When global port leaders gathered recently in Kobe, Japan, to chart the future of maritime trade, Nigeria quietly made history, as the Managing Director of NPA, Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, emerged the Vice-President (Africa) of IAPH, ANOZIE EGOLE writes
At the World Ports Conference, professionals from 64 countries formally endorsed Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, as Vice-President (Africa) of the International Association of Ports & Harbours.
For Nigeria’s maritime stakeholders, that vote of confidence is more than symbolic — it confirms that the country’s port reforms are finally earning international respect.
Dantsoho’s endorsement at Kobe comes less than two years after President Bola Tinubu appointed him head of the NPA. His elevation coincides with the current administration’s unveiling of a National Policy on Marine & Blue Economy — a signal that Nigeria aspires to more than piecemeal port reform.
His new IAPH role gives Nigeria a seat at the table in global port diplomacy — with influence over bodies like the International Maritime Organisation, World Customs Organisation, and ISO, as well as networks such as the Global Maritime Forum.
Nigeria’s global standing in maritime circles has already been rising: in June 2025, the Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service, Adewale Adeniyi, was elected Chairperson of the WCO Council, succeeding South Africa’s Edward Kieswetter. That success, and now Dantsoho’s, suggest a coordinated push by Nigeria to reclaim maritime prominence.
IAPH’s enduring weight
Since its founding in 1955 by 100 global port leaders in Los Angeles, IAPH has grown to a worldwide alliance of more than 190 ports and 167 port-related enterprises across 89 countries, handling over 60 per cent of the world’s seaborne trade and container traffic.
With consultative status across UN agencies — notably UNCTAD, UNEP, and the UN Global Compact — IAPH shapes policy, regulation, and standards in ports globally. In his new role, Dantsoho is now one of Africa’s key interlocutors in this architecture.
At his inauguration at the Kobe conference, themed “Reinvention and Prosperity in Turbulent Times”, Dantsoho laid out an ambitious agenda: Policy execution — narrowing the gap between written strategies and on-the-ground action.
Enhanced collaboration — rallying African ports to act in unison, sharing best practices. Trade facilitation and cooperation — easing documentation, alignment, and cross-border movement.
Automation and innovation — pushing for digital systems to eliminate bottlenecks and trade barriers. Sustainable investment in high-risk environments — attracting capital to ports in less stable regions.
In Dantsoho’s words: “This responsibility has fired up my resolve more than ever before to be the vanguard of galvanising national and regional policy action steps … institutionalising ports’ eco-friendliness … through deployment of port innovativeness to capture tangible, sustainable investment returns in high-risk environments.”
He also pledged to champion the full automation of African ports, using his concurrent role as President of the Pan-African Association for Port Cooperation to drive this agenda. He described Africa as both the “new frontier” and the continent with an urgent need to catch up:
“We have about 1.5 billion people and roughly 34,000 km of coastline, yet our port infrastructure lags. Many ports across Africa are deploying large projects — Guinea’s Simandou ($11bn), Morocco’s $2.5bn, Nigeria’s $1.5bn — but infrastructure must be matched with efficiency.”
He added: “It’s not enough to build mega-ports — we need systems to receive mid-sized and smaller services efficiently. Infrastructure must be modern; automation must be real; and we must harmonise policies regionally.”
He lauded Minister Adegboyega Oyetola of Marine & Blue Economy, acknowledging that institutional support from the government has been indispensable to his achievements.
Stakeholders react
The Secretary (Western Zone) of the National Association of Government Approved Freight Forwarders, Stanley Ezenga, lauded the IAPH position:
“It’s one of many recent wins for Nigeria. Remember, our Customs CG, Adeniyi, was elected WCO Chair. And Minister Oyetola is pushing for Nigeria’s election into Category C of IMO. These are not isolated events — they signal Nigeria’s rising maritime stature.”
He cautioned, however, that elevation is only half the battle: “Recognition must be maintained. Nigeria must now back up lofty titles with consistency, reform, and results.”
