Commentaries
SON’s despicable desperation to return to port.
On October 26th, 2011, there was a Presidential directive that pruned down the mushroom government agencies at the ports to only eight.
The directive issued by Mrs. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the erstwhile Minister of Finance, was consequent upon the multiplicity of agencies whose operations made clearance procedures at the ports painfully slow, cumbersome, and unwieldy.
During this period, there were government agencies in excess of 14 in number whose operations made the Nigerian ports the most expensive and inefficient on the African Continent.
So, the 2011 presidential order recognised the following government agencies to domicile at the ports. The Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA), Nigeria Customs Service, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency(NIMASA), Nigeria Police, Department of State Security((DSS), Port Health, Nigerian Drugs Law Enforcement Agency(NDLEA) and Nigerian Immigration Service.
While others not mentioned on the list were consigned outside the ports, those whose services are still required among them in the course of port processes such as the Standards Organization of Nigeria(SON) and National Food and Drugs Administration Control(NAFDAC) are to be called in whenever the need arises.
However, this Presidential directive was obeyed in the breach as those evicted agencies stayed put at the ports.
In February 2018, as a result of its desire to ease the cumbersome nature of doing business at the ports, the Federal government, through its committee charged with sanitising the operations at the ports, the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) headed by Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo, gave the Nigerian Ports Authority(NPA) the matching order to enforce the 2011 Presidential Directives.
So all the outlawed government agencies were effectively weeded out of the ports.
But because of the allure of the filthy lucre at the ports, the evicted agencies launched aggressive lobbying, using instruments of blackmail, half-truths and outright lies to get the sympathy of the government in their bid to return to the ports.
This development has therefore emboldened the SON to step up its own campaign to return to the port.The agency, in recent times, has tried all the tricks in the book to gain the sympathy of stakeholders and the government to regain its entry into the ports.
As it were, those numbers of agencies permitted to be at the ports are still unwieldy as the processes at the ports have not significantly improved to the point all stakeholders would have wanted them to be.
The agency claimed that their absence at the ports has allowed fake and sub-standard products to gain access to the ports and same cleared into the market.
SONCAP is a pre-shipment verification of conformity to standards process used to verify that products to be imported into Nigeria are in conformity with the applicable NIS or approved equivalents, and technical regulations before shipment.
Under the SONCAP regime, imports are required to undergo verification and testing at the country of supply (Exporting) and a SONCAP Certificate (SC) issued demonstrating that the products meet the applicable standards and regulations or a Non-Conformity Report (NCR) where the goods do not comply.
The conformity assessment elements undertaken in SONCAP include but are not limited to physical inspection prior to shipment, sampling, testing and analysis in accredited laboratories, audit of production processes and systems, and documentary check of conformity with regulations and overall assessment of conformity to standards.
Having gone to this extent to profile all imports at the points of supply to make sure that fake and sub-standard products are not even shipped into the country, this extensive procedure has nullified any need for SON to come back to the ports.
We can safely conclude that their passion to come back despite the stringent conditions of SONCAP is simply to engage in other uncharitable activities such as extortion.
We also want to believe that the deluge of the Nigerian markets with fake and sub-standard products is a screaming testimony that the SONCAP regime of the SON has failed.
It, unfortunately, gives credence to the widespread belief that the SONCAP Certificates are not necessarily issued to importers on merit but given to the highest bidders.
We advise SON to shelve its ambition of coming back to the ports but instead concentrate on performing its statutory duties at the ports on demand.
The agency should also insist on strict enforcement of the SONCAP regime to stem the high tide of the influx of harmful products into the country.
Government should make it mandatory for customs to call operatives of SON whenever regulated products are being examined and also to ensure that they have the exclusive right to determine the genuineness of any SONCAP Certificates submitted by importers.
This is imperative because it is not within the competence of customs officers to detect fake or genuine SONCAP Certificates.
The Director-General of SON, Mallam Farouk Salim, had at the forum, accused the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) single-window portal of blocking SON from registering alerts on suspicious imported items.
Salim had claimed that the inability of SON to trigger alerts through the Nigeria Customs Integrated System (NICIS II) portal to stop a suspected cargo has exacerbated the influx of fake and substandard products into the Nigerian market.
Dr. Salim declared that the only solution to the problem is for the agency to return back to to the Port.
Curiously, all the stakeholders in the forum, including the two leading freight forwarding associations, the Association of Nigerian Licensed Customs Agents (ANLCA) and the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders (NAGAFF), all chorused the banal reasons why SON should return to the port.
We are aware that NAGAFF has been the campaigner- in Chief of SON’s desperate bid to stage a comeback.
But in recent times, the agency has recruited more stakeholders into its large army of lobbyists.
The latest is the ANLCA which has joined in the fray to railroad SON back to the port.
Curiously, these same associations have accused SON in the past of its unwholesome practice of illegal taking product samples for examination.
“Other agencies and parastatals of government in the ports like Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON), National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) among others, operate outside their mandates as stipulated in the various acts establishing them. In fact, it has been a whole lot of confusion in the ports and their environment.
