Blue Economy
CARGO DIVERSION ALARM: Nigeria Could Lose Up to 25% of Port Traffic to Cotonou, Tema, Lomé — SEREC
CARGO DIVERSION ALARM: Nigeria Could Lose Up to 25% of Port Traffic to Cotonou, Tema, Lomé — SEREC
By Joyce Davies | Waterways News | Blue Economy Desk
Nigeria’s status as West Africa’s dominant maritime hub is under serious threat, with a new policy advisory warning that a quarter of cargo currently destined for Nigerian ports could migrate to rival ports in Benin Republic, Ghana, and Togo within the next two years if urgent reforms are not implemented.
The warning comes from the Sea Empowerment and Research Centre (SEREC), in a report titled Maritime Reform at a Crossroads: Data Signals Export Concerns and the Urgent Need for Execution Discipline, which assessed port performance across the first quarter of 2026.
While revenue generated by the Nigeria Customs Service grew by an estimated 12 to 18 percent in Q1 2026, key performance indicators across Nigerian ports remain deeply troubling. Cargo dwell time has exceeded 15 days on average, while vessel turnaround ranges between four and six days — far above global best practices.
The numbers paint a picture of a sector collecting more money while delivering less efficiency — a paradox that SEREC says is quietly bleeding Nigeria’s competitive edge.
Non-oil exports declined by approximately 8 to 12 percent, signalling a gradual erosion of Nigeria’s competitiveness in the export market. Agro exports have been particularly affected, raising concerns about the country’s economic diversification goals.
SEREC’s research identifies a structural problem at the heart of Nigeria’s port operations: between 90 and 95 percent of port cargo is evacuated by road via trucks, with just seven percent moved by inland waterways through barges and five percent by rail. This near-total dependence on road haulage has, according to SEREC’s Head of Research Dr. Eugene Nweke, created chronic port congestion, sky-high logistics costs, and rapid deterioration of road infrastructure — all of which make Nigerian ports less attractive to international shipping lines.
The consequences, industry players warn, are already being felt. Shipping lines, faced with delays and rising costs, increasingly prefer nearby ports where turnaround times are faster and operations more predictable, even when the final destination of the cargo is Nigeria.
Maritime expert and Senior Advocate Olisa Agbakoba has noted that while 80 percent of all containers headed to West and Central Africa are ultimately destined for Nigeria, less than 20 percent actually arrive at Nigerian ports — a striking gap that points directly to the scale of cargo already being diverted.
A recent analysis by Dynanmar, a Dutch consultancy firm, estimates that Nigeria loses approximately N20 billion daily at its ports due to poor infrastructure and inefficiencies, with most of that revenue flowing to neighbouring ports — particularly Cotonou, Tema, and Lomé.
SEREC puts a timeline on the danger. Between 15 and 25 percent of Nigeria-bound cargo could shift to these neighbouring ports within the next 12 to 24 months if reforms are not urgently implemented, stressing that cargo naturally flows toward more efficient systems regardless of geographic proximity.
The implications stretch far beyond port revenue. Cargo diversion inflates the cost of imports, weakens local manufacturing, erodes government earnings, and triggers job losses across the logistics and maritime value chain — from truck operators and freight forwarders to warehouse operators and factory workers.
SEREC has also flagged a specific threat to Nigeria’s waterway infrastructure. Inland waterways, which could serve as a viable alternative for cargo movement, remain largely underutilised despite Nigeria’s vast potential. The Guardian Nigeria Nigeria’s network of rivers, creeks, and coastal channels — if properly integrated into the port logistics chain — could significantly ease pressure on congested road corridors and cut evacuation costs for shippers.
On the policy front, there are reasons for cautious optimism. The Federal Government’s infrastructure renewal plan targets key facilities including Apapa Port, Tin Can Island Port, Port Harcourt Port, Warri Port, and Calabar Port, while the National Single Window initiative aims to simplify trade procedures and reduce bureaucratic delays.President Tinubu’s state visit to the United Kingdom also produced a £746 million financing agreement for the modernisation of Apapa and Tin Can Island ports.
