Former President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, former Chairman of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and politician, Chief Bode George and other maritime stakeholders have called on the Federal Government to urgently develop deep sea ports, and decisive action on port infrastructure, hinterland connectivity, and regulatory reform.

Dr Jonathan spoke at the inaugural International Deep Sea Investment Forum (IDSIF), organised by Maritime Media Limited at the Oriental Hotel in Lagos. The event 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.

Dr Jonathan, who was also presented with an award at the event, set the tone with a historical caution rooted in the collapse of Nigeria’s earlier maritime enterprises.

Thanking the organisers, he said: “Let me sincerely thank Maritime Media Limited, led by my good friend and brother, Asu Beks for this initiative. And I will say that this International Deep-Sea Port Investment Forum should not be a one-off business.”

He recalled the fate of the Nigerian Shipping Line, tracing its collapse to a failure to adapt when the global industry was transitioning to containerised shipping.

“You know, we had Nigerian Airways, Nigerian Shipping Line, and nobody has really investigated why these enterprises just went down. When the world was migrating from that to the container, container means that you need ships that are deeper. Nigerian Shipping Line spent all their money to go and 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 has to go down. It may not be 100% correct, but there is something.”

The former president said the lesson from that era made the forum’s conversation even more urgent.

“That shows that the world is migrating to another phase and Nigeria must do something before we wake up one day, and no ship will come to Nigeria again, then we will begin to find a way to transport our goods from neighbouring countries down to Nigeria,” he warned

He called for the next edition of the forum to be more action-oriented, with bankable projects on the table. He also called for inclusion of litoral states, banking sector, among others.

“I believe the next one that will be organised, all these actors should be brought so that they can come up with projects that are bankable.

“We should continue to interrogate the way forward before Nigeria is caught up in a situation where we will be transporting our goods from neighbouring countries to Nigeria.”

Chairman of the occasion Chief George struck a strategic note, warning against the dangerous concentration of port infrastructure in Lagos.

Drawing on his experience as a seafarer and NPA chief, he said: “It cannot be right to concentrate all your infrastructure and resources in one place. I have been at the war college, what is happening in the Strait of Hormuz now is a wake-up call. Who knows what could happen tomorrow.”

George pressed the federal government to take stronger action, including signing the Nigerian Ports and Regulatory Authority (NPERA) Bill, and insisted the port rehabilitation loan secured during President Bola Tinubu’s recent visit to Britain should be deployed beyond Lagos.

“I want to put it to stamp, having been a seafarer and former Chairman of NPA, that the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, we are not compelling them, it should be a mandate for them to start looking into development of other ports. The port rehabilitation loan given by the British government, we should not put everything in Lagos. The President should make it part of his legacy and sign the NPERA Bill on his table,” he said.

The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, who was represented by the NPA’s General Manager of Corporate and Strategic Communications, Ikechukwu Onyemekara, said the federal government is firmly committed to a green port development agenda built around three pillars.

“We are embracing green port philosophy, we are moving away from the conventional ports. We know that deep seaports are important. What we should consider is the hinterland connectivity of the port, it is very important to put into consideration how the cargoes would be moved out. One of our challenges has been digital automation and transportation, now that the NSW is launched, we need a port that would be automated and we have to go green

“The green initiative of the FG has come to stay, Lekki Deep Seaport is an example. AfCFTA is a $3trillion market and a smart port is the way to go; for every investment we are making, we need to know what drives the sector,” he said.

Former NPA Managing Director Bello Gwandu offered a note of caution on the push for deep sea ports, arguing that Nigeria’s real need is for well-connected international ports rather than deep sea facilities that may not attract sufficient cargo traffic.

“We have to be careful in creating deep-sea ports, there is nothing worse than having a port that is not being patronised because there is no way for the cargoes to move out. Nigeria does not need deep seaports, what we need is international ports,” he said.

In his welcome address, the convener of the forum, Asu Beks said the concept for the forum had been in the pipeline for years before finally taking shape. He stressed the urgency of developing deep sea port capacity across the country to stop Nigerian-bound cargoes from being diverted to neighbouring ports. He also called on President Tinubu to sign the NPERA Bill to empower the Nigerian Shippers’ Council as economic regulator, while commending the President for establishing the Marine and Blue Economy sector.