scope of tariffs, digital upgrades, billion-dollar port promises, and Nigeria's return to international maritime diplomacy. 2025 was a year in which Nigeria's ports were tested and policy choices shaped by more than just cargo flows. The scale of change demonstrated this year shows that the industry is trying to address old inefficiencies while facing new pressures at home and abroad.
comprehensive tariff
Tariffs became the most visible source of uncertainty in Nigeria's business environment throughout the year. The problem began in Washington, where the new US administration under Donald Trump, as part of its “Liberation Day” protectionism agenda, reinstated tariffs as high as 15 percent on some Nigerian imports.
For Nigerian exporters of light manufactured goods, textiles and agricultural products, the decision wiped out already thin margins and forced companies to quickly reevaluate supply contracts.
Domestically, Nigeria's own policy experimentation led to increased instability.
The Nigeria Customs Service imposed a four per cent FOB duty on imports at the beginning of the year, a decision designed to boost revenue as the agency was tasked with delivering an unprecedented N10 trillion target, almost double from the previous year.
However, the charge sharply increased import costs, putting pressure on companies already struggling with currency risks and logistics delays. It was suspended twice as suddenly as it arrived, following an outcry from port users and concerns about informal trade channels and diversion of cargo.
The movement continued in the spring when Abuja approved a 90 percent duty waiver on imports allowed under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), pointing in an entirely different direction. The Ministry of Trade and Investment said it will reduce barriers to fulfillment of needs from African partners.
By the end of the year, with tariffs reinstated in the US and persistent revenue pressure domestically, policymakers were still seeking a coherent balance between protecting fiscal interests and maintaining Nigeria's relevance in global markets.
At a handshake meeting in Lagos in September, Customs and the manufacturers hashed out their beef. There it was announced that manufacturers bringing in raw materials, machines and spare parts etc. would not have to pay the 4 per cent levy provided they fall under Chapters 98 and 99 of the Nigeria Customs Tariff.
technological change
If tariffs reveal turmoil, the technology promises order.
This year Nigeria began to build the digital infrastructure that its ports had long lacked.
An integrated customs platform known as B'Odogwu, first unveiled last year and operated at the Ports and Terminals Multiservices Limited (PTML), has started to gain popularity. It promised to automate withdrawal steps that once resided in stamp-filled files and the pockets of middlemen.
But B'Odogwu fell short of many people's expectations. Constant glitches and delays resulted in containers being stuck at ports for weeks, leading to accumulation of demurrage and freight charges for importers and agents.
At the Nigeria Maritime Expo (NIMAREX), Customs apologized for the lapses and promised better optimization and service. But CGC has said there is no “turning back” from this.
Meanwhile, the launch of the Authorized Economic Operator program signaled a shift towards trust-based controls, rewarding compliant merchants with faster processing and introducing a level of predictability rare in Nigerian logistics.
At airports, the rollout of electronic currency declaration forms promised a future in which every transaction in and out of the border would be recorded without any friction.
The same ambition drove the reactivation of the National Single Window, a long-delayed platform aimed at integrating customs, port authorities, regulators and shippers into a single interface.
For years, the idea has been held up as a silver bullet for Nigeria's bureaucratic pains. This year, it finally started feeling less like a concept note and more like a destination. The steering committee said in October that it would begin the first phase of operations in March 2026.
Maritime security also joined the upgrade cycle. The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA)'s new satellite-based surveillance system has increased its gaze in the Gulf of Guinea, promising to reduce the blind spots that once enabled piracy, oil theft and under-declared cargo.
Overall, these reforms mark the most serious effort yet to digitalize Nigeria's maritime economy, although their real test will only begin in January 2026.
Infrastructure and investment
In 2025, Nigeria also moves to tackle the physical constraints that have long defined life at its ports.
The Eto truck callup system had helped ease notorious congestion in Apapa's port corridor, but officials soon realized that the software could not compensate for collapsing valleys, overextended container yards and roads that turned into gridlock at the first sign of rain.
In October, the federal government announced a $1 billion investment to upgrade the infrastructure of the Lagos port. Officials described the upgrade as the first step toward a more holistic surgery on the country's logistics backbone.
