By Samuel Akpan
Nigeria’s push beyond oil received a sharp jolt on Sunday as the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) unveiled a fresh drive to dismantle export bottlenecks, widen cargo channels and lift foreign-exchange inflows.
Managing Director/CEO Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho gave the pledge at the NPA Special Day of the 21st Abuja International Trade Fair, hosted by the Abuja Chamber of Commerce and Industry under the theme, “Resilient Trade, Taxation, and the Economy.”
“Trade resilience demands efficient infrastructure, predictable fiscal frameworks and seamless supply chains,” Dantsoho said, warning that the economy could no longer lean largely on oil receipts and imports.
He said expanding non-oil exports and locking businesses nationwide into global value chains remained critical to durable growth, as the authority strengthens port infrastructure and extends maritime logistics into the hinterland.
Dantsoho disclosed that Federal Government’s approval transferring Inland Dry Port management and development to the NPA would bring port efficiency closer to firms operating far from the coast.
“By bringing the Inland Dry Ports under the NPA, exporters in northern and central Nigeria, including Abuja, no longer need to move raw commodities to coastal ports before clearance and documentation,” he said.
He added that targeted interventions, including dedicated export processing terminals, were already cutting delays for non-oil shippers and helping producers meet international delivery schedules.
“These terminals are one-stop centres where sorting, packaging, quality certification and customs documentation are completed before cargo moves to the port,” Dantsoho said.
He noted that cocoa, sesame seeds, cashew nuts, hibiscus and solid minerals had recorded stronger export activity over the past two years under the streamlined channels.
Dantsoho said the cleaner export path was already lifting foreign buyers’ confidence in Nigerian goods and raising foreign-exchange inflows into the domestic economy.
“To our prospective businessmen and entrepreneurs, now is the time to embrace export trade,” he said, urging agriculture, manufacturing, processing and solid-minerals operators to use the new infrastructure.
He said linking Inland Dry Ports with seaport operations would make exporting from different parts of Nigeria more accessible and commercially viable for firms of every size.
“The NPA remains committed to efficient port services and to extending maritime logistics across regions so exporters, wherever they are, can compete in global markets,” Dantsoho said.
He added that a resilient Nigerian economy depends on a thriving trade ecosystem, and that the authority would keep backing steps to strengthen the country’s place in international trade.
An inland dry port is a cargo terminal built away from the sea that still functions as a port.
Containers and bulk cargo are received, stored, cleared and documented there, then moved by rail or road to a seaport such as Apapa, Tin Can or Onne for the actual voyage.
Customs, shipping lines and terminal operators treat it as an extension of the seaport. For imports it is the port of final destination.
Dantsoho explained that dry ports now serve as ports of origin for exports, streamlining clearance and documentation prior to coastward transit.
This shift comes after President Tinubu signed the NPERA Act, transitioning the Nigerian Shippers’ Council into the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency.
Focused purely on tariff regulation, licensing, and service standards, the new agency no longer oversees dry-port development to avoid regulatory conflict of interest.