Shippers moved 60.77 percent of Nigeria’s imports and 92.28 percent of its total exports through the Apapa port in the first quarter of 2022 (Q1’22), suggesting that efforts to decongest Lagos’ ports are failing.
Accordingly, the remaining nine ports in the nation—including Tin-Can in Lagos—shared the pitiful 7.7 percent and 39.2 percent of exports and imports during that time, together with four ports in the Delta and four more in the East.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics’ (NBS) Q1’22 Foreign Trade in products Statistics report, the Apapa port handled the import of 60.77 percent of cargo valued at N3.6 trillion and the export of 92.28 percent of products valued at N6.6 trillion.
The report also stated that, of the exports worth N333.9 billion, N161.1 billion, N28.5 billion, and N10.5 billion, 4.7%, 2.27 percent, 0.40 percent, and 0.15 percent, respectively, went through Port Harcourt Area 3 Command, Tin-can Island Command, Murtala Mohammed International, MMI, Airport Command, and Sokoto Area Command.
Similarly,shipments through the Seme border post-command, Port Harcourt Area 1 Command, Abuja International Airport Command, Jigawa Area Command, and Calabar Area Command totaled N6.7 billion, N4.3 billion, N1.9 billion, N379.9 million, and N0.2 billion, or 0.09 percent, 0.06 percent, 0.03 percent, 0.01 percent, and 0.00 percent, respectively.
The NBS report also revealed that cargo valued at N132.4 billion, N91.3 billion, N75.9 billion, N68.7 billion, and N47.1 billion—representing 2.24 percent, 1.55 percent, 1.29 percent, 1.16 percent, and 0.80 percent, respectively—was transported through the Lagos Industrial Area Command, Tin-can 2 Command, Murtala Mohammed Cargo Command, MMI Airport Command, and Mid-Maritime Bonded Warehouse.
Some stakeholders have urged the government to solve the problem causing the traffic jam at Tin-can Island port, expressing concerns that the emphasis on Apapa port is creating congestion.
A few years ago, in response to increasing congestion at the Lagos Ports, the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) started to deconcentrate port operations from Lagos to Delta and Eastern ports.
Arit Nwokedi, the Head of Corporate and Strategic Communication at the Lagos Port Complex in Apapa, told Vanguard that only the terminal operators are able to verify whether there is congestion.
To the best of his knowledge, however, there isn’t any congestion at the port, according to Abubakar Usman, the Public Relations Officer for Apapa Area 1 Customs Command.