While the federal government did not disclose many details about the project, including the timeline, an earlier report by Africa Intelligence in March revealed that a $700 million contract for the Lagos ports renovation was awarded to ITB Nigeria, a construction company owned by Gilbert Chagouri, a Lebanese-Nigerian businessman with close ties to President Bola Tinubu.
10 year plan
The planned renovation is part of Nigeria's maritime ambitions.
In May, the nascent ministry of marine and blue economy approved a 10-year marine and blue economy policy, a blueprint designed to unlock investment in the country's ocean-based industries covering everything from port logistics and shipping services to fisheries, coastal tourism and offshore energy.
For a region often caught in election cycles, the decade-long plan promised continuity that could transcend politics.
Part of this plan was to strengthen Nigeria's domestic shipping capacity.
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) announced that a $700 million cabotage fund will be distributed from August to support local shipowners, increase fleet capacity and reduce dependence on foreign vessels for domestic trade.
The fund, aimed at promoting domestic shipbuilding, vessel acquisition and operator financing, was widely welcomed by maritime stakeholders as a concrete step towards fulfilling the country's long-standing Cabotage Act ambitions.
However, as of December the funds had not yet reached the operators. BusinessDay spoke to shipowners who had contributed capital and reported that they were unable to access the funds they owned, citing high and sometimes unviable capital percentages for eligibility.
international victory
There were symbolic victories too.
While domestic reforms and revenue debates dominated the headlines domestically, 2025 was also the year Nigeria regained its voice in key maritime negotiations.
In June, Nigeria won the right to chair the Council of the World Customs Organization for the first time in 73 years, and hosting rights for the IATF intra-African trade fair in 2027. The announcement was made in Algiers during this year's edition of the biennial fair.
Meanwhile, the long-running Regional Maritime Development Bank (RMDB) finally came into existence with Nigeria as the first host country and Adeniran Aderogba, a Nigerian, was appointed as its first President and Chief Executive Officer.
It was reported that a $150 million financing agreement was signed with the bank to upgrade a major shipyard in Nigeria.
2025 was also the year Nigeria broke a painful streak of failed bids. In November, Nigeria was elected into Category C of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) Council, returning to the body's governing level after a 14-year absence.
The seat, won during the IMO General Assembly in London, places Nigeria among a select group of countries engaged in shaping international shipping regulations, safety protocols and environmental standards, central areas of global trade and ocean governance.
If 2025 was the year Nigeria reclaimed its voice, 2026 will be the year it translates that voice into victory.
business performance
Despite all the policy noise, there were some signs of progress in ship movements. According to the Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA), export containers increased tenfold by the third quarter, taking cargo throughput to 33.5 million tonnes.
Import activities also increased. Import-laden containers increased by nearly 33 percent in the third quarter, handling 268,713 TEU, up from the previous year.
Port level data showed that Tin Can Island and Apapa ports accounted for the largest share of vessel calls, while Lekki port handled the largest vessels and led cargo throughput growth, contributing 46.8 percent of total cargo in the third quarter. Lekki had overtaken Tincan at the beginning of the year as Nigeria's second most valuable by revenue.
Still the performance remained uneven. Apapa, Tinkan Island and Lekki ports, the country's busiest gateways, still failed to crack the world's top hundred ports by cargo throughput for the ninth consecutive year, reminding Nigeria that it is still not moving cargo as efficiently as its peers.
And as exporters celebrated the new momentum, the United States' silence on the renewal of the African Growth Opportunities Act (AGOA), which had expired in November, again tightened its market access, raising the stakes for diversification under AfCFTA and new bilateral courtship in Asia and the Gulf.
The domestic market also grappled with who actually benefits from openness. The review of the $300 duty-free import limit left traders divided between those who saw relief for small-scale commerce and those who feared increased leakages into informal retail.
2025 was not free from regulatory friction. Customs agents faced a twenty-fold increase in license fees under a controversial review, and the new duty regime increased import duties by as much as 186 percent for some cargoes.
As 2025 draws to a close, the challenge for industry leaders is no longer whether reform was necessary, but whether Nigeria's ports and maritime policies can sustain the country's ambitions across regional and global value chains in 2026 and beyond.
