Ahead of the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN) annual maritime lecture (MAMAL) with the theme “Nigeria Ports Modernisation, Charges and the Competitiveness Question,” some stakeholders in the maritime sector of the economy have opined that Nigeria’s ports are still lagging behind ports situated in neighbouring countries.
These stakeholders maintained that the ports in neighbouring countries such as the ones located in the Republic of Benin, Togo and Ghana are far ahead in terms of cost of services and competitiveness despite Nigeria’s advantage in market size, cargo volume and traffic over the years.
Some of the stakeholders who spoke to our reporters include the erstwhile Acting National President, Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA), Dr. Kayode Farinto and the founder and Principal Consultant, International Trade Advisory Services Limited (ITASL), Mr. Okey Ibeke.
Farinto averred that Nigeria’s huge market, cargo volume and traffic remain major advantages that enable its ports to compete with neighbouring countries but warned that policy inconsistencies, inadequate terminal equipment and uncertainty surrounding concession agreements are undermining the country’s competitiveness.
The ANLCA chieftain argued that Nigeria has a significant market advantage but must review some of its policies to compete more favourably with the ports situated in neighbouring countries.
Said he: “Well, Nigeria has advantage of market and volume. But there are some policies that need to be reviewed for Nigeria to be able to compete favourably.”
Farinto specifically compared Nigeria’s port environment with that of the Republic of Benin, noting that importers in Cotonou ports benefit from more favourable storage and demurrage arrangements, including waivers and concessions.
“Let us look at some neighbouring countries ports such as the ones situated in Cotonou, Republic of Benin. In Cotonou port, there are storages and demurrages. Demurrages is encouraging. Encouraging in the sense that they give waiver. They give one four days before your demurrages continue to accrue,” he said.
According to him, importers whose consignments remain at the port in Cotonuo are also given concessions, making the port environment comparatively more attractive to users. Nigeria’s market size and the volume of traffic it controls are the key reasons its ports continue to stand out despite the challenges.
Said he: “But because we have the volume of the market. That is why Nigeria is still doing well. That is why we can say that we stand tall.”
He called on the Federal Government to create a better enabling environment through consistent and predictable policies.
“Going forward, I am of the opinion that government should create a better enabling environment. I mean, these are consistent policies,” he said.
Farinto also identified inadequate investment in modern cargo-handling equipment by terminal operators as one of the challenges affecting the competitiveness of Nigerian ports.
He attributed the situation partly to the uncertainty surrounding the renewal of the concession agreements of terminal operators, arguing that operators would be more willing to invest in new equipment if their agreements were renewed.
Continuing, he said: “Number one, the government should renew the concession agreement of the various terminal operators. It is keeping us in abeyance. It is making the terminal operators not want to invest in equipment purchase. And this is not too good for the economy.
“If their concession agreement is renewed, lease agreement is renewed, everybody will want to bring in new handling equipment. This is very, very paramount.”
He enjoined stakeholders to properly examine the recently enacted legislation affecting the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to determine whether it strengthens its regulatory powers.
He pointed out that the effectiveness of the new law would be critical in determining whether shipping companies and agencies would be compelled to comply with established rules.
His words: “We have not seen the new Act that was signed by Mr. President recently. For us to be able to look at it and see the advantage, whether it is positioning Shippers’ Council better in the area of the port regulatory functions that is bestowed on us.
“If it is positioning NSC better now, that means the council can bite. That means every other shipping company or shipping agency will want to play the game according to the rules, knowing fully well that an axe can fall on them.”
The erstwhile ANLCA argued that stronger regulatory powers could improve discipline among operators in the sector.
According to him, these and other policy considerations would determine whether Nigeria was genuinely moving forward in its quest for a more competitive port system.
These and many other things that I think we need to know before we know whether we are moving forward or we are just rolling as a nation.
On his part, Ibeke offered a more critical assessment of the current state of Nigerian ports, saying that they remain uncompetitive when measured against neighbouring ports in the West African sub-region.
