Dr Dantsoho : Enhancing Exports and Revenue at Nigerian Seaports

By Shola Fadeyi

The Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA)  has since the appointment of his current Managing Director, Dr  Abubakar Dantsoho , about a year ago , been adopting measures which have  improved the quality  of non –oil exports shipped through   the Nigerian seaports,  as well as enhanced the level of revenue accruing to the Federation Account from the Authority.

This explains why the  management has proposed to earn N1.28 trillion as revenue by the end of 2025, an amount that will surpass the 2024 figure by 40 per cent, showing the effectiveness  of  the policies  which Dr Dantsoho as the NPA Managing Director of NPA ,  has been adopting in this direction.

This is also  why Dantsoho’s management  has tirelessly been encouraging traders and investors to take advantage of the NPA’s streamlined export processes and its other efforts at boosting exports to enhance the acceptability of Nigeria’s  non- oil exports abroad.

The effective collaboration which Dr Dantsoho   has established  with the Nigerian Export Promotion Council(NEPC), the Nigerian Shippers’ Council(NSC) and the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) and other relevant bodies , has assisted in enhancing the success achieved in this area of export promotion, by the NPA.

Apparently, the focal point of the non- oil exports reforms of the Managing Director  is the establishment of the Export Processing Terminals (EPTs), across the country, an initiative  which has sort of become a game changer in the improvement of the quality of export produce shipped out of the Nigerian seaports.

Consequently, the  five  EPTs recently licensed by the NPA out of the 10  that have been approved  to commence the operation of handling and processing export produce include  Diamondstar Port & Terminals Ltd, Ijora; Esslibra Terminal, Ikorodu; Sundial Global Trade & Service Ltd, Kirikiri; Bellington Cargo Ltd, Okokomaiko; and Tenzik Energy Ltd, Kirikiri Lighter Terminal.

Since their establishment , the EPTs as conceptualized, have been  serving  as a one-stop-shop for cargo consolidation, stuffing, documentation, packaging, certification, and onward shipment through electronic call-up to the Ports, thus eliminating the duplication and bureaucratic overlaps that previously rendered Nigerian exports uncompetitive in the international marketplace.

Each of the terminals has been serving as a pre-gate for all export goods, where they are all  processed, certified, and sealed for onward delivery to the Ports, thereby eliminating  the need for inspection of export goods at the ports by the Nigeria Customs and other relevant agencies ,  since the examination has already been done   at the EPTs, thereby aiding port efficiency and operations.

The facilities, beyond assisting to process  export cargoes faster and boost foreign exchange earnings, have also been  helping  to solve  the challenges of rejection of Nigerian Agro-exports by importing countries, usually over quality and poor packaging. So, the facility has  been  assisting  exporters and investors to overcome most of the complexities they often face in the process of exporting Nigerian goods.

The NPA’s  EPTs initiative become commendable , for the fact  that exports, particularly  agricultural produce  have  often gotten  expired or rotten, having spent too much time accessing the ports and on the sea, but with the existence of these facilities , these  products are processed, certified by experts and containerized, and are then transported to the ports for onward export.

The establishment of these terminals have also greatly reduced the  time for the shipping of the  agricultural produce and other  products out of the country , while it has minimized the  pressure on the Apapa and Tin-Can Island port terminals in Lagos, which also serve as processing centres for export goods.

In fact , to underscore the importance to which the NPA management attaches to the promotion of non oil exports , it had to give approval for the erstwhile Lillypond Customs Command in Ijora to be converted into an EPT, the first of such commissioned to begin operation in Lagos   and has  been operated  by  DiamondStar Port and Terminal limited , processing thousands of  boxes of export container weekly.

Due to the closeness of the facility to the Apapa Port , the Premiere Port In Nigeria , the vastly improved activities of the Terminal in the area of export processing which the Dantsoho – led management has ensured , just like in the other Terminals, has contributed to increasing the volume and the quality of export produce and products through Apapa and other Ports.