“This ensuing confusion over the years has been capitalised on, to rip off port users, consequently, this makes Nigerian ports most expensive and unfriendly in sub-Saharan Africa,” NAGAFF once said of the activities of SON
Rather than allow SON to come back through the back door to further muddle up the already complicated processes at the ports, it won’t be out of place if the government finds a way of removing any resident agency whose functions could be carried out from outside the port.
It is through this that Nigerian ports will become more efficient, cost-effective, competitive and gain ascendancy on the World Bank Ease of Doing Business index.
Commentaries
Beyond Shiny Tech: Why Africa’s smart ports must build plumbing before AI
Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru
At the African Ports Conference (COPAF 2026) in Casablanca, Morocco, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, dropped a piece of unvarnished realism that should govern all future maritime discourse on the continent.
Speaking on the theme of artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, Dantsoho issued a vital warning: African ports must establish effective, uncompromised digital foundations before they rush to deploy artificial intelligence (AI).
In an era where public officials routinely weaponize trendy buzzwords like “AI,” “Big Data,” and “Smart Governance” to perform administrative progress, Dantsoho’s perspective is a refreshing return to structural logic.
Smart ports, he rightly argued, must be measured by tangible operational realities—faster vessel turnaround times, shorter cargo dwell times, lower costs, and watertight revenue accounting—not by the sheer volume of technology purchases.
The numbers coming out of Nigeria’s maritime sector suggest that getting the basic digital foundations right yields immediate economic dividends.
The deployment of foundational tools like the “Eto” truck call-up system, alongside initial frameworks for the Port Community System, catalyzed a staggering 24.8 per cent increase in Nigeria’s cargo throughput.
This foundational digitisation is precisely why the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index recently recorded strong upward trajectory rankings for both the Tin Can Island and Apapa Ports.
But as Nigeria embarks on its massive $1 billion Lagos ports modernization program, we must face the hard, structural truth that lies beneath these celebratory statistics.
Digitisation is not merely about software procurement; it is about political will and institutional harmonization.
For over a decade, Nigeria’s biggest maritime bottleneck has not been a lack of computers, but the fierce, territorial resistance from various state agencies refusing to plug into a single, unified data ledger.
A “Smart Port” cannot exist in a vacuum where customs, immigration, terminal operators, and security agencies run isolated, analogue silos designed to preserve bureaucratic fiefdoms and rent-seeking opportunities.
If the $1 billion modernization fund is spent buying sophisticated AI predictive maintenance tools and automated vessel planning systems while the National Single Window remains structurally sabotaged by agency politics, we will simply end up with a highly automated system that accelerates corruption and bottlenecks.
You cannot run a predictive AI algorithm on data that is manually altered or hidden by a human clearing agent at the wharf.
Dantsoho is entirely correct: we must build the digital plumbing before we chase the AI crown.
Going into 2027, the yardstick for evaluating the NPA’s modernization program must not be the number of smart cameras or automated gates installed.
The true metric of success will be the complete, legally enforced integration of all port stakeholders into a single data ecosystem.
Until the data flows seamlessly and transparently from the vessel to the final exit gate without human friction, any talk of an “AI-driven smart port” is mere window dressing.
We must fix the foundations first, or watch a billion dollars clear out into the ocean of unfulfilled potential.
Ibrahim Nasiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja.
Commentaries
Choking in Apapa, idle in Calabar: Fixing Nigeria’s one-sided maritime system
Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru
For decades, Nigeria has been doing something completely upside down with its maritime business
We have over 850 kilometers of beautiful coastline, yet we force almost all our international trade to squeeze through just two choked locations: Apapa and Tin Can Island in Lagos.
The result? Nightmare traffic jams, crazy demurrage fees, and local businesses dying because their goods are trapped at sea for weeks.
But from what we saw at the World Maritime Day celebration in Lagos, a real, common-sense change might finally be on the horizon.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, laid out a very clear plan under the theme, “From Policy to Practice: Powering Maritime Excellence.” ,
He promised that the government is fully committed to modernizing ports outside Lagos—specifically Onne, Warri, and Calabar—while building new deep seaports in places like Ondo, Ibom, and Bonny.
He also unveiled a big drive to train young Nigerian sailors to global standards so they can compete for jobs anywhere in the world.
As an analyst who looks at the actual numbers, this is where we need to pay close attention.
The ministry has already scored some big wins. Getting the United States Coast Guard to lift its long-standing security restrictions on ships coming from Nigeria is a massive deal.
It means fewer delays, lower shipping insurance costs, and cheaper goods for ordinary Nigerians when those savings drop down the supply chain.
Also, moving our local fish production from 1.1 million to 1.4 million metric tonnes shows that things are actually moving.
However, during her keynote presentation at the event, maritime expert, Mrs. Mfon Ekong Usoro, hit the nail on the head.
She reminded stakeholders that Nigeria’s maritime future depends entirely on moving from sound paperwork to actual, visible results.
