Port Modernisation Must Cut Cargo Costs, Turnaround Time – Presidency

Hadiza Bala Usman, special adviser to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Policy Coordination, has said Nigeria’s port modernisation efforts must ultimately deliver lower cargo-handling costs, faster vessel turnaround and improved export capacity. She spoke at the 2026 Annual Maritime Lecture of the Maritime Reporters Association of Nigeria (MARAN), themed “Nigeria Ports Modernisation, Charges and the Competitiveness Question.” Usman, a former managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority, warned that port modernisation should not be measured by the amount of money invested in infrastructure alone, but by its impact on the movement of cargo and the wider economy. She noted that Nigeria’s seaports handle more than four-fifths of the country’s physical imports and exports, making their efficiency critical to economic growth.

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