Not all were convinced. Ugochukwu Nnadi, an elder member of the Maritime Agents Association, expressed skepticism: “These elections are political theatre. I ask: when Emeka Anyaoku became Commonwealth Secretary-General, what concrete benefit did Nigeria derive? So far, I don’t see a real impact for ports.”
Ike Ejimo, a licensed maritime agent, struck a more hopeful tone: “Dantsoho’s election, following Adeniyi’s success, presents a window. We should see positive changes in our port system — efficiency, transparency, and trade volume growth. The challenge is converting prestige into performance.”
Ports challenges
Across the continent, ports are constrained by familiar pain points: aging infrastructure, policy dissonance, technological inertia, and fiscal pressure. Dantsoho and his peers confront the uphill task of synchronising modernization across different regulatory regimes and investment climates.
In Nigeria, for example, chronic congestion at Apapa and Tin Can ports persists, worsened by shallow berths and inadequate access roads. Reports suggest port charges exceed regional peers by 30–40 per cent, while average dwell times stretch 18–20 days — far beyond the global benchmark of 3–5 days.
Institutional bottlenecks compound the problem: cargo, terminal operators, Customs, NIMASA, local authorities, and security agencies often issue conflicting directives, undermining consistency. The Shippers’ Council has long called for a National Single Window to unify documentation and eradicate arbitrary fees.
Corruption pressures remain acute. Even with transparent procedures, the discretion of individual officers can subvert rules. Initiatives like the Maritime Anti-Corruption Network and the Convention on Business Integrity are developing multi-stakeholder grievance mechanisms to curb rent-seeking.
Financing is another hurdle. Port modernisation — dredging, automation, equipment — is capital-intensive. The Nigerian Ports Authority is targeting a 40 per cent revenue rise in 2025 to help fund upgrades and reduce dependence on federal allocations. Yet global supply-chain volatility and currency risk threaten cost control.
Experts caution that success depends not only on hardware, but on institutional culture change. As Dr. Muda Yusuf of the CPPE notes: “Automation and funding cannot reform decades of soft bureaucratic habits. The NPA must embed discipline, incentive alignment, and transparency across all layers.”
Dantsoho’s IAPH position is more than symbolic. It gives Nigeria a platform to shape global port norms — potentially influencing IMO, WCO, and ISO frameworks to better reflect African realities. It may lead to technical partnerships, capacity building, and financial access.
Yet the imperative is to translate prestige into performance. For Nigeria, that means dredging and rehabilitating key ports, streamlining regulatory overlap, pushing digital platforms, and enforcing accountability at terminal and agency levels.
Since 2018, Nigeria has hosted IAPH regional events — the NPA hosted the IAPH Africa conference in Abuja — suggesting institutional familiarity with the organisation. With Dantsoho now in leadership, Nigeria may deepen its role in continental port governance.
To ensure alignment, stakeholders must push for measurable key performance indicators: reductions in dwell time, cost per TEU, infrastructure delivery milestones, and compliance indexes. Transparency of contracts, procurement, audits, and citizen oversight will be critical.
Crucially, Nigeria must avoid relying solely on internal funds. Public-private partnerships, multilateral financing, and shared risk models will unlock necessary capital. But investor confidence hinges on predictability — and that, in turn, demands reform in regulation, institutional credibility, and legal frameworks.
Looking ahead
Nigeria is at a potential inflection point. The administration’s blue economy framework provides structural backing to port reform. The alignment of NPA leadership with international institutions offers diplomatic and technical leverage. Stakeholders are watching.
But the test will come in execution: will roads, dredging, terminals, digital platforms, and multiagency coordination improve before frustration mounts? Can stakeholders overcome sclerosis in entrenched interests?
If Dantsoho’s election is to be more than a headline — and becomes a turning point — Nigeria needs not just applause abroad, but measurable improvement at home: ports that turn quickly, charges that compete, trade corridors that hum, and institutional systems that endure.
The stakeholders — freight forwarders, maritime agents, shippers, government agencies, investors — must now hold the process accountable. It may be that in turbulent times, reinvention and prosperity must come not just as rhetoric, but as delivery on the dock.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).