The Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC), Nigeria’s business reform agency, has collaborated with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to conclude a three-day stakeholder engagement in Lagos, Nigeria, aimed at significantly reducing cargo dwell time at the nation’s ports.
Okay News reports that the engagement, themed “Achieving a 7-Day Cargo Dwell Time,” brought together the Ports and Customs Efficiency Committee under the Business Environment Enhancement Programme Accelerator framework. Hosted by the NPA, the federal agency governing Nigeria’s ports, the session focused on streamlining port processes to improve the ease of doing business in Africa’s largest economy.
The event held at the Lagos Port Complex in Apapa followed a practical “shadowing” exercise where officials observed real-time vessel berthing and cargo clearance operations at both the Tincan Island and Lagos Port complexes. This hands-on approach allowed stakeholders to identify specific operational bottlenecks firsthand.
Speaking at the event, Zahrah Mustapha, the Director-General of PEBEC, stated that the initiative was designed to move beyond merely identifying challenges to implementing practical solutions that have been delayed for years. She noted that the country loses significant resources daily due to operational inefficiencies.
Mustapha emphasized that these losses represent missed opportunities, jobs not created, and delayed economic growth. She added that the reform is fundamentally about building resilience and unlocking the nation’s economic potential by integrating government regulators and private sector stakeholders to promote transparency.
Abubakar Dantsoho, the Managing Director of the NPA, reaffirmed the authority’s commitment to supporting PEBEC’s mandates. He disclosed that the NPA is collaborating with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), a specialized agency of the United Nations, to deploy the Port Community System.
Dantsoho explained that this system is expected to serve as the digital backbone for the National Single Window, aiming to eliminate manual bottlenecks and synchronize port operations. The NPA recently recorded a 100 percent success rate in PEBEC reforms, ranking fifth among agencies in 2025 with an 84.2 percent compliance rating.
, Nigeria's business reform agency, has collaborated with the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to conclude a three-day stakeholder engagement in Lagos, Nigeria, aimed at significantly reducing cargo dwell time at the nation’s ports.){kind=link}