₦airaland Forum

Federal Government has approved certification and compliance processes for five proposed deep seaport projects to reclaim the over 70 per cent of Nigerian-bound cargo transported to other Africa nations.

Lagos State — Badagry Deep Sea Port

Ondo State — Olokola Deep Sea Port

Akwa Ibom State — Ibom Deep Sea Port

Cross River State — Bakassi Deep Sea Port

Rivers State — Bonny Deep Sea Port

FG clears five deep seaports for investment to reclaim 70% cargo traffic

By : Adaku Onyenucheya
Date: 20 May 2026

The Federal Government has completed approvals, certifications and compliance processes for five proposed deep seaport projects for investment and implementation as part of efforts to reposition the country to reclaim the over 70 per cent of Nigerian-bound cargo transported to Africa.

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, listed the approved projects as the Badagry Deep Sea Port in Lagos State, Olokola Deep Sea Port in Ondo State, Ibom Deep Sea Port in Akwa Ibom State, Bakassi Deep Sea Port in Cross River State and Bonny Deep Sea Port in Rivers State.

Dantsoho disclosed this on Wednesday at the close of a three-day Meeting of Managing Directors of Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA), Member Ports and the Port Statisticians Network held in Lagos.

Dantsoho, who is also the President of PMAWCA, explained that although negotiations with investors were still ongoing due to the huge financial commitments required for such port projects, the government had already laid the regulatory and administrative groundwork necessary for implementation.

“In terms of approvals, certifications and compliance issues, we have taken care of five different deep-sea ports in Nigeria,” Dantsoho said.

He said the planned port projects are expected to improve Nigeria’s ability to receive larger cargo vessels, expand trade capacity and strengthen regional logistics, noting that the country’s growing population, expanding economy and strategic role in servicing neighbouring landlocked countries make investment in deepsea ports inevitable.

According to Dantsoho, Nigeria currently accounts for over 70 per cent of cargo traffic within the West and Central African sub-region, while countries such as Niger, Chad, Mali and Burkina Faso also depend partly on Nigerian ports for international trade access.

Dantsoho further stated that the government was pursuing a combination of short, medium and long-term strategies to improve port efficiency, including rehabilitation of existing ports, deployment of technology-driven systems and development of new deep-sea infrastructure.


Speaking at the President of PMAWCA, Dantsoho added that countries across the sub-region, including Ghana, Senegal and Benin Republic, were also modernising their port facilities in response to rising global shipping demands and competition.

Dantsoho said member countries are intensifying investments in port infrastructure, technology and deep seaport development to strengthen trade facilitation and position the region as a major global maritime hub.

The PMAWCA president stressed that ports across the sub-region must undergo aggressive modernisation to remain competitive with other global maritime hubs, cautioning that delays in infrastructure renewal could leave Africa behind in global shipping and trade.

Speaking on the resolution of the meeting, Dantsoho said member states had resolved to deepen the deployment of technology-driven solutions, including the National Single Window platform and Port Community Systems, to improve cargo clearance processes and reduce delays at ports.

In his closing remarks, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, reiterated the need for stronger regional cooperation, strategic investment and inclusive development to drive the transformation of the ports and the entire maritime sector across West and Central Africa.

Oyetola, who was represented by the Director of Maritime Services, Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy, Oyinloye Meshack, said deliberations during the three-day gathering highlighted the importance of collaboration among African countries and joint action in addressing emerging challenges and opportunities within the ports and logistics ecosystem.

The minister said the conference theme, “Ports of the Future: Combining Logistical Resilience with Inclusive Community Development,” provided strategic direction for enhancing the competitiveness and future readiness of ports in the region.

He said the visit by delegates to the Lekki Deep Sea Port demonstrated what could be achieved through strategic investment, innovation and effective public-private sector collaboration.

Oyetola further stressed the need for African countries to work together in addressing supply chain disruptions, climate-related pressures and the transition towards greener shipping systems.

koruji:
I pray Dangote can help get this done.
He would have started on this already if Ya'radua/GEJ did not foolishly return the $`800 million he and another bidder paid to take over our "dead" refineries.

Dangote To Site `$8bn Refinery In Olokola FTZ

JUNE 6, 2013 BY DAYO OKETOLA 18 COMMENTS

Indications emerged on Wednesday that the $`8bn refinery proposed by Africa’s richest man and President, Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, would be located at the Olokola Free Trade Zone, Ondo State.

A senior official of the company, who asked not to be named because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, told our correspondent that the refinery would be located in the OFTZ.

One of the factors considered for the location of the refinery, according to the source, is that it is the biggest deep seaport in the country and other big industries are located there; besides, Ondo is one of the oil producing states in the country.

