Maritime lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr Emeka Akabogu, has warned that Nigeria’s seaports, in their present state, lack the capacity to support the country’s ambition of achieving a $1 trillion economy by 2030.
Akabogu said achieving the target would require significant improvements in port infrastructure, cargo handling capacity, vessel turnaround time, trade facilitation and cargo evacuation.
He spoke at the National Conference of the Network of Nigerian Maritime Journalists (NNMJ) in Lagos on Friday while presenting a paper titled, “Can Nigeria’s Seaports Carry a One-Trillion-Dollar Economy by 2030?”
According to him, Nigeria needs an annual economic growth rate of about 26.8 per cent to reach the $1 trillion target by 2030, compared with its current growth rate of approximately three per cent.
He noted that the International Monetary Fund had projected that Nigeria’s economy could grow by about nine per cent by 2030, which would still fall significantly short of the growth required to achieve the target.
“The last growth rate which we had was about 3%. IMF projected that we may be able to expand up to 9% by 2030. So, if we go by IMF calculations, chances are that by 2030, we will be achieving an annual growth rate of 9%, which is still significant. In fact, it is three times lower than the anticipated or desired 26.8% that is required to hit $1 trillion in 2030,” he said.
The maritime lawyer said the country’s port performance indicators also showed a considerable gap between existing capacity and what would be required to support a $1 trillion economy.
He explained that container traffic increased from about 1.6 million Twenty-foot Equivalent Units (TEUs) in 2023 to 1.75 million in 2024 and 2.1 million in 2025.
However, he said maintaining the current growth trajectory would result in about 3.6 million TEUs annually by 2030, against the estimated requirement of between 5.3 million and 7.5 million TEUs.
Akabogu added that cargo throughput, which stood at approximately 130 million metric tonnes in 2025, could rise to 230 million tonnes by 2030 if the present growth rate continued.
He said the country would, however, require between 313 million and 442 million tonnes to support the proposed economic expansion.
On vessel traffic, he disclosed that ship calls increased from 3,957 in 2022 to 4,477 in 2025, but Nigeria would need between 10,800 and 15,300 ship calls annually by 2030.
He further identified vessel turnaround time as a major challenge, noting that the current average of four to seven days needed to be reduced to a maximum of 3.3 days.
Akabogu also called for increased investment in rail infrastructure, pointing out that about 90 per cent of cargo is currently evacuated from Nigerian ports by road, while rail accounts for only three per cent.
He said rail evacuation must increase to between 25 and 30 per cent to ease congestion and improve port efficiency.
According to him, Nigeria must also expand its fleet of active Nigerian-owned vessels from the current 325 to at least 920 to support the anticipated growth in maritime trade.
He stressed that the gap between the country’s existing port capacity and the requirements of a $1 trillion economy was significant, warning that urgent action was necessary to reposition the ports.
More to read
Tinubu: Bakassi deep seaport a game- changer for Nigeria’s blue economy
Stakeholders hail maritime journalists’ unity, task NNMJ on investigative reporting
NIWA, Bangladesh explore bilateral partnership to boost inland water transportation