MARITIME TRADE & SHIPPING
NPA: Nigeria Shipped Over 500,000 Tonnes of Petroleum Products from Dangote Refinery to Africa in March
NPA: Nigeria Shipped Over 500,000 Tonnes of Petroleum Products from Dangote Refinery to Africa in March
By Okeoghene Onoriobe | Waterways News Correspondent | Lagos
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) says it played a central role in facilitating the export of more than 500,000 tonnes of petroleum products from the Dangote Refinery to African countries in March alone — a development the authority attributes to improved port coordination and the deployment of a One-Stop-Shop (OSS) framework at the refinery’s terminal.
NPA Managing Director, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, disclosed this during a stakeholders’ engagement convened by the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy in Lagos, describing the feat as a demonstration of Nigeria’s growing capacity as a petroleum export hub on the continent.
“As a matter of fact, in the past month, we exported over 500,000 tonnes of petroleum products from Dangote Refinery to African countries. The exports are handled by ships, supported by the NPA’s capacity in port and cargo operations,” Dantsoho said.
The NPA boss noted that despite disruptions to global vessel movement caused by the ongoing Middle East conflict, Nigeria’s domestic and export petroleum supply chains remained stable — a contrast, he said, to several other nations grappling with energy queues and supply shortfalls.
He credited the performance to the OSS platform, introduced under the directive of the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola. The system, which Dantsoho likened to the National Single Window initiative, is designed to bring all agencies and private operators at the Dangote Refinery terminal into a single, coordinated operational framework.
“This system operates similarly to the National Single Window, ensuring efficiency and coordination,” he said, adding that all stakeholders now operate in sync with the refinery’s distribution architecture.
The statement was issued by the NPA’s General Manager for Corporate Communications and Strategy, Mr Ikechukwu Onyemekara.
The March export figures signal a significant step in Nigeria’s ambition to transition from a petroleum-importing nation to a regional supplier — with the country’s port infrastructure and maritime logistics increasingly positioned at the centre of that shift.