The source added that stable crude oil supply was also a vital element in the choice of the location for the refinery because Chevron and a number of other oil producers had oil fields in the oil-rich region of the state.

On why Lagos was not chosen, industry analysts said though the state was a coastal state, Dangote would have to build pipelines to transfer crude from oil fields to the refinery, thereby incurring additional expenses.

The source explained that necessary approvals had been secured for the refinery, adding that the Dangote Group was just waiting for the necessary equipment with which to build the refinery to arrive.

Another source told our correspondent that Dangote, who was listed on Monday as the first African entrepreneur to lay claim to a $20bn fortune and one of the 25 richest men in the world, would put down $4bn of his personal fortune to build the refinery, while international financial institutions had raised the balance.

Dangote had in April announced plans to invest up to `$8bn in building an oil refinery with capacity for around 400,000 barrels a day by late 2016.

The capacity, experts had said, would almost double Nigeria’s current refining strength.

“This will really help not only Nigeria but sub-Saharan Africa. There has not been a new refinery for a long time in sub-Saharan Africa,” Dangote had told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Nigeria currently has the capacity to produce some 445,000 barrels per day in four refineries, which operate well below that owing to decades of mismanagement and corruption in Africa’s leading energy producer.

The country relies on subsidised imports for 80 per cent of its fuel needs.

Dangote said the country’s ability to import fuel would soon be challenged.

“In five years, when our population is over 200 million, we won’t have the infrastructure to receive the amount of fuel we use. It has to be done,” he said.

Past efforts to build refineries have often been delayed or cancelled, but analysts have said Dangote should be able to build a profitable Nigerian refinery, owing to his past successes in industry and his strong government connections.

Analysts have said previous attempts to get the refineries going were held back by vested interests such as fuel importers profiting from the status quo.

“The people who were supposed to invest in refineries, who understand the market, are benefiting from there being no refineries because of the fuel import business. Some are going to try to interfere,” Dangote said.

He said making a new refinery run at a profit would work even if the government failed to scrap the subsidised fuel price that has deterred others from investing.

“We’ve done our numbers and the numbers are okay,” he said.

Dangote, who spoke on the sidelines of the recent World Economic Forum on Africa in Cape Town, South Africa, said he had secured $4.25bn loans from banks to build the refinery.

He said the loan was secured from “two offshore banks and some Nigerian banks.”

http://www.punchng.com/news/dangote-to-site-8bn-refinery-in-olokola-ftz/

Why Dangote Relocates Refinery From Ondo State To Lagos

The Olokola Free Trade Zone in Ondo State has lost the opportunity to host the Dangote Oil refinery.

It would be recalled that Africa’s wealthiest man, Aliko Dangote, signed a multi-billion dollar deal with banks to finance the building of the oil refinery.

The refinery, Dangote told the media would be the largest in Africa, turning Nigeria into a petroleum exporter.

Authoritative sources involved with the development of the refinery informed that the refinery has now been sited at the Lekki Free
Trade Zone in Lagos.

It was gathered that the relocation was informed by the inability of the Dangote Group to reach agreement with the communities in Ondo State who were described as very difficult.

According to one of our sources, who is actively involved in the project, “Alhaji Aliko Dangote initially settled for Ondo state because of the relative peace in the state compared to other oil producing states, but the Olokola and Igbokoda communities became very unreasonable in their demands.

If we are to accede to their demands, we may have to spend about fifty percent of the projected cost of the refinery on community relations. Since we are not government, we decided to move the project to a more business friendly environment.”

The projected 9 billion dollar refinery is planned to have a capacity of around 500,000 barrels a day and was to take off by late 2016.

Dangote, who made his fortune in cement, flour and sugar, is worth an estimated $`16bn (£10bn) and has topped the Forbes list of Africa’s richest men for the past three years.

Dangote told the BBC’s Focus on Africa programme in September 2013 that the refinery would create “thousands” of jobs.

He signed a $3.3bn loan deal with local and foreign banks to build the refinery, as well as fertilizer and petrochemical plants. The entire venture would cost $9bn, with `$3bn in equity from Dangote Industries and $6bn to be raised in loan capital.

The initial loan facility was co-ordinated globally by Standard Chartered and in Nigeria by Guaranty Trust Bank, London’s Financial Times newspaper reported.

“At least for the first time in our lifetime, we’ll see Nigeria exporting petroleum products,” Dangote
told Focus on Africa on the BBC World Service.

