Nigeria Rewires Its Ports: Why Moving Inland Dry Ports to NPA Makes Economic Sense
By Lod Onyeji When President Bola Ahmed Tinubu signed the Nigeria Ports Economic Regulatory Agency Act into law in August 2026, he did more than rename an agency. He ended a 20-year experiment in regulatory ambiguity and set Nigeria’s maritime sector on a path familiar to every efficient port economy in the world: separate the referee from the player. The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola, announced the first major operational consequence on Thursday: the transfer of inland dry port functions from the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to the Nigerian Ports Authority, and the immediate constitution of a ministerial committee to manage NSC’s transition into NPERA. This structural correction is long overdue — and the data supports it. The very visible problem here is that of, one agency, three hats. Since 2014, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council operated as an interim economic regulator while also promoting, and in some cases operating, inland dry ports. That dual mandate c...
