Maritime lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Emeka Akabogu, has warned that Nigeria’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy by 2030 faces a major setback due to a severe shortage of indigenous shipping capacity, revealing that the country currently owns only 307 ships against an estimated requirement of 920 vessels.
Dr. Akabogu, Senior Partner at Akabogu & Associates, made the disclosure on Friday, November 13, 2026, while delivering the keynote address at the Network of Nigerian Maritime Journalists (NNMJ) Unity Conference held at the Lagos Airport Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, which commenced at 11:00 a.m. under the theme “Seaport Modernisation, Trade Facilitation and Revenue.”
Presenting data from his keynote paper, Dr. Akabogu noted that the 307 Nigerian-owned ships recorded in 2025 leave the country with a current shortfall of 613 vessels.
He warned that even under the nation’s present fleet growth trajectory, Nigeria’s indigenous fleet is projected to grow only marginally to approximately 348 vessels by 2030, still leaving a deficit of 572 ships below the minimum 920 active vessels needed to sustain the volume of maritime trade expected in a $1 trillion economy.
To address this gap, Dr. Akabogu emphasized that Nigeria must urgently build a stronger fleet of tankers, barges, bulk carriers, and cargo vessels.
He cautioned that modernizing port infrastructure without expanding local shipping capacity will only deepen Nigeria’s reliance on foreign-owned vessels, causing substantial capital flight and depriving indigenous operators of critical economic benefits.
Accordingly, he called for a pragmatic overhaul of the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF), recommending that disbursements be strictly tied to vessels backed by verifiable cargo contracts and viable crewing arrangements rather than funding models that fail to produce commercially deployable ships.
Highlighting broader infrastructure and regulatory bottlenecks, the maritime expert pointed out that container traffic could hit 3.6 million TEUs by 2030 against a projected economic requirement of between 5.3 million and 7.5 million.
He also drew attention to the wide disparity between Nigeria’s foreign trade, valued at roughly ₦138 trillion, and the Nigerian Ports Authority’s (NPA) audited revenue of ₦894.86 billion in 2024.
Additionally, he criticised shipping lines for continuing to collect container deposits despite provisions in Section 203 of the Nigerian Insurance Industry Reform Act 2025 abolishing the practice.
The conference, which brought together maritime regulators, terminal operators, and practitioners, also featured remarks from the Chairman of the occasion, Barrister Temisan Omatseye, a former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA).
Omatseye warned that the Lekki Deep Seaport is already beginning to inherit the traffic gridlock that plagued Apapa, urging urgent attention to cargo evacuation corridors, sustained investment, and credible industry data to guide port planning.
Speaking on behalf of the organizers, the Chairman of the Network of Nigerian Maritime Journalists, Elder Dele Aderibigbe, stated that the conference theme was deliberately chosen to interrogate whether Nigerian seaports are operating at the efficiency required to drive national economic targets.
He warned that failure to modernize ports and streamline cargo clearance would inevitably drive cargo and investment to competing regional ports.
Other notable dignitaries and maritime stakeholders in attendance included the Chairman of the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council (NPCC), Bolaji Sunmola; President of the Shippers Association of Lagos State, Rev. Nicodemus Odollo; retired Assistant Comptroller-General of Customs, Charles Edike; and NNMJ Public Relations Officer, Jerry Aguigbo.
