The President Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has approved a $1 billion total reconstruction of Apapa, Tincan, Calabar, Warri, and Port Harcourt sea ports to commence in the first quarter of 2026 and to be completed within 48 months.

This was disclosed by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, during a chat with newsmen on the sidelines of the ongoing World Ports Conference of the International Association of Ports and Harbours (IAPH) in Kobe, Japan, tagged, “Reinvention and Prosperity in Turbulent Times”.

The NPA MD also applauded the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, for his drive and support, and stated that the government sees the maritime sector as a key driver of its $1 trillion economy ambition.

On the duration of the ports reconstruction, he said, "Construction of this massive nature takes a lot of time to be able to prepare. There are engineering studies, there are environmental studies, and there is design, among others.

“It’s like building a small house, it takes you three years, for example. So, if you are building a port, it’s not what we can do easily, but we are targeting a 48-month duration for reconstruction and we’re hoping that by the first quarter of next year, we commence the construction,” he stated.

Speaking further on the development, Dantosho, who is the Vice President of IAPH Africa, said that the ports reconstruction was part of the federal government’s plan to modernise Nigeria’s seaport infrastructure, attract foreign investment, and reposition the maritime sector for competitiveness in the global logistics chain.

He further stressed that the Nigerian economy was set for massive investment as a result of Tinubu’s economic reforms and that the NPA was collaborating with other port stakeholders to attract investors, who are pushing to invest in the Nigerian ports sector.

“What has happened is the absence of concrete trust and relationship for so many years. So, from what investors are saying in this conference, it is clear that what we need is collaboration. But how do you collaborate when there is no trust? How do you collaborate when there is no relationship? That is another area of interest to us that we must do our best to ensure that we have consolidated.

“We have to be able to be in the cycle of friends or partners that feel all of us are trusted in the same dynamics, in the same ecosystem. We also have a relationship because the port by itself is constructed to last 50 years minimum. If I’m investing in a port, I’m investing in a system that I believe will last 50 years, but that cannot happen if there is no relationship,” he said.

Speaking further he added, “Like I was saying to the MD of Singapore Port Authority, Nigeria has given the port community system contract to a Singaporean company. The company, a subsidiary of the Port Authority of Singapore will drive our national single window in Nigeria. They have the equipment, they have the finance to be able to come to us because this thing is very, very capital-intensive.”

On the ports funding, Dantosho stated further that port development remains a highly capital-intensive process that could only be funded by foreign investors and not local financial institutions, while also noting that with emerging technologies in shipping and port management, Nigeria must invest heavily in technology and automation across all its seaports.

“The world has moved from manual labour, that is, having a lot of people doing the same thing. Here, they are even talking about automated ships, the target is by 2040, the ships by themselves will be moving on the sea, and nobody will be on them. Nigeria do not have enough money within our own country to be able to build these massive things. But we are attracting investors now.

“We need to have collaboration, partnership with other people, because, like I said, in 2006, Nigeria moved from the public sector port system to the private sector port system. We are now going to invest a lot in technology, and this investment requires money, and people can only come and give you money if they know that they can recoup, because that’s the essence of market systems.

“We are trying to cultivate these relationships so that we are part of them. As we appear here today, we are also appearing in different conferences, and they see us as friends. We are in the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA), which is the West African Association. We are in IAPH, which is the world Port, we are also in the International Maritime Organisation (IMO), so they are seeing us as friends, they are seeing us as part of the bigger family. So the discussions will continue, and then hopefully it will end in very wonderful results,” he said optimistically.

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