The Federal Government has directed the transfer of the Inland Dry Port (IDP) functions of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) to the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) as part of ongoing reforms in the nation’s maritime sector.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, announced the directive while disclosing plans for the transition of the NSC into the newly established Nigeria Ports Economic Regulatory Agency (NPERA).
Oyetola said the changes were aimed at ensuring a clear separation between port economic regulation, infrastructure development and port operations.
According to him, a Ministerial Committee has been constituted to oversee the transition of the NSC into NPERA following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s assent to the NPERA Act, 2026.
The minister described the new legislation as a landmark reform that would establish a substantive statutory economic regulator for Nigeria’s port sector after about two decades of efforts to achieve such a framework.
The NSC has served as the country’s interim port economic regulator since 2014.
Under the new arrangement, NPERA will be responsible for key economic regulatory functions, including the regulation of tariffs and charges, promotion of competition, licensing, service standards, commercial dispute resolution and protection of port users.
Oyetola said the separation of regulatory and operational responsibilities was necessary to strengthen confidence in the sector and prevent actual or perceived conflicts of interest.
He said an economic regulator must be able to operate as an impartial referee and should not simultaneously perform functions that could compromise that role.
The minister said the government’s objective was to ensure that agencies under the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy operated within clearly defined mandates.
This, he said, would eliminate overlapping responsibilities, improve transparency and provide a more predictable business environment for port users, investors, terminal operators, shipping companies and other stakeholders.
On the transfer of the IDP functions, Oyetola said moving the responsibility to the NPA would strengthen the development and integration of inland dry ports into Nigeria’s wider port infrastructure and operational network.
He said the NPA was better positioned to promote the facilities as part of an integrated national port system.
The minister said the emergence of NPERA marked a new phase in the governance of Nigeria’s port sector, assuring that the government would work to ensure a smooth transition.