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At Lagos Trade Fair, Dantsoho woos local, foreign investors to patronise Nigerian Ports 

Funso OLOJO 

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, has invited the trading and investing public to avail themselves of the innovative services at the Nigerian Ports to boost their businesses.

Dantsoho, who was speaking at the Lagos International Trade Fair at NPA stand, disclosed that the automation system at the Nigerian ports will enhance the businesses of both local and foreign investors.

The NPA boss, who spoke through the Executive Director, Engineering & Technical Services, Engr. Ibrahim Abba Umar, explained how the Export Process Terminals (EPTs) in partnership with the Nigerian Exports Promotion Council (NEPC) serve as a one-stop-shop for stuffing, packaging, and certification of export-bound cargo in quick turnaround time.

He further disclosed that this streamlined export process eliminates duplications and bureaucratic overlaps that previously rendered Nigerian exports uncompetitive, adding the present arrangement now strengthens  domestic economy and balance of trade.

 Dantsoho stated that the EPTs will link with Domestic Export Warehouses (DEWs) in synergy with NEPC and partners to enhance Port-Hinterland connectivity and enable Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) to participate in the value chain.

“To support the Federal Government’s ease of doing business agenda, we are pursuing full automation through the Ports Community System (PCS), laying groundwork for the National Single Window (NSW), which connects all trade stakeholders for seamless interaction at the push of a button.

“The fair’s theme, “Connecting Businesses, Creating Value,” aligns with our corporate aspirations as a business-enabling agency.

He assured every stakeholder that NPA is open to partnerships beyond this fair and warmly invited all to engage the agency’s business development team at the NPA stand and visit its interactive website nigerianports.gov.ng to access the organization’s growth offerings.

Dantsoho however commended the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry for the resilience to sustain the culture of hospitality and business friendliness that has continued to attract people from all over the globe to the trade fair for deepening economic prosperity.

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Customs

Seme Customs cracks down on smugglers 

— intercepts prohibited items worth 
N501.8m
-rakes in ₦9.8b revenue in three months 
Funso OLOJO, Editor 
The Seme Command of the Nigeria Customs service has renewed its onslaught on smugglers and other traders in illicit trade as its officers have intercepted various smuggled goods and other illicit products.
The Area Controller of the command, Comptroller Abdullahi Kaila, while giving the performance report of the command on Monday, May 25th, 2026, disclosed that the seized goods consist of narcotics, pharmaceutical products, edible items and petroleum products worth N501,845,772.
Giving the breakdown of the seizures made within three months of his assumption of office at the command, Comptroller Kaila said they included 1000 parcels of Cannabis Sativa, substantial quantities of unregistered pharmaceutical products, including codeine-based cough syrups and various sexual enhancement drugs lacking certification from the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC).
The products seized include one carton containing 55 bottles of Ultimate Plus Maca Syrup (100ml each), 88 packs of 99 Bullets Herbal Medicine (30ml each), 10 cartons of Ultimate Plus Maca Sildenafil Citrate 200mg, 14 cartons of Super Sexy Sildenafil Citrate 200mg, 14 cartons of Machine Man Sildenafil Citrate 200mg, quantities of Bottom Up Sildenafil Citrate 200mg, 100 packs of Tramaking, and 100 packs of Tempendol.
Others seized items include 2,000 bags of foreign parboiled rice, 340 kegs of 25 litres each of foreign vegetable oil, 103 kegs of 30 litres each of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS), 993 cartons of foreign spaghetti, and 250 bales of used clothing and the Duty Paid Value of all the aforementioned intercepted items is 501,845,772 Naira.
The seized narcotics and banned Pharmaceutical items have been handed over to the relevant authorities for further actions.
In a similar vein, the Command within the period under review grossed revenue in excess of N9.796billion which represents an increase of N7.610 billion collected with the corresponding period in 2025.
Comptroller Kaila attributed the achievement to strengthened compliance mechanisms, improved stakeholder cooperation, intensified anti-revenue leakage measures, enhanced operational efficiency, and the strategic deployment of the B’Odogwu Unified Customs Management System.
He also praised the renewed dedication and vigilance demonstrated by officers and men of the Command which resulted to the commendation feat.
” We remain committed to sustaining these gains through institutional reforms, intelligence-driven monitoring, and transparent trade procedures capable of guaranteeing continuous revenue growth without obstructing legitimate trade activities.
“As one of Nigeria’s most strategic and busiest land border formations, the Seme Area Command occupies a critical position in regional and continental trade integration frameworks, particularly under the ECOWAS Trade Liberalisation Scheme (ETLS) and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), the Area controller disclosed.
He however warned illicit traders to steer clear of the command which he said was not the hiding place for economic sabotage.
“Let me use this opportunity to issue a strong warning to smugglers and their collaborators that the Seme Area Command will not serve as a safe haven for illicit trade.
“The Command has significantly strengthened its intelligence network, enhanced surveillance capacity across land and maritime routes, and intensified collaboration with relevant security and regulatory agencies to combat trans-border crimes and economic sabotage.
“To compliant traders and legitimate business operators, I wish to reiterate that compliance remains the safest, fastest, and most cost-effective pathway for conducting international trade”
” At Seme Area Command, we remain resolute in our commitment to facilitating lawful trade while ensuring strict enforcement against illicit activities capable of undermining national economic interests” Comptroller Kaila declared.
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Headlines

Beyond The Communique: Can West Africa’s $27 billion port rhetoric Outrun gridlock?