But SEREC insists that physical upgrades alone will not be enough without execution discipline. Dr. Nweke has called for reforms focused on improving cargo processing efficiency, streamlining terminal operations, strengthening export support systems, and critically, activating Nigeria’s dormant inland waterways network as a genuine logistics alternative.
SEREC forecasts that 2026 will be the defining year — the moment that determines whether ongoing reforms in port automation, National Single Window rollout, cost reduction, and improved intermodal systems translate into enhanced global competitiveness, or whether persistent high cargo dwell times and above-regional port costs continue to suppress growth.
For Nigeria, Africa’s largest economy, the clock is ticking.
Waterways News | Blue Economy Desk
Blue Economy
Lagos to Host Abuja MoU’s Inaugural Regional Port State Control Capacity-Building Programme
Lagos to Host Abuja MoU’s Inaugural Regional Port State Control Capacity-Building Programme
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
Senior maritime officials and regulatory leaders from across West and Central Africa will gather in Lagos on 29 June 2026 for the inaugural launch of the Abuja Memorandum of Understanding on Port State Control (Abuja MoU) Capacity-Building Programme — an event that places Nigeria at the centre of regional efforts to raise maritime governance standards.
The programme, which will be held at the Eko Hotel, Lagos, is organised by the Abuja MoU and supported by Lloyd’s Register Foundation. It is designed to strengthen port state control frameworks, deepen regulatory compliance and improve oversight of vessel operations across member states in the West and Central African sub-region.
Heads of Maritime Administrations, government officials, development partners and industry stakeholders are expected to attend the launch. The event carries particular significance for Nigeria, which holds the vice-chairmanship of the Abuja MoU — a position occupied by the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Hon. Adegboyega Oyetola, who has confirmed his participation.
Secretary General of Abuja MoU, Capt Sunday Umoren
The Abuja MoU’s Chairman, Hon. Ebrima Sillah — who also serves as Gambia’s Minister of Transport, Works and Infrastructure — is also expected to attend, underscoring the high-level political attention the programme has attracted.
Speaking ahead of the event, the Secretary General of the Abuja MoU, Captain Sunday Umoren, said the programme would equip maritime administrations across the region with the knowledge and operational tools required to strengthen vessel oversight, improve alignment with international maritime standards, advance safety and security, and better protect the marine environment.
Following the formal launch, a regional workshop for Directors-General and Chief Executive Officers of Maritime Administrations, as well as Heads of Port State Control, will run from 29 June to 1 July. The workshop will serve as a high-level forum for policy dialogue and technical exchange among the region’s most senior maritime regulatory officials.
Nigeria Watch
For Nigeria’s maritime sector, this event is more than a regional gathering — it is a statement of strategic positioning. As host nation and vice-chair of the Abuja MoU, Nigeria has both the responsibility and the opportunity to drive the agenda on port state control reform across West and Central Africa.
Port state control is the frontline mechanism by which substandard vessels are identified and detained, and the Gulf of Guinea has long been flagged by global shipping bodies as a region requiring more robust enforcement. An inaugural capacity-building programme of this nature — backed by Lloyd’s Register Foundation and drawing in heads of maritime administrations — signals that the Abuja MoU is moving beyond declarations toward institutional action.
For Nigerian stakeholders — from terminal operators and freight forwarders to shipowners operating under the cabotage regime — stronger regional PSC coordination translates into a more predictable regulatory environment and, in time, a reduction in the reputational risk that has historically shadowed the region’s ports. The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) will be watching this programme closely, as its outcomes are likely to shape compliance expectations along Nigeria’s coastline and inland trade corridors in the months ahead.
