NPA to begin rehabilitation of infrastructure in Tin Can and Apapa Ports soon

The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) says the rehabilitation of bad infrastructure at Apapa and Tin Can Ports both in Lagos will commence by the third quarter of 2025.

The Managing Director of NPA, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho disclosed this made on Monday, May 26, 2025 when he received the President of the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, who visited the NPA headquarters in Lagos.

He informed that the last time government built a new port in Nigeria was 1977, which was Tin-Can Island Port, while  there is already  an approval for the port modernization of both Tin-Can and Apapa Ports .

On the greenfield part, which has to do with the development of new Ports, he stated that NPA has deep seaport development projects that have already been approved by Federal Executive Council. According to him, there are  Ibom Port,  Bakasi, Olokola, Ondo Port and  Badagry in Lagos.

Dantsoho stated that apart from the ports to be rehabilitated, the mentioned  new ports are the ones the government is concerned about, saying that   these ports will become reality, very soon.

On development of new ports, Abubakar Dantsoho stated that, “There are two ways you can handle capacity improvement/expansion or deepen port capacity. You can do it on a brownfield, which is, you renovate or rehabilitate existing ports; or on a greenfield, which is build new ports.

Concerning  the Port Community System, which is a precursor to the  National Single Window, he disclosed that the project is  95 percent ready, adding that the NPA was happy that government has approved the two projects.

The  NPA Managing Director explained that Aliko Dangote has come to the Authority to show appreciation for the dividends of the Naira for Crude sale policy of the Federal Government for the fact bthat  the initiative has contributed immensely to achieving a lot of efficiency in the area of the transactions and operations between Nigerian government agencies.

He said the policy started on the 1st of October in 2024 adding that  so far, NPA has  treated or operated over 57 vessels every month.

“The projected volume that Dangote was looking at per annum was 600 vessels. If you do 56, 57 vessels into 12 months, you will see that we are already doing bigger than what they projected. We will continue to do our best with support from government’’.

Speaking earlier, the President of the Dangote Industries Limited (DIL), Aliko Dangote, said that as the biggest customer to the NPA, it is important that the interaction between NPA and DIL is sustained, pointing out that  “We are here to thank the NPA for doing a great job, because as we speak today, we are the biggest or largest customer to NPA.

Dangote disclosed that the  size of his company’s  operation at Lekki alone is going to be almost 240 ships of crude, with each ship carrying one million crude each while it will  have products which now will amount to over 600 ships in a year.

“Then we also have our fertilizer operation, which will be loading almost eight ships. This is an operation that has never, ever been seen in the country.

“So, it’s a major challenge. But with the leadership of the NPA, we are very, very comfortable that they’ll be able to deliver’’, he staed.

According to him, his company’s  operations will sink if NPA doesn’t give them  the services they  will be needing for their  operations. So, the NPA will be needing a lot of support from the Federal Government because they won’t be able to do these things with their own physical hands. They need equipment. They need more Tug Boats.

He said he would  be putting in some few words in necessary quarters to make sure that NPA gets all the necessary assistance from the Federal Government.

In the area of export, Aliko Dangote explained that efforts are on to expand export products outside Nigeria