By Abubakar Yunusa
Abubakar Dantsoho, president of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa (PMAWCA), says African countries cannot achieve meaningful economic growth with outdated port infrastructure.
Dantsoho, who is also the managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), spoke at the closing ceremony of the PMAWCA meetings in Lagos, according to a statement on Thursday.
He said aggressive investment in modern ports, deep sea facilities and technology has become necessary for the region to remain competitive in global trade.
The NPA chief said countries across West and Central Africa are repositioning their ports to accommodate larger vessels and improve trade efficiency.
“This is an industry that requires huge investment in infrastructure. You cannot make progress with obsolete facilities and still expect to receive newer and larger vessels,” Dantsoho said.
“You cannot have a hotel built 50 years ago and expect modern customers to continue coming without refurbishment. It is the same thing with ports.”
The group’s president said port infrastructure remains central to economic expansion, noting that countries cannot significantly grow their gross domestic product (GDP) without modernising their maritime facilities.
He said Nigeria, Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, and the Benin Republic are currently undertaking port upgrade and modernisation projects to improve competitiveness.
Dantsoho said Nigeria is refurbishing Apapa and Tin Can Island ports as a medium-term measure, but said the country must eventually develop more modern deep seaports capable of handling future trade volumes.
He described the Lekki deep seaport as a step forward but said Africa must pursue larger and more sophisticated facilities comparable to global maritime hubs.
“In Singapore, they are building ports with hundreds of berths. Guinea is developing a $20 billion deep sea port project. These are the kinds of investments Africa must begin to pursue if we want to compete globally,” he said.
The PMAWCA president also highlighted the increasing role of automation, artificial intelligence, and robotics in maritime operations.
He said the NPA has achieved nearly 90 percent automation of its operations through electronic payment and cargo processing systems.
The NPA executive cited the electronic call-up system introduced at Apapa Port as one of the reforms that significantly reduced traffic congestion around the port corridor.
“Today, you can go into Apapa and leave within minutes. Before now, people spent hours and sometimes slept on the bridge because of congestion,” he said.
Dantsoho noted that Nigeria accounts for more than 70 percent of cargo traffic entering the West and Central African subregion due to its population size, market potential, and strategic position in serving neighbouring landlocked countries, including Niger, Chad, Mali, and Burkina Faso.
“Our market extends beyond Nigeria because several landlocked countries depend on Nigerian ports,” he said.
“But to sustain that advantage, we must provide deeper waters, stronger quays and modern infrastructure that can accommodate bigger ships.”
He also stressed the need for stronger regional collaboration among African port authorities through PMAWCA, saying member countries are increasingly sharing operational experiences and performance benchmarks to improve efficiency across the subregion.
Dantsoho said Africa’s future economic growth would depend largely on how quickly the continent modernises its maritime infrastructure and adopts technology-driven port systems.
