Nigeria: the new port of Lekki makes its mark on the regional landscape

Photo taken on February 3, 2023 of the deepwater port of Lekki, Nigeria. AFP - PIUS UTOMI EKPEI

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Since last January, Nigeria has had a deep-water port, the port of Lekki located 150 kilometers from the economic capital Lagos. It aims to compete with other regional ports such as Cotonou and Lomé.

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One thousand two hundred meters of container docks, a terminal for dry bulk and another for liquid bulk: built by China, the port of Lekki is immediately a heavyweight in the regional landscape. Nigeria lacked the infrastructure to assert its commercial power and enhance its attractiveness. Lekki, which received its first commercial vessel last January, began customs clearance operations last week. The port will be able to target a regional clientele. It will reduce the role of Lomé and probably also that of Cotonou.

Lekki is also a showcase for the French CMA-CGM which operates the container terminal. It will eventually have a capacity of 2.4 million containers per year, more than the regional reference, the port of Téma in Lomé. Another advantage of Lekki is the adjoining free zone where the fertilizer factories and refineries of the Dangote group are located.

Lekki and its industrial zone will upset the map of ports in the Gulf of Guinea and Nigeria does not intend to stop there. He aims to build another mega-port near the Beninese border, in the town of Badagry.

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  • Nigeria
  • Trade and Commerce