The Larger Question
Tin Can Island’s success under Comptroller Onyeka proves that leadership, technology, and process improvements can drive both efficiency and revenue growth. The One-Stop Shop initiative eliminated bureaucratic bottlenecks while increasing collections.
Tomorrow, we’ll examine how the National Single Window — the nationwide scale-up of what Tin Can Island achieved — could transform Nigeria’s maritime economy. But only if it receives the funding and institutional support it desperately needs.
The question isn’t whether Nigeria can afford to invest in its maritime infrastructure. Looking at Tin Can Island’s ₦1.56 trillion, the question is: can Nigeria afford not to?
Bode Animashaun writes on maritime and blue economy issues for waterwaysnew.ng
Oyetola Woos Turkish Investors for Fisheries Sector, Vows to Protect Artisanal Fishers
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, has thrown Nigeria’s fisheries sector open to Turkish investment, insisting that any fresh capital coming into the industry must strengthen and not sideline the millions of Nigerians who depend on artisanal fishing for a living.
Oyetola made the pledge while receiving a delegation from Turkish fisheries and aquaculture firm CRD Impex, led by the company’s General Manager for Fisheries, Cem Tarhan, at his Abuja office. He told the investors the Federal Government was ready to create an investment-friendly climate for credible local and foreign players willing to bring capital, technology and modern value-chain solutions to the sector, on condition that such investment remains inclusive.
“We welcome investors who can bring capital, technology, expertise and modern value-chain solutions to the sector. However, investment must be inclusive and sustainable. It must complement and empower our artisanal fish producers, not undermine their livelihoods,” the Minister said
He listed inadequate infrastructure, poor access to modern fishing technology, weak cold-chain systems, limited processing and storage capacity, and gaps in market access as the major constraints holding back the sector, framing each as an opening for targeted investment rather than a dead end.
The Turkish team, which included CRD Impex founder Hanefi Cardak and Tetra Underwater Services founder Ersun Buyukgoze, toured key fisheries and aquaculture points around the country to size up the terrain first-hand. Stops included the Kirikiri Lighter Terminal in Lagos, the Ozumba Mbadiwe Fish Market in Lekki, and the Esuk Nsidung Beach Market, a major waterfront seafood hub in Calabar, Cross River State.
The Ministry described the visit as part of a broader push to attract serious investment into Nigeria’s blue economy while keeping the welfare of artisanal fishers central to that growth.
Nigeria Watch
The Turkish courtesy call lands squarely in the pattern this desk has tracked all year: big-ticket investment pledges for Nigeria’s waterways, paired with familiar assurances that the small operator won’t be crowded out. The test, as always, is what happens after the photo-op.
Nigeria’s artisanal fishing communities occupy the same economic space as the informal boat operators represented by WABOTAN and ATBOWATON, river- and creek-dependent Nigerians whose livelihoods rise or fall on decisions made far from the waterfront. The infrastructure gaps Oyetola cited which include, weak cold-chain systems, poor storage and limited market access, all mirror the exact complaints this desk has documented from inland waterway operators for years but modernisation announced from Abuja rarely reache the jetties.
Turkish capital chasing Nigerian fisheries and aquaculture is a genuinely new thread, distinct from the Strait of Hormuz shipping story or the CVFF disbursement saga this desk has followed closely. But the underlying question is the same one that has defined Oyetola’s tenure at the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy: will “inclusive investment” translate into contracts, cooperative partnerships and cold-chain infrastructure that artisanal operators can actually use or will it, like so many blue-economy pledges before it, stall at the courtesy-visit stage?
Waterways News will be watching for the first concrete CRD Impex commitment — site, timeline, or local partnership — as the marker of whether this one is different.
NPERA, NPA Open Technical Talks on Handover of Inland Dry Port Functions
By Ighoyota Onaibre | Waterways News
The Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) have begun formal engagement on transferring inland dry port oversight to NPERA, marking the start of what both agencies describe as a critical phase in operationalising Nigeria’s new port regulatory framework.
At a management-level meeting between the two agencies, officials focused on the technical groundwork for the handover, chiefly how to draw clear lines of responsibility and avoid duplication among the government bodies with a stake in inland dry port administration.
NPERA’s Director-General/CEO, Dr Akutah Pius, framed the transition as flowing directly from the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, whom he credited with steering the process toward the sector’s broader development. Akutah was emphatic that NPERA could not carry out the transfer alone, and said the buy-in of every relevant stakeholder agency would be needed to see it through.
He indicated that the Ministry would stay central to coordinating the process even as specific mandates move to the agencies best placed to execute them. Akutah also pointed to the Minister’s earlier interventions during the NPERA Bill’s passage through the National Assembly, which he said had defused inter-agency friction and set the stage for the cooperation now underway.
Describing the purpose of the meeting, Akutah said it was meant to formally kick off the transfer of inland dry port responsibilities to NPERA in fulfilment of its statutory role as economic regulator of the ports sector. He singled out Section 51 of the NPERA Act as a provision that now needs to be put into practical effect to keep the transition orderly and ensure stakeholder roles are properly aligned.