The choice of Lagos as host city reinforces Nigeria’s role as the sub-region’s dominant maritime hub. Port operators and logistics providers should note the dates: 29 June to 1 July
Sanitation Deficit Poses Silent Threat to Nigeria’s Blue Economy, WTO Founder Warns
By Emetena Ikuku | Waterways News
Sanitation infrastructure has been identified as a critical but chronically neglected pillar of Nigeria’s blue economy ambitions, with the founder of the World Toilet Organisation (WTO), Prof. Jack Sim, warning that untreated waste flowing into the country’s rivers, lagoons and coastal waters could quietly erode the very foundation on which the sector is being built.
Sim, a globally recognised advocate for sanitation access, made the remarks while speaking on the relationship between waste management and the blue economy, stressing that clean and healthy water ecosystems are not incidental to Nigeria’s maritime and aquatic industries — they are their lifeblood.
Without proper sanitation, untreated wastewater and human waste discharged into rivers, lagoons and coastal waters can destroy aquatic habitats, reduce fish populations and threaten the livelihoods of millions who depend on these resources,” he said.
His warning carries particular weight for Nigeria, where coastal and riverine communities remain largely underserved by wastewater treatment infrastructure, and where open defecation and industrial effluents continue to degrade the waterways that support fishing, aquaculture, maritime commerce and tourism.
Sim urged a fundamental reframing of how sanitation investment is categorised in national planning. Toilets, wastewater treatment plants and faecal sludge management systems, he argued, should no longer be viewed merely as social welfare provisions, but as strategic economic infrastructure capable of driving growth, protecting jobs and strengthening food security.
Prof Sim Jack – WTO Founder
The WTO founder noted that pollution from poor sanitation practices poses direct risks to Nigeria’s fisheries and aquaculture sectors — industries that feature prominently in the Federal Government’s blue economy expansion agenda under the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy.
Cleaner waterways, he said, would improve fish stocks, enhance seafood quality and create a more sustainable operating environment for aquatic businesses.
On maritime tourism — a sector that Nigeria’s policymakers have increasingly highlighted as a major revenue frontier — Sim was equally direct, emphasising that clean beaches and waterfronts are non-negotiable prerequisites for attracting visitors and unlocking private investment.
He also pointed to the public health dividend of improved sanitation, noting that reducing the burden of waterborne diseases would yield healthier and more economically productive coastal and riverine communities — populations that are integral to sustaining maritime trade, fishing activity and nearshore enterprise.
Sim sounded the alarm over threats to critical ecosystems, warning that mangroves, wetlands and estuaries — which function as fish breeding grounds, natural coastal defences and climate resilience buffers — face mounting pressure from untreated waste discharges. These ecosystems, he noted, are essential infrastructure for the blue economy even if they rarely appear on any balance sheet.
To safeguard Nigeria’s blue economy trajectory, Sim called on policymakers to deliberately prioritise sanitation in coastal and riverine communities, expand access to safe sanitation facilities, strengthen faecal sludge management systems and scale up investment in wastewater treatment infrastructure to prevent further contamination of rivers and coastal ecosystems.
Nigeria Watch
Prof. Sim’s remarks, though global in framing, land squarely within the fault lines of Nigeria’s blue economy policy landscape. The Federal Government under Minister Adegboyega Oyetola has articulated ambitious goals for the sector — from deep seaport development and fisheries commercialisation to maritime tourism and the harnessing of inland waterways for economic productivity. Yet the sanitation dimension of this agenda remains conspicuously absent from most policy conversations.
Nigeria’s waterways — particularly the Niger Delta creeks, Lagos Lagoon and inland river systems — are under sustained assault from domestic waste, industrial effluents and petroleum-related pollution. The communities most exposed to these conditions are precisely those that the blue economy is supposed to empower: riverine fishing communities, coastal traders and artisanal boat operators.
For regulators such as NIMASA, NIWA and the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Sim’s intervention offers an important prompt. The blue economy cannot be built on polluted water. Investors in aquaculture, maritime tourism and seafood export markets will assess environmental quality as a prerequisite — and Nigeria’s track record on waterway sanitation is unlikely to inspire confidence without deliberate remediation effort.
