The Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr Abubakar Dantsoho, has said the Apapa access road in Lagos handles more than 7,000 trucks daily despite being designed to accommodate approximately 2,400, highlighting the scale of pressure on Nigeria’s port infrastructure.

Dantsoho made the disclosure while speaking at the African Ports Conference in Casablanca, Morocco, according to a statement.

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He said the imbalance between road capacity and truck traffic had contributed to congestion, delays and reduced reliability across the port logistics chain.

He noted that cargo previously remained at Lagos ports for as long as three weeks, underscoring the operational challenges facing importers, exporters and other stakeholders.

According to him, the congestion also risked diverting trade, reinforcing the need for coordinated improvements to port infrastructure, transport corridors and digital systems.

Dantsoho said the NPA began by addressing fundamental operational challenges before moving towards more advanced technology-driven solutions.

He identified the Eto electronic truck call-up system as one of the measures introduced to tackle gridlock along port access routes.

The authority has also introduced the National Single Window and a beta version of the Port Community System, which are intended to improve digital coordination among Customs, terminal operators, shipping lines and regulators.

Dantsoho said these initiatives were helping to strengthen information-sharing and operational coordination across the port ecosystem.

He also pointed to Nigeria’s performance in the World Bank’s Container Port Performance Index, saying Tin Can Island Port ranked 10th and Apapa Port 12th among the world’s most improved ports in the index cited in his remarks.

The NPA chief further reported that Nigeria’s cargo throughput increased by 24.8 per cent to 129.3 million metric tonnes in 2025.

While acknowledging progress, Dantsoho said Nigeria’s port transformation remained a work in progress. He stressed that reliable digital infrastructure should be established before artificial intelligence is deployed more widely in port operations.

“Our work is not complete. But the lesson is clear: digitalisation creates the information base; AI helps turn information into better decisions. We must build in that order,” he said.

He also called for cybersecurity to be incorporated into infrastructure projects from the design stage rather than introduced after systems had been deployed.

According to Dantsoho, African ports face interconnected maritime risks that cannot be effectively managed through isolated national responses.

He explained that shipping schedules, maritime routes and inland cargo corridors link ports across the region, meaning disruption at one location can affect other ports and destinations.

Using the Abidjan–Lagos corridor as an example, he said delays to a vessel could affect its subsequent port calls.

He added that cargo destined for landlocked countries such as Niger, Chad and Mali depends on effective connections between ports, transport corridors and border systems.

He warned that modernising individual ports without coordinating their digital systems could replace traditional administrative fragmentation with similar problems in digital form.

As President of the Port Management Association of West and Central Africa, Dantsoho outlined priorities for improving cooperation among member ports.

These include sharing cyber threat intelligence through designated contacts, timely alerts and the exchange of lessons from security incidents.

He also proposed common data standards to allow different port platforms to exchange essential information, even when they use different underlying systems.

Other priorities include benchmarking port performance and strengthening professional training through regional collaboration.

Dantsoho said stronger cooperation would help African ports improve operational efficiency, respond more effectively to cybersecurity threats and support the movement of goods across regional trade corridors.

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His remarks place digital coordination and infrastructure modernisation at the centre of efforts to improve port performance, while the truck traffic figures highlight the continuing pressure on road access to Lagos ports.