Competitiveness: Nigerian Ports Still Lag Behind Cotonou, Lome – Stakeholders

Stakeholders in the Nigerian maritime sector have said the country’s ports still lag behind neighbouring ports such as Cotonou and Lome in terms of competitiveness, despite Nigeria’s advantage in market size, cargo volume and traffic.

The stakeholders spoke ahead of the upcoming Annual Maritime Lecture, MAMAL 2026 organised by the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria, MARAN, with the theme, “Nigeria Ports Modernisation, Charges and the Competitiveness Question.”

Former Acting National President of the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents, ANLCA, Dr. Kayode Farinto, said 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.

According to Farinto, Nigeria has a significant market advantage, but must review some of its policies to compete more favourably with ports in the West African sub-region.

“Well, Nigeria has the advantage of market and volume. But there are some policies that need to be reviewed for Nigeria to be able to compete favourably,” he said.

He specifically compared Nigeria’s port environment with that of Cotonou, noting that importers in the Benin port benefit from more favourable storage and demurrage arrangements, including waivers and concessions.

“We look at some neighbouring countries like Cotonou now. Cotonou, there are storages and demurrages. Demurrages are encouraging. Encouraging in the sense that they give waiver. They give one a four days before your demurrages continue to accrue,” he said.

He added that importers whose consignments remain at the port are also given concessions, making the port environment comparatively more attractive to users.

Farinto said Nigeria’s market size and the volume of traffic it controls are the key reasons its ports continue to stand out despite the challenges.

“But because we have the volume of the market, that’s why Nigeria is still doing well. That’s why we can say that we stand tall,” he said.

He, however, called on the Federal Government to create a better enabling environment through consistent and predictable policies.

“Going forward, I am of the opinion that the 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.

“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,” he said.

“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 added.

Farinto also said stakeholders needed to properly examine the recently enacted legislation affecting the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to determine whether it strengthens the council’s regulatory powers.

He said the effectiveness of the new law would be critical in determining whether shipping companies and agencies would be compelled to comply with established rules.

“We have not seen the new Act that was signed by Mr. President last week. For us to be able to look at it and see the advantage, whether it is positioning the Shippers’ Council better in the area of the port regulatory functions that is bestowed on us,” he said.

Farinto added that stronger regulatory powers could improve discipline among operators in the sector.

“If it is positioning the Shippers’ Council better now, that means our Shippers’ Council can bite. That means every other shipping company or shipping agency will want to play the game according to the rules, knowing full well that an axe can fall on them,” he said.

He said these and other policy considerations would determine whether Nigeria was genuinely moving forward in its quest for a more competitive port system.

“These are many other things that I think we need to know before we know whether we are moving forward or we are rolling,” he said.

Also speaking ahead of the lecture, the founder and Principal Consultant of International Trade Advisory Services Limited, ITASL, Okey Ibeke, offered a more critical assessment of the current state of Nigerian ports, saying they remain uncompetitive when measured against neighbouring ports in the West African sub-region.

Asked whether Nigerian ports are currently competitive, Ibeke said, “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 modernisation on the part of Nigeria Customs Service, trying to automate the clearance of cargoes from the port.”

He said, however, that fundamental issues remain unresolved, pointing to entrenched resistance to change among operators, security agencies and government agencies alike.

He cited the Port Access Road as a clear example of how vested interests continue to undermine government reforms.

“The Port Access road control has been running into problems because the people that have been benefiting from the chaos and collecting bribes on that access road are frustrating all efforts of the government. You see the problem rearing up regularly irrespective of the efforts being made by the government,” he said.

Ibeke 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, Ibeke identified it as the root cause of the ports’ non-competitiveness, arguing that security agencies exploit the non-compliance of importers for personal gain.

“Then, 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 the policeman has an informant, he knows 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 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,” he said.

Drawing a comparison with countries where port automation has succeeded, Ibeke said the primary objective of automation in advanced economies was security and trade facilitation rather than revenue collection.

“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,” he said.

He further blamed the conduct of Nigerian importers for undermining trade facilitation efforts, calling for the National Orientation Agency to intervene.

“Nigerian importers are used to cutting corners, they 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,” he said.

Ibeke 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 exercises discretion by raising Debit Notes to allow importers make up shortfalls in duty payment.

“There is no society without vices, but in Nigeria the level of vices and glitches is more than the level of compliance,” he said, adding that corruption had become normalised within the system.

“There is a need for attitudinal change in Nigerian ports, corruption has now become a norm, people no longer see it as doing the wrong thing.”

Ibeke warned that any attempt by Customs to strictly enforce compliance could provoke backlash from importers and disrupt port operations.

“If the 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 the customs have decided to submit to the blackmail,” he said.

The contrasting perspectives of Farinto and Ibeke highlight 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 sub-region, stakeholders continue to point to regulatory uncertainty, port charges, inadequate equipment, compliance failures, corruption and weak enforcement as factors limiting the country’s ability to fully convert its market advantage into a more efficient and competitive port system.

The issues are expected to feature prominently at MAMAL 2026, where industry stakeholders will examine the relationship between port modernisation, charges and Nigeria’s competitiveness within the West African maritime landscape.

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