The message from the World Toilet Organisation may seem, at first glance, tangential to maritime affairs. But for a country whose coastline spans over 850 kilometres and whose inland waterways stretch more than 10,000 kilometres, proper sanitation infrastructure is not a peripheral concern — it is a core competitiveness issue.
Waterways News | Blue Economy Desk
Tinubu Places Hydrography at Heart of Nigeria’s Maritime Agenda — Matawalle
By Okeoghene Onoriobe, Lagos Correspondent
The Federal Government has signalled a renewed commitment to hydrography as a strategic pillar of Nigeria’s maritime development, with the Minister of State for Defence, Dr. Bello Muhammad Matawalle, declaring that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration has placed the discipline at the centre of the nation’s maritime priorities.
Matawalle made the declaration on Wednesday in Abuja while receiving the Hydrographer of the Federation and Chief Executive Officer of the National Hydrographic Agency (NHA), Rear Admiral O.O. Fadahunsi, who led a management delegation on a courtesy visit to the minister.
Federal Government Reaffirms Support for NHA
In a statement released through his Personal Assistant on Media, Ahmad Dan-Wudil, the minister said the Federal Government remains firmly committed to strengthening Nigeria’s hydrographic infrastructure to support improved marine navigation, defence operations, and ocean-based economic activities.
Matawalle stressed that the National Hydrographic Agency occupies a critical position in Nigeria’s broader maritime ambitions, particularly in the Gulf of Guinea — a zone where overlapping concerns over maritime security and resource governance continue to demand sustained governmental attention.
He noted that hydrographic work underpins the country’s emerging Blue Economy agenda, which seeks to expand maritime trade while ensuring the sustainable exploitation of ocean and riverine resources.
Nigeria Positioned for Regional Leadership
The minister expressed confidence that existing policy frameworks under the Renewed Hope administration have positioned Nigeria to assume a leadership role in hydrography across the West African sub-region. He pledged that government support would be sustained to improve navigational safety, enhance maritime security, and deepen scientific data generation to serve national development objectives.
Rear Admiral Fadahunsi, for his part, commended the minister for what he described as consistent support and visionary leadership. He affirmed the agency’s readiness to work in concert with relevant ministries, departments, and agencies to strengthen intergovernmental coordination and build greater hydrographic resilience. Both parties indicated that the meeting focused on expanding Nigeria’s hydrographic capacity in line with global maritime standards.
Nigeria Watch
For the Nigerian maritime sector, this development carries significant operational implications.
Hydrography — the science of measuring and describing the physical features of navigable waters — is the often-overlooked backbone of safe shipping, port operations, and offshore resource extraction. Without current, accurate hydrographic data, vessels navigating Nigeria’s coastal waters, the Niger Delta creeks, and the nation’s inland waterways do so at elevated risk.
The National Hydrographic Agency, which is mandated to produce and maintain nautical charts covering Nigerian waters, has historically operated with limited visibility in national maritime policy discussions. Its elevation to a stated priority under the Tinubu administration — articulated at the level of the Defence Ministry — signals a more integrated, security-conscious approach to maritime domain awareness.
For port operators, shipping companies, and offshore energy stakeholders, a well-funded and operationally capable NHA translates directly to more reliable navigational data, reduced insurance risk premiums, and safer routing in Nigeria’s busiest sea lanes. For NIMASA and the Nigerian Navy, improved hydrographic coverage strengthens the infrastructure for maritime domain awareness and threat response in the Gulf of Guinea, where Nigeria continues to assert its role as the dominant maritime power.
The blue economy dimension is equally noteworthy. Hydrographic surveys are a prerequisite for viable offshore wind energy development, aquaculture zoning, and the delimitation of maritime boundaries — all areas where Nigeria’s policy ambitions have outpaced technical groundwork. If this stated presidential prioritisation translates into budgetary commitments and institutional capacity-building for the NHA, it could mark a foundational shift in how Nigeria approaches its vast but under-mapped maritime estate.
Stakeholders will be watching to see whether the rhetoric of prioritisation is matched by concrete resource allocation in the next budget cycle.
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