Blue Economy
NPA, Stakeholders Chart Course to End Lekki Port Corridor Traffic Crisis
NPA, Stakeholders Chart Course to End Lekki Port Corridor Traffic Crisis
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has convened a high-level stakeholders’ meeting to tackle the chronic traffic gridlock that has paralysed access roads to Lekki Deep Seaport and its surrounding industrial corridor for over a year, with participants agreeing on concrete measures to restore order to one of Nigeria’s most strategically important port gateways.
The meeting, chaired by Lekki Port Manager Emmanuel Anda, brought together representatives of the Lagos State Government, Lekki Port management, Dangote Refinery, truck owners’ associations, and the Electronic Truck Call-Up System operator, Mycallup — signalling a coordinated multi-agency response to a problem that has long frustrated port users and logistics operators.
A central resolution from the meeting was the outright prohibition of stationary trucks and tankers along the Lekki port corridor. Going forward, all trucks must remain in designated holding bays and waiting areas until they receive electronic clearance to proceed to the port or adjacent industrial facilities.
The agreement followed a joint inspection of the Lekki access roads by meeting participants, who observed firsthand the scale of the congestion. Stakeholders subsequently resolved that the situation could no longer be allowed to continue unchecked.
Dangote Refinery Trucks Identified as Key Factor
Mycallup’s representative, Timi Koteolu, identified trucks servicing Dangote Refinery outside the electronic scheduling platform as a significant contributor to the bottleneck. He noted that many drivers operating with Dangote’s Authority to Collect (ATC) permits had been parking indiscriminately along corridor roads while awaiting refinery access — and that these trucks are currently not integrated into the port’s electronic call-up system.
Dangote Refinery’s representative, Jaiyeola Moshood, clarified that the ATC permits represent the approved access mechanism for tankers entering the refinery. However, Mycallup maintained its position: trucks without an active call-up must not approach the port corridor and should remain in designated waiting areas until required.
Lekki Port Manager Anda specifically urged Dangote Refinery to fully integrate with the electronic truck call-up platform, noting that such collaboration would substantially reduce indiscriminate truck presence on access roads. He further assured participants that discussions with Dangote Refinery management would continue to strengthen coordination of truck movements, with ATC-permit vehicles only permitted to proceed when duly cleared.
The Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO) and the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) pledged support for the initiative, committing to sensitise their members while calling for firm enforcement of traffic regulations. NUPENG’s Dangote Refinery Coordinator, Ademola Adeshina, also assured stakeholders of his members’ readiness to comply with the established Standard Operating Procedures.
Nigeria Watch
The Lekki port corridor gridlock is more than a traffic management problem — it is a symptom of the infrastructural and coordination deficit that continues to shadow Nigeria’s ambitions for a world-class port ecosystem.
Lekki Deep Seaport was designed as a transformational asset: a deep-draft facility capable of receiving the large vessels that historically bypassed Nigeria for Lomé, Abidjan, and Tema. Its proximity to the Dangote Refinery — the largest single-train refinery in the world — amplified that promise, creating what should be a uniquely powerful industrial and logistics corridor on the Lagos coast.
Yet the gridlock that has persisted for over a year on those same access roads tells a different story. It exposes a coordination gap that was foreseeable: two enormous, truck-intensive operations — a major seaport and a 650,000-barrel-per-day refinery — sharing corridor infrastructure without a unified traffic and scheduling framework from the outset.
The NPA deserves credit for convening this meeting and driving a stakeholder-wide response. Equally important is the frank identification of the Dangote Refinery’s ATC-permit trucks as a key factor — an acknowledgement that is necessary before any durable solution can take hold. The call for the refinery to integrate with the Mycallup electronic call-up platform is the right prescription. Until the corridor’s two dominant traffic generators operate on a single, synchronised scheduling system, ad hoc enforcement alone will struggle to hold.
For Nigeria’s maritime sector, the stakes extend beyond Lekki. The port’s performance directly influences how global shipping lines and terminal operators assess Nigeria’s readiness to handle increased cargo volumes — and whether the country can translate its port infrastructure investments into measurable trade competitiveness. A corridor choked with waiting tankers and unscheduled trucks undermines that case.
The broader lesson is one that NPA, NIMASA, and Lagos State should absorb as Badagry Deep Seaport, Ibom Deep Seaport, and other greenfield port projects advance: corridor traffic management frameworks must be designed and agreed before operations begin, not retrofitted after a crisis has taken hold.
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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