The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, has charged his management team to renew their commitment to improving port efficiencies, describing them as the backbone of Nigeria’s sustained positive export performance in recent quarters.
Dantsoho made the call during the recently-concluded NPA Management Retreat in Onne, Rivers State, where he commended the Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) for its role in driving non-oil exports, noting that increased export volumes passing through Nigerian ports are evidence of their collaborative success.
“We are proud of the excellent work being undertaken by the Nigerian Export Promotion Council, as evident in the increased export numbers passing through our platforms. But we cannot rest on our laurels. We must commit to a continuous improvement paradigm of port operations and service delivery that places high premium on issues of sustainability,” he stated.
The NPA boss emphasised that sustainability must be at the heart of port operations, stressing the need to minimise environmental impact through eco-friendly practices, promote social responsibility, and ensure long-term economic viability. “We owe posterity a duty to infuse sustainability paradigms into the way we do things,” he added.
The retreat, themed “Repositioning the Nigerian Ports System for Sustainability”, focused on reviewing and optimising operational processes to enhance service delivery. As part of the event, the NPA management team embarked on a Business Process Re-engineering exercise to identify and eliminate bottlenecks, adopting a more customer-centric approach.
In addition, the Authority signed a Performance Bond, reinforcing its pledge to operational excellence and aligning with the priorities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as directed by the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola.
Under the NEPC’s technical guidance and in partnership with the NPA, the establishment of Export Processing Terminals (EPT) has contributed to unprecedented growth in Nigeria’s non-oil exports. Figures from the NEPC show that in the first half of 2025, non-oil exports hit US$3.225 billion, a 19.59 per cent increase compared to the same period in 2024, while export volumes rose to 4.04 million metric tonnes.
The retreat also coincided with the maiden call of MV Ocean Dragon, the first wholly Nigerian-owned container vessel, at the NPA Eastern Port of Onne. The vessel is scheduled for weekly operations from Onne via the Calabar channel, serving ports in Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Egypt, and South Africa.