For instance,  non- oil exports from APM Terminals, Apapa, stood  at 51,000 Thousand Equivalent Units (TEUs), in the first half of 2024, representing  about 25 percent increase  compared with the 47,000 TEUs for the first half of 2023 as a result of the  measures that have been put in place by NPA  and the  collaboration between the management  and APMT.

Also available statistics from the NPA showed an increase of 95.3 per cent in the volume of  non-oil exports through the Tin Can Port  in the first quarter of 2024, compared to the same period last year as  251,679.89 metric tonnes  of the commodities  were recorded in the   reviewed period as against  145,906.33  metric tonnes in the corresponding period of  2023.

In the same vein ,  the Free On Board (FOB) value of these exports saw an impressive surge, increasing over 300 per cent from N80.9 billion in 2023 to N287.7 billion in 2024.

Most importantly, to lend credence to the positive impact of NPA’s reforms in the non- oil export realm, on its  total  revenue profile, which are likewise due to other reforms of the management ,  statistics revealed that the Authority  remitted N758.26 billion in revenue to the government coffers  between January and November  2024,  surpassing  the 2023 revenue  figure by N257.3 billion.

The agency had  also projected N997 billion in revenue for 2025  , but the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance increased the projection to N1.75 trillion, before it was agreed for N1.28 trillion  due to the legislature’s confidence in the current Dantsoho- led management capacity to make the target , flowing from the various repositioning measures it has been carrying out in the organization.

Additionally, due to the synergy between NPA and   NEPC and the fact that the latter  has  approved 13 export warehouses across the country, to aid the efficiency of the five EPTs while the  Customs has only been considering  goods coming from these warehouses for access to the EPTs, this has  eliminated  backstage dealings and ensures absolute compliance by exporters.

With the Federal Government’s emphasis on Agro-produce and mineral resources, as being encouraged by the NPA ,  Nigeria has been benefitting tremendously as a major producer of cotton, cocoa, cashew nuts, and other agricultural products that are in great demand.

In fact , it is expected that full  operationalization of these EPTs will also open up opportunities for foreign direct investment into critical sectors like manufacturing, mining, and agriculture, creating thousands of job opportunities for young people along the way.

Thus it is for the need to  expand the volume of exports handled by the NPA that Dantsoho had to enter into collaborations with the Dangote Industries Limited  to begin the processing of coal exports  out of Nigeria very soon including the company’s  fertilizer export will be almost like eight cargos.

The  fact that the DIL’s  refinery operations will not export less than 25 million tons of various products as it would also be  exporting almost about 600,000 to 700,000 metric tons of polypropylene soon has placed the NPA in a pride of place to join in boosting exports into the country through the Ports.

In the next two years,  NPA will also continue to partner DIL  to  export about 16,000 tons of fertilizer which will fetch  about $6.5 million to $7 million revenue into the Federation Account of the  country on a daily basis.This is apart from the ongoing  export of  cement out of Nigeria from its  Cement factory in Itori.

To allow the exporters to benefit more from technology, the  NPA is actively advancing the full automation of its processes through the Ports Community System, which serves as a foundation for implementing the National Single Window, which  is a global best practice designed to maximize value and efficiency by seamlessly connecting all stakeholders in the trade value chain with the push of a button.

For instance, according to the statistics from NEPC   Nigeria’s Non- oil exports  grossed  $5.45 billion in the first half of 2024, an increase of 20.7 per cent compared to the level in the corresponding period  of 2023, while in the first quarter of 2025 , the  commodities also  generated $1.791 billion, a 24.75% increase compared to the $1.436 billion earned in the same period of 2024.

Undoubtedly, beyond the ongoing repositioning of the operations of the NPA’s operations  by the Dantsoho- led  management , which has resulted in improved efficiency of the Ports  and as such led to increase in the organisation’s revenue remittance to Federation Account , the fact that measures have also been adopted to boost non- oil exports has been a good development.

Shola Fadeyi is the MD, Simofad Communications Ltd and Publisher Marine and Economy