former Nigerian President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, and former Board of Trustees Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Authority, Bode George, among other stakeholders, have called for the establishment of an international seaport in Nigeria to prevent further diversion.
They warned that until appropriate steps are taken, Nigeria risks a future where its goods will have to be transported from neighbouring countries. These stakeholders spoke on Monday in Lagos at the 1st International Deep Seaport Investment Forum.
The forum brought together former heads of state, port administrators, government officials, state governors, and industry leaders to interrogate Nigeria’s deep-sea port development prospects and chart a path forward.
Speaking at the event, Jonathan explained that while the rest of the world was migrating to modern shipping, Nigeria was buying ships from countries that wanted to discard their vessels.He stressed that preliminary accounts suggested that Nigeria may have taken costly strategic missteps during a critical transition period in global shipping.“You know, we had the Nigerian National Shipping Line, and nobody has really investigated why these enterprises just went down. When the world is migrating to the container, the container means that you need ships that are deeper. The NNSL went to buy ships from people who wanted to throw their ships away, to migrate to where the world was going. And after acquiring this, they couldn’t move. And, of course, the Nigerian Shipping Line went down. It may not be 100 per cent correct, but there is something,” he said.
According to him, while the world was shifting from conventional cargo handling to containerised shipping and deeper-draft vessels, Nigeria invested heavily in outdated vessels that were being phased out internationally.This mismatch between investment decisions and global industry trends may have significantly weakened the viability of the national carrier, ultimately contributing to its collapse,” he said.
He cautioned that although the account was not fully verified, it points to deeper structural and policy failures that must be examined to avoid repeating similar mistakes.
Jonathan warned that the lessons from the collapse of the NNSL remain highly relevant as Nigeria seeks to reposition its maritime sector, particularly in the face of evolving global shipping standards.
He advocated for renewed efforts to critically assess past decisions and ensure that future investments in maritime infrastructure and operations are aligned with global realities.
Jonathan noted that without such reflection, Nigeria risks once again falling behind in international shipping, with potential consequences for trade competitiveness and economic growth.