The managing director of the Nigerian Ports Authority has identified ageing and outdated infrastructure as the central obstacle preventing Nigeria and its West and Central African neighbours from competing effectively in modern global shipping, warning that ports designed for an earlier era of maritime trade are fundamentally unsuited to the demands of contemporary vessels and cargo volumes.

Speaking at a dinner for port managers from across the two sub-regions in Lagos, the NPA chief executive said Nigeria’s three major ports had been in operation for between 50 and 100 years and required urgent modernization investment to remain commercially viable. He said Apapa Port had been in service for more than a century, Tin Can Island for over five decades, and Port Harcourt for approximately 100 years, all of them now operating infrastructure that was no longer fit for current realities.

He described the scale of the mismatch between port design and contemporary shipping requirements: the facilities were originally built to receive vessels of around 100 metres in length, while the industry now routinely operates ships between 300 and 400 meters long that require deeper channels, larger terminal footprints, and significantly upgraded cargo-handling systems. Ports that cannot accommodate larger vessels receive smaller cargo volumes, directly limiting their commercial throughput and national economic contribution.

The NPA managing director called for sustained investment and deeper regional cooperation to address the infrastructure deficit, arguing that no single country in the region could afford to fall further behind the pace of global port modernizations. He said the evolution of home technology over five decades illustrated the principle at stake: just as television sets and entertainment systems had transformed beyond recognition, port infrastructure had to evolve with the times or become obsolete.