A combined picture of Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho and NPA logo
By Victory Oghene
The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), under the watch of Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho is allegedly entangled in corruption scandal as insiders squealed that the agency is now being run to bleed Nigeria’s economy dry.
Sources who spoke to Leaders.ng under anonymity say the NPA under Dantsoho has become a “fully monetized extortion enterprise,” with massive operational inefficiencies as cover for looting on a scale never before seen in the Authority’s history.
“Port efficiency has cratered: ships now wait up to 21 days to berth, while cargo dwell times exceed 45 days.
“Haulage costs at Apapa have soared to N900,000 per container, up from N250,000 just months ago, forcing shipping lines to impose the highest surcharges in West Africa. Meanwhile, cargo volumes have plummeted by half,” a source lamented.
At the core of the crisis is a monthly “tribute system” enforced by NPA leadership, where N160 million is allegedly remitted to the three senior officials.
The payments are reportedly skimmed from port operations budgets, leaving facilities without basic resources like diesel, medical supplies, or even air conditioning in staff offices.
The ED of Finance, described by insiders as “de facto CEO,” is said to have usurped decision-making entirely, ignoring the MD’s instructions and holding over 1,000 official files hostage, some for more than a year.
She is reportedly shielded by close ties to a serving minister and another high-ranking official in the presidency.
One of the most alarming revelations involves an “emergency” $25 million dredging contract for Warri Port, awarded without Federal Executive Council approval, in violation of procurement laws.
“Even legally awarded revenue collection contracts were abruptly revoked after contractors refused to pay bribes, including those previously certified by the Bureau of Public Procurement for handling Oil Terminal Dues and Pilotage Royalties,” a source revealed.
Insiders also reveal that promotions, transfers, and port postings now require payments to senior officials.
Staff morale is said to be at rock bottom, with offices lacking printer toner, fuel, and basic supplies.
Also, national port assets are currently uninsured due to deliberate sabotage designed to benefit politically connected actors.
Sources reveal that the NPA’s London office has become a personal expense account for the MD and his proxies.
Records show luxury expenditures including:
£3,600 spent on iPhones at Apple Store (October 2024)
£2,000 at IKEA (April 2025)
Regular purchases at Harrods, Selfridges, and fine-dining outlets
£60,000 monthly “entertainment” allocation
£50,000 monthly rent for a luxury apartment
All expenditures are reportedly debited from the NPA’s Treasury Single Account, which receives over £500,000 monthly, while operations in Nigeria collapse.
Corruption has also deepened along port corridors. Truckers report illegal checkpoints between Apapa and Mile 2 have tripled, with bribes per truck now as high as N250,000. Ship calls have declined from over 2,000 to just above 1,000 per quarter.
The NPA’s revenue has dropped to barely N150 billion, while Nigeria’s ports have been blacklisted by the German Shipping Council and labelled “high-risk” by international insurers.
Dantsoho’s “leadership,” sources say, is marked by frequent absenteeism as he reportedly prioritizes a political ambition in Taraba over running the NPA.
Despite this, he engineered a “supplementary budget” exceeding the 2024 approved allocation, without Federal Ministry of Finance approval.
Items sllegrdly approved by the MD include:
N90 billion for Lekki tugboats
N40 billion for other ports’ tugboats
N46 billion for suspect dredging deals
N16 billion for pilot cutters
N15 billion for phantom VTS upgrades
All while recurrent expenditure overruns show signs of serious budgetary abuse.
International institutions have taken note. Nigeria has dropped 27 places on the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index under Dantsoho.
Shipping clearance times are now worse than in conflict zones like Yemen.
Maritime experts have also raised red flags over manipulated revenue figures, with internal inconsistencies in the NPA’s claimed N879 billion earnings for 2024 now under EFCC scrutiny.
To tighten his grip, Dantsoho allegedly carried out an unauthorized restructuring of the NPA’s organogram without clearance from the Head of Service clearance. He reportedly expanded top-level positions by 40%, further bloating payroll and choking efficiency.
“The tragedy is that Dantsoho, an insider who should have reformed the NPA, has institutionalized its decay. Every day this cabal remains in power costs Nigeria over $18 million in lost trade.
Documents
Reacting to the allegeation, the General Manager, Corporate and Strategic Communication of the NPA, Ikechukwu Onyemekara, labelled the allegations as false. He disclosed this in a statement while clarifying all the issues raised stated that the budget and expenditure of the NPA are subject to the strict supervision of the Ministry of Marine & Blue Economy, the Budget Office of the Federation as well as the comprehensive oversight of the National Assembly and that it has made the allegation of misapplication of budgetary provisions impossible. dismissed allegations of multi-billion-naira corruption purportedly going on in the authority, describing them as false and being peddled by mischief makers.
Onyemekara explained that the contract for dredging works at the Warri Escravos Channel (hub of Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Operations) became necessary because of the need to tackle the increasing siltation of the channel and forestall the international embarrassment and huge investment losses from shipping vessels running aground, and that the dredging work also followed laid-down processes and procedure for emergency procurement as laid down in the Procurement Act, 2007, contrary to allegations in the report.
“The procurement of marine crafts such as tugboats and pilot cutters was carried out in line with the provisions of the Procurement Act, 2007. The process for this equipment was initiated and undertaken in response to the exigency of ensuring national energy security through the implementation of sale of crude oil in naira to domestic refiners which involved intensive offshore operations.
“The allegation of documents being withheld for over a year is untenable, as the extant civil service guidelines governing the timeline for processing of official documents make it impossible.
“Allegations made in connection with expenditures at the Authority’s London office are outrightly false as the dealings or transactions speculated in the report never took place,” he said.