To manage the process going forward, the NPERA boss proposed setting up a joint committee drawing in NPERA, NPA, the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy. He argued that inland dry ports matter well beyond the coastline. They extend maritime sector benefits into Nigeria’s hinterland and reinforce the country’s trade and logistics chain.
Responding on behalf of NPA, Managing Director Dr Abubakar Dantsoho welcomed the move and pledged his agency’s full operational and technical backing throughout the transition. He said the process had started on the right footing, and that NPA would furnish updated data on the current state of inland dry ports to inform further discussions, expressing confidence that continued engagement would help the agencies meet their shared objectives.
NPA’s Executive Director, Engr. Lekan Badmus, also commended NPERA for setting the collaboration in motion, calling the meeting a solid first step toward a smooth integration. He noted the two agencies have now moved into the technical phase of the exercise, with close attention being paid to eliminating overlapping functions.
Closing the meeting, Akutah said the proposed joint committee would reconvene with the Minister to seek further guidance and agree on next steps to keep the transition on track.
Nigeria Watch
This meeting is the first visible test of whether the NPERA Act’s promise of a rationalised port regulatory architecture can survive contact with Nigeria’s crowded agency landscape. Section 51’s transfer of inland dry port functions to NPERA looks straightforward on paper; in practice, it touches NPA’s traditional port administration turf, NIWA’s inland waterways mandate, and the Ministry’s coordinating role all at once, precisely the kind of overlapping jurisdiction that has bedevilled reform efforts elsewhere in the sector, most visibly in the long-running NIWA-LASWA tussle that only the Supreme Court could settle.
The proposed joint committee of NPERA, NPA, NIWA, and the Ministry, is a sensible mechanism, but Waterways News readers who have followed the CVFF disbursement saga know that Nigerian maritime governance has no shortage of well-designed committees whose outputs never quite reach implementation. What will matter is whether Akutah’s “technical phase” produces a binding timeline, not another round of goodwill statements.
For inland dry port operators and the hinterland trade corridors that depend on them, the stakes are practical: unclear jurisdiction between NPA and NPERA has historically meant slower cargo evacuation, duplicated levies, and uncertainty for freight forwarders planning routes away from the congested Lagos ports. If this transition is handled well, it strengthens the case for dry ports as genuine pressure valves for Apapa and Tin Can. If it stalls in inter-agency turf negotiation, it becomes one more entry in the gap between policy pronouncement and delivery that this desk continues to track.
Worth watching: whether Minister Oyetola’s office sets an explicit deadline when the committee reconvenes, and whether NIWA, whose inland waterways mandate intersects with dry port hinterland connectivity, gets more than a seat at the table.
Two More Tankers Struck in Strait of Hormuz as Attack Count Hits Five in a Week
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
Two more tankers have been hit while transiting the Strait of Hormuz, leaving two seafarers with minor injuries and pushing the number of reported attacks or security incidents against commercial vessels in the waterway to at least five since 16 September.
The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) centre said an inbound tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile on Monday. Two crew members sustained minor injuries, but the vessel stayed under its own power and continued to its next port, with no environmental impact reported.
Hours later, UKMTO issued a second alert after an outbound LPG tanker reported being struck by debris from unknown projectiles. All crew were reported safe and the vessel also continued its voyage. Authorities are investigating both incidents, and UKMTO has not attributed either attack to a specific actor.
The two strikes build on a Joint Maritime Information Center (JMIC) advisory covering three earlier attacks between 16 and 18 September, one of which saw a tanker’s hull breached by a projectile, sparking a fire. JMIC continues to rate the threat level in the strait as “severe,” citing a high likelihood of deliberate hostile action and pointing to a pattern of harassment by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — drone overflights, surveillance of merchant vessels and VHF hailing, alongside the direct attacks.
Traffic through the chokepoint remains sharply depressed. Only 17 commodity vessels were visibly transiting over the weekend, down from 37 the week before and against a pre-war daily average of roughly 125. That figure excludes vessels sailing with their AIS transponders switched off, and JMIC notes a persistent gap between visible and actual traffic.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigerian maritime stakeholders, the Hormuz crisis is no longer a distant Gulf story. It is a cost line. Every fresh escalation feeds directly into the war-risk insurance premiums and freight rates that Nigerian importers, refiners and shipping agents ultimately absorb, since global tanker and container capacity pulled off the Hormuz route tightens supply elsewhere and pushes rates up across long-haul trades, including those serving West African ports.
The renewed attacks also sharpen the stakes around Nigeria’s push for a stronger voice at the IMO Council table and its broader blue-economy diplomacy under Minister Adegboyega Oyetola. A sustained Gulf disruption is exactly the kind of systemic shock that tests whether Nigeria’s seat translates into influence over how global shipping risk, insurance and rerouting decisions are made, rather than Nigeria simply absorbing the downstream cost.
Locally, the episode is a reminder of the layered nature of “maritime security” as a policy word: the Deep Blue Project and Gulf of Guinea security architecture address piracy and armed robbery close to home, but Nigeria’s ports and shippers remain exposed to security failures thousands of kilometres away in the Gulf.
Waterways News will continue tracking how the Hormuz situation feeds into freight cost pressure at Nigerian ports and NIMASA’s public messaging on the issue.
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