The Monday Discourse with Nasiru 
The dust has settled on the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA) conference hosted by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in Lagos last week.
 For three days, 18th to 20th May 2026, Maritime Executives, Regional Ministers, and Portuguese Administrators traded optimism, signed agreements, and toasted to the future.
The headlines if not hallucinating, were intoxicating: a staggering $27 billion committed to Regional Port Infrastructure, grand declarations of transforming into sustainable “Blue Economy” engines, and lofty goals to replicate the seamless digital models of Rotterdam and Singapore.
Yet, for the average importer, shipping line agent, or haulage driver navigating the chaotic access roads of Apapa, Tin Can, or Luanda, the disconnect between boardroom rhetoric and dockyard reality remains jarring.
While the Lagos conference successfully demonstrated Nigeria’s diplomatic hosting prowess under the leadership of NPA Managing Director, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, it also exposed a deeper regional vulnerability.
West and Central African ports are masterful at planning, but historically abysmal at executing.
If this $27 billion infrastructure boom is to be anything more than a monumental paper tiger, regional leadership must pivot immediately from policy curation to aggressive, unforgiving execution.
On paper, the sub-region is undergoing a maritime renaissance. We are told of Guinea’s massive $20 billion Simandou-Morebaya project, Cote d’Ivoire’s $2 billion Port San Pedro expansion, and Nigeria’s own $1.5 billion Lekki Deep Sea Port, alongside fresh pledges to modernize aging brownfield terminals.
But a Port is not merely a collection of deep berths, breakwaters, and expensive gantry cranes. It is an intricate, living logistical ecosystem.
Building a multi-billion-dollar Deep-Sea Port while leaving the surrounding multimodal transport network broken is an exercise in futility.
Lekki Deep Sea Port, despite its state-of-the-art infrastructure, still struggles with optimal evacuation routes.
True regional competitiveness will not be won by the nation that signs the largest infrastructure contract; it will be won by the nation that successfully connects its berths to functioning rail lines, Inland Dry Ports (IDPs), and uncongested highways.
Until cargo can move from a vessel to an inland destination seamlessly, these multi-billion-dollar investments are simply monumentally expensive parking lots for containers.
The conference highly praised the “Rotterdam-Singapore data-exchange model” as the blueprint for eliminating West Africa’s notoriously high cargo dwell times.
 In Nigeria, officials proudly showcased the roll-out of the National Single Window initiative and the Port Community System.
But let us be objective: West African ports do not suffer from a lack of digital concepts; they suffer from a lack of institutional compliance.
For years, “Single Windows” have been launched, rebranded, and relaunched, yet manual interventions persist.
Why? Because automation directly threatens the lucrative, entrenched economies of corruption, extortive  human contact, and bureaucratic bottlenecks.
 Replicating Singapore requires more than buying expensive software; it requires the political will to strip corrupt agencies of their physical inspection monopolies.
If Customs administrations and border agencies can still demand the physical, manual opening of containers despite digital clearances, then the “Paperless Port” remains an expensive mirage.
A commendable takeaway from the Lagos summit was the celebration of Nigeria’s Deep Blue Project, which has successfully suppressed piracy in the Gulf of Guinea for three consecutive years.
This is a massive victory for regional security. However, security is only a facilitator of trade, not trade itself.
While the waters may be safer from pirates, the land corridors remain plagued by a different kind of piracy: systemic extortion at border checkpoints, overlapping regulatory charges, and severe cargo diversion.
It is an open secret that landlocked neighbors like Niger, Chad, and Mali often bypass geographically closer Nigerian ports in favor of Beninese, Togolese, or Ghanaian corridors.
 Why? Because the total cost of cargo clearance, measured in both time and bribes, makes Nigerian routes economically punitive.
Decentralizing operations to Nigeria’s Eastern Ports, as proposed by the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, will fail to yield results if the same predatory regulatory culture is simply exported from Lagos to Port Harcourt, Warri, Onne, and Calabar.
If the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa wants to avoid meeting next year to lament the same old problems, the AGENDA must change today.
First, the NPA and its regional peers must tie Port Key Performance indicators (KPIs) strictly to cargo dwell times, not revenue generation.
A Port’s primary job is efficiency, not tax collection. Second, the implementation of the National Single Window must be backed by executive enforcement that legally penalizes any agency insisting on manual intervention outside automated channels.
Finally, regional integration must move past the ECOWAS protocol paperwork. There must be a unified, digitized tracking system that allows a container cleared in Lagos to move to Niamey without facing a dozen predatory checkpoints.
The Lagos communique was a beautiful piece of literature. But literature does not offload vessels, clear containers, or lower the cost of doing business.
 West Africa’s maritime sector does not need more summits, boards, or committees. It needs an execution squad.
Until we match our boardroom eloquence with dockyard discipline, the “Ports of the Future” will remain a luxury we can only read about in conference brochures.
Chief Ibrahim Nasiru , a Public Affairs Analyst, writes from Abuja
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Analyses

Beyond The Lagos Communique: Can West Africa’s $27 Billion Port Rhetoric Outrun Gridlock?

Ibrahim Nasiru
The Monday Discourse with NASIRU focuses on the take away from the just concluded PMAWCA board meeting in Lagos.
Last week, maritime leaders gathered in Lagos for the PMAWCA conference, celebrating a staggering $27 billion infrastructure boom and drawing up plans to replicate the seamless digital models of Rotterdam and Singapore.
But for the average importer, agent, or truck driver trapped in the chaos of Apapa or Tin Can, the disconnect is jarring.
West African Ports are masterful at planning, but historically abysmal at executing.
A multi-billion-dollar Deep Sea Port is just an expensive parking lot for containers if the surrounding rail and road infrastructure remains broken.
True competitiveness will not be won by the nation that signs the largest contract; it will be won by the nation that actually clears a container without corruption, extortion, or manual delays.
It is time to move past courtroom style policy curation and deploy an execution squad.
Read full details tomorrow on why West Africa’s maritime sector needs dockyard discipline over boardroom eloquence.
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