“We’ll also see Nigeria for the first time exporting fertilizer rather than using hard-earned for

How ODSG lost $`9bn Dangote’s Refinery


The refinery, Dangote told had said would be the largest in Africa, turning Nigeria into a petroleum exporter. The Refinery and Petrochemical Complex was initial planned to be sited in Ogun and Ondo

Dangote Group had signed `$5.55bn loan deals with financiers on October 2013 for the building of a $9bn refinery and petrochemical complex to be located at the Olokola Free Trade Zone, Ondo State.


Alhaji Aliko Dangote initially had initially settled for Ondo State because of the relative peace in the state compared to other Oil producing states, but the Olokola and Igbakoda communities were said to be very unreasonable in their demands.

If Dangote had agreed to the demands from the communities, he might have to spend about fifty percent of the projected cost of the refinery on community relations it was gathered. Since, it is not government agency, Dangote was said to have decided to move the project to a more business friendly environment.

The Trace Magazine gathered authoritative from source who was involved with the development of the refinery in Ondo State informed that the state lost the project to Lagos State Government carelessly.

math2001:
Who picture is that

franchasng:
Lagos is overburdened already, adding more seaport to Lagos is not helping the state but killing it. They should focus on building excellent cargo rail from existing Lagos seaports to states like:

Kano
Anambra (Onitsha)
Kogi
Adamawa

It will reduce the burden of loads on Lagos roads which causes traffic congestion and fast road wear. But with cargo railways from Lagos ports to other commercial states, movement of cargo containers will be swift and the loads on Lagos roads will be reduced, traffic will also drop.

PulaPower:
You didn’t read thru..

The government is not spending a kobo on the project (except for the land that will be provided by the Lagos State Government). It will be funded by the private sector.

It’s a private investments. You can’t tell private investors on how and where to put their money at..

PulaPower:
You didn’t read thru..

The government is not spending a kobo on the project (except for the land that will be provided by the Lagos State Government). It will be funded by the private sector.

It’s a private investments. You can’t tell private investors on how and where to put their money at..

naptu2:
Ibom Port

I hope they have resolved the dispute. This is my Jan 23, 2023 post.

Anytime that someone mentions the Lekki Deep Sea Port, someone will mention the Ibom Port and claim that the government or some unnamed people are "frustrating it". They don't name the people, but you have an idea of who they are referring to.

Those people do not know what they are talking about. The problem with Ibom Port reminds me of the issues that stalled the Olokola Free Trade Zone in Ogun and Ondo States.

The new port in Akwa Ibom State was originally called the Ibaka Port and it was meant to have been sited at Ibaka Bay. However, the location was changed in 2014 and it was renamed Ibom Port. See here: https://www.nairaland.com/2051694/controversial-ibaka-seaport-relocated-renamed


The community in the original location (Ibaka) then sued the Akwa Ibom State Government and everybody involved in the project in order to stop the relocation. No work can be done on the site due to the lawsuit. See here: http://nationalnewstrack.com/ibaka-deep-seaport-court-grants-oro-nation-leave-for-judicial-review/


And that's actually what is delaying construction of the Ibom Port.

China Harbour Engineering Company, the company responsible for both the Lekki Port (remember that I told you that Governor Tinubu went to China and Singaport to seek for investors in the Lekki Free Zone in the year 2000) and the Ibom Port says that it is still interested in the project, but it can't do anything now due to the lawsuit.

franchasng:
Lagos is overburdened already, adding more seaport to Lagos is not helping the state but killing it. They should focus on building excellent cargo rail from existing Lagos seaports to states like:

Kano
Anambra (Onitsha)
Kogi
Adamawa


It will reduce the burden of loads on Lagos roads which causes traffic congestion and fast road wear. But with cargo railways from Lagos ports to other commercial states, movement of cargo containers will be swift and the loads on Lagos roads will be reduced, traffic will also drop.

Gotocourt:
Another Tinubu maradona style

PulaPower:
You didn’t read thru..

The government is not spending a kobo on the project (except for the land that will be provided by the Lagos State Government). It will be funded by the private sector.

It’s a private investments. You can’t tell private investors on how and where to put their money at..

PulaPower:
You didn’t read thru..

The government is not spending a kobo on the project (except for the land that will be provided by the Lagos State Government). It will be funded by the private sector.

It’s a private investments. You can’t tell private investors on how and where to put their money at..

poiZon:
So if a private investor wants to build a solar panel n battery factory in tvc headquarters cos that's the only location that suits their factory, will the govt allow them and approve it since u can't regulate an investor on what he has to do with his funds...

TokoEkambi:
That wasn't what he originally wanted to post. He wanted to wail about why there is none for the SE, but decided let him test the waters first by insinuating the projects are a waste of govt funds. Those things are predictable.