A former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, NIMASA, Temisan Omatseye has called for comprehensive infrastructure reforms, including integrated road, rail and port development, to strengthen Nigeria’s maritime competitiveness, attract investment and unlock revenue opportunities.
He made the call in Lagos at the Unity Conference organised by the Network of Nigeria Maritime Journalists themed “Seaport Modernisation, Trade Facilitation and Revenue.”
Omatseye said Nigeria was failing to maximise the economic potential of its maritime sector because of inadequate transportation infrastructure, weak cargo evacuation systems and the inability to attract maritime services that neighbouring countries were increasingly capturing.
He challenged government and industry stakeholders to rethink the country’s approach to maritime infrastructure planning and development.
The former NIMASA chief identified the failure to establish a competitive bunkering industry as one of Nigeria’s missed economic opportunities, despite expanding domestic refining capacity through the Dangote Refinery and several modular refineries.
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He questioned why increased local petroleum production had not translated into a viable marine fuel supply business capable of attracting vessels and generating additional maritime revenue.
“Why are we not doing bunkering operations here when we are producing all the bunkers? Dangote is producing bunkers. We have the marginal refineries producing bunkers. Why is the bunkering operation not going on?” he asked.
Infrastructure Reforms
Omatseye expressed concern that neighbouring countries, particularly Togo, were attracting maritime business that Nigeria could potentially develop locally.
He urged maritime journalists to investigate the factors driving cargo activities to the Port of Lomé and identify the policy, infrastructure and operational gaps preventing Nigerian ports from attracting similar business.
The former NIMASA DG maintained that improving Nigeria’s competitiveness would require deliberate reforms to port operations, transportation networks and the broader maritime business environment.
The former NIMASA director-general warned that investments in new seaports would deliver limited economic benefits without corresponding road and rail networks to facilitate cargo evacuation to inland markets.
Using proposed port developments around Ibaka and Calabar as examples, he questioned the logistics planning behind the projects, particularly how cargo arriving at the facilities would reach the North-East and how solid minerals from the region would be transported to the ports for export.
“If all the cargo comes, how do we move the cargo from Ibaka to the North-East? Or how do we move the solid mineral from the North-East to Ibaka?” he queried.
He stressed that port development must be integrated with transportation infrastructure connecting seaports to industrial centres, mineral-producing communities and major domestic markets.
According to him, failure to incorporate cargo evacuation systems into infrastructure planning from the outset could leave new port facilities facing the same operational bottlenecks affecting existing ports.
Citing growing traffic congestion along the Lekki corridor, Omatseye warned that transportation difficulties previously associated with Apapa were gradually emerging around the new port axis.
He noted that the continued movement of heavy-duty trucks through congested urban routes, suggesting that alternative access corridors through neighbouring Ogun State should be explored to improve port connectivity.
“Relocating port operations without addressing underlying transportation challenges will merely transfer existing inefficiencies to new locations,”he said.
Guinea’s $17bn Simandou Project Offers Infrastructure Lessons
Highlighting opportunities in solid mineral exports, Omatseye cited Guinea’s $17 billion Simandou iron ore project, which involves a 650-kilometre railway linking mineral deposits to a dedicated port.
He said Nigeria, with 53 commercially viable solid minerals, needed a similar integrated infrastructure development approach to connect its natural resources to domestic and international markets and attract foreign investment.
Omatseye called for stronger collaboration between government and private investors in developing ports, railways and industrial infrastructure as interconnected economic projects.
Investigative Reporting
The former NIMASA chief also challenged maritime journalists to move beyond routine reporting of government statements and press releases, urging them to embrace investigative and research-driven journalism capable of exposing policy gaps and offering practical recommendations.
He called for greater collaboration between maritime journalists and reporters covering road and railway transportation, noting that cargo movement and trade facilitation extended beyond seaports.
“We cannot allow our maritime industry to die,” Omatseye said, insisting that Nigeria possessed the cargo volumes, expertise and natural resources required to compete more effectively in the global maritime industry.
The Unity Conference brought together maritime journalists, industry operators, regulators and stakeholders to discuss the future of Nigeria’s seaports under the Tinubu administration.