Let’s tell ourselves the home truth: the real success of Oyetola’s ministry will not be judged by the fine speeches or brilliant policies presented at luxury hotels.
It will be judged by how quickly we can break the monopoly of the Lagos ports.
Opening up the eastern and southern ports is no longer just a good idea; it is a matter of economic survival.
When you make Onne, Warri, and Calabar fully functional, you instantly bring life back to regional economies, create thousands of local jobs, and make things cheaper for tens of millions of citizens living outside the South-West.
But a port is completely useless if you cannot get goods out of it. You cannot run a modern port if you rely only on heavy trucks fighting broken roads.
Oyetola’s ministry must work hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Transport. We need to see working rail lines laid straight into the ports of Onne and Calabar, connecting them directly to Inland Dry Ports like Baro and Onitsha.
Also, the government must use the new Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency(NPERA) Act to completely crush the official corruption, crazy hidden charges, and delays that have historically scared international shipping lines away from our eastern ports.
The roadmap is there, and the international community is already noticing through the lifted US security restrictions.
Now, the federal government needs the political muscle to build the rail and road connections to back it up.
It is time to move from policy to practice, open up our eastern waterways, and let the whole country breathe.
Ibrahim Nasiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja
Commentaries
The Olokola Conundrum: DP World, Dangote, and ghosts of Nigeria’s contractual sanctity
Monday Discourse with Ibrahim Nasiru
The Ogun State Government’s recent signing of a $7 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Paris with Dubai’s DP World has been loudly celebrated by state publicists as a monumental triumph for foreign direct investment.
The ambitious agreement aims to develop the Gateway Deep Sea Port and the Blue Marine Special Economic Zone within the strategic Olokola axis.
However, to seasoned watchers of Nigeria’s industrial policy and maritime concessions, this fresh diplomatic foray triggers a profound sense of deja vu.
By overlapping a fresh international agreement onto a maritime asset where the Dangote Group still holds an active, multi-billion naira partnership and controlling stake, the current administration is navigating a legal and political minefield.
The Olokola project is not a blank canvas; it is a highly contested zone haunted by historical policy reversals and unresolved sovereign commitments.
To understand the volatile structural foundations of Olokola, one must revisit its ambitious inception in 2004.
Conceived under the visionary yet politically fraught collaboration between former Governor Gbenga Daniel of Ogun State and the late Governor Olusegun Agagu of Ondo State, the Olokola Free Trade Zone was designed to be the ultimate crown jewel of Nigeria’s maritime and energy independence.
It attracted an elite, multi-billion dollar investment profile, headlined by the ill-fated Olokola Liquefied Natural Gas (OKLNG) project, backed by global giants including the NNPC, Shell, Chevron, and the BG Group.
Yet, despite its peerless economic blueprint, the entire enterprise famously collapsed under the weight of inter-state political rivalries, bureaucratic paralysis, and sudden federal policy shifts.
When international oil companies pulled out due to a lack of institutional guarantees, local conglomerates like the Dangote Group stepped in to secure strategic stakes, preserving the asset’s industrial viability for the future.
Bypassing this historical footprint without a clean legal resolution is an invitation to systemic friction.
Therefore, the current strategy of double tracking agreements over the exact same geographical and maritime asset represents a dangerous institutional risk.
While the state’s aggressive drive to unlock the economic potential of the Ogun coastline and expand the nation’s blue economy is highly commendable, courting a Middle Eastern maritime giant like DP World while ignoring an existing domestic investor creates severe legal vulnerabilities.
In global shipping and port development, international operators look for absolute clarity regarding terminal operations, land titles, and concession limits
You cannot sustainably attract premium global capital by exposing them to immediate, multi-billion naira litigation from entrenched domestic players who have already sunk enormous resources into the zone’s foundational layout.
International project financiers and global port operators do not just look at shiny executive MoUs signed in European capitals; they look closely at local title security, asset de-risking, and a host state’s history of respecting contract sanctity.
If Nigeria is to successfully position its emerging seaports as competitive hubs within the West African sub-region, it must learn to operate under the global standard of a landlord port model where rights are clearly defined and legally unassailable.
Overlapping political promises only serve to drive away serious developers and delay actual infrastructure delivery.
The global investment community is watching how Nigeria treats its premier industrial actors, and any sign of flip-flopping on contractual terms acts as a major red flag for foreign direct investment.
Ultimately, if Ogun State truly wants the Olokola Deep Seaport to transition from a twenty year boardroom dream into a world class maritime reality, it must aggressively clear its legal debts first.
The administration must pivot away from performative international signings and sit down at a transparent renegotiation table to cleanly buy out or harmonize interests with the Dangote Group.
Failing to do so will ensure that this $7 billion UAE deal suffers the exact same paralyzing fate as the 2004 OKLNG blueprint.
In the high stakes theater of global infrastructure, true economic growth is built on the unyielding sanctity of existing laws and contracts—not on the shifting sands of political expediency.
Ibrahim Nasiru, a public affairs analyst, writes from Abuja
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