Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), has called on his leadership team to double down on efforts to keep Nigeria's port infrastructure running at peak efficiency as the country seeks to extend its export momentum through the remainder of 2025.
Speaking at the NPA Management Retreat held in Onne, Rivers State, Dantsoho said the port efficiencies delivered in recent quarters had been instrumental in driving Nigeria's export performance but warned against complacency. "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," he said. "We must commit to a continuous improvement paradigm of port operations and service delivery that places a high premium on issues of sustainability."
The retreat, themed "Repositioning the Nigerian Ports System for Sustainability," centered on reviewing and streamlining operational workflows to raise service standards. During the session, the NPA Management Team conducted a Business Process Re-engineering exercise aimed at identifying and eliminating bottlenecks and inefficiencies in a bid to deliver a more customer-focused port experience.
Dantsoho also underscored the importance of embedding sustainability across every layer of port operations, citing environmental stewardship, social responsibility, and long-term economic viability as the cornerstones of modern maritime progress. "Minimizing environmental impact through eco-friendliness, promotion of social responsibility, and ensuring long-term economic viability are the drivers of global progress, and we cannot afford to be left behind," he said. "We owe posterity a duty to infuse sustainability paradigms into the way we do things."
As a concrete demonstration of its strategic resolve, the NPA signed a Performance Bond during the retreat, formally committing the authority to operational excellence and alignment with the Priorities of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as outlined by the Honorable Minister of Marine & Blue Economy, His Excellency Adegboyega Oyetola.
The push for greater efficiency comes against a backdrop of historically strong non-oil export numbers. The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC), under whose technical guidance and partnership the NPA established its Export Processing Terminals (EPT), reported that non-oil exports for H1 2025 reached US$3.225 billion, representing a 19.59% increase over the same period in 2024. Export volume over the first six months of 2025 climbed to 4.04 million metric tonnes.
That performance was reinforced by a landmark logistical development: the maiden call of the MV Ocean Dragon, the first wholly-Nigerian owned container vessel, at the NPA Eastern Port of Onne in Rivers State. The vessel is scheduled to operate weekly sailings from Onne via the Calabar Channel, serving ports across Nigeria, Benin Republic, Togo, Ghana, Cameroon, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Egypt, and South Africa.