His words: “If you ask me if the ports are currently competitive, I will tell you they are not. The measuring index is our neighbouring ports. The government has been trying to make efforts to put things in place. There is modernization on the part of Nigeria Customs Service, trying to automate the clearance of cargoes from the nation’s seaports.”
He argued that fundamental issues remain unresolved, pointing to entrenched resistance to change among operators, security agencies and government agencies.
Ibeke who is also the publisher of Business West Africa cited the port access road as a clear example of how vested interests continue to undermine government reforms.
Said he: “The port access road control has been running into problems because the people that have been benefiting from the chaos and collecting bribes are frustrating all efforts of the government. You see the problem rearing up regularly irrespective of the efforts being made by government.”
He also faulted shipping companies and terminal operators for what he described as excesses in their operations while expressing hope that the regulatory agency recently signed into law by President Bola Tinubu would improve the situation.
On compliance, he identified the root cause of the ports’ non-competitiveness, arguing that security agencies exploit the non-compliance of importers for personal gains.
Ibeke’s words: “In the area of compliance, the root of all the non-competitiveness of Nigerian ports is compliance. The security agencies are feeding on the non-compliance of our importers. Police officers are not supposed to interfere in cargo clearance but they have informants. These police officers know that the container released from the port was wrongly declared and then he goes forward to harass the importer in order to get his own share of the money. Same goes with other security agencies. If you do all the automation in the whole world, if the compliance level does not increase, it would frustrate the whole system.”
Comparing Nigeria with countries where port automation has succeeded, he said the primary objective of automation in advanced economies was security and trade facilitation rather than revenue collection.
Said he: “In the countries where automation has worked, their primary objective is not revenue. It is preventive. If you go to advanced countries where their ports are automated, it is not done to collect revenue. It is used for security purposes. But in Nigeria, we still depend on import duties from the ports to run our economy and provide amenities for the citizens.”
Ibeke blamed the conduct of Nigerian importers for undermining trade facilitation efforts just as he called on the National Orientation Agency (NOA) to intervene.
“Nigerian importers are used to cutting corners. They are always involve in wrong classification, undervaluation and concealment. The National Orientation Agency has to come in and do their job by speaking to the importers to be more patriotic and do genuine declarations. This is the only time that automation can work,” Ibeke added.
The ITASL Principal Consultant noted that while other neighbouring ports also grapple with similar vices, the level of such practices is considerably lower than what obtains in Nigeria.
He explained that at ports such as Cotonou and Lome, false declarations attract outright seizure of the affected cargo, unlike in Nigeria where the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) exercises discretion by raising Debit Notes (DN) to allow importers make up shortfalls in duty payment.
Said he: “There is no society without vices but in Nigeria the level of vices and glitches is more than the level of compliance. Corruption has become normalized within the system. There is need for attitudinal change in Nigerian ports. Corruption has now become a norm. People no longer see it as doing the wrong thing.”
He expressed fear that any attempt by NCS to strictly enforce compliance could provoke backlash from importers and disrupt port operations.
Ibeke’s words: “If Customs decides to do the right thing today, importers would cry out that they are not facilitating trade. 90 percent of cargoes would be affected and it would cause congestion at the port, so Customs have decided to submit to the blackmail.”
Maritime Bits checks revealed that the contrasting perspectives of Farinto and Ibeke bring to the fore the complexity of Nigeria’s port competitiveness challenge. While Nigeria possesses a substantial market and cargo base capable of sustaining its position as the dominant maritime market in the West and Central Africa Sub-regions, port users continue to point to the ills plaguing the cargo supply chain.
These include regulatory uncertainty, port charges, inadequate equipment, compliance failures, corruption and weak enforcement.
The stakeholders also stressed the need to fully convert its market advantage into a more efficient and competitive port system.
MAMAL 2026 is expected to provide a veritable platform to address these issues and more as stakeholders will critically examine the relationship between port modernization, charges and Nigeria’s competitiveness within the West and Central Africa Sub-regions.
