Oyetola Moves Inland Dry Port Functions to NPA, Sets Up NSC–NPERA Transition Committee
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, has directed the transfer of inland dry port functions from the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to the Nigerian Ports Authority. The decision is part of reforms designed to separate port economic regulation from port development and operations.
The minister announced the measures in a statement issued by his special adviser, Dr. Bolaji Akinola. He also ordered the immediate constitution of a ministerial committee to manage the transition of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council into the Nigeria Ports Economic Regulatory Agency, following President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s assent to the NPERA Act 2026.
The directives are intended to eliminate overlapping responsibilities and ensure that agencies under the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy operate within clearly defined mandates.
The NPERA Act, signed by President Tinubu in August, establishes a substantive economic regulator for Nigeria’s port sector, ending a two-decade wait for a dedicated statutory body. The Nigerian Shippers’ Council, which had served as interim port economic regulator since 2014, now formally transitions into NPERA.
Under the new framework, NPERA will concentrate on core economic regulatory functions, including tariffs and charges, competition, licensing, service standards, commercial dispute resolution and protection of port users.
Oyetola said the transition presents an opportunity to build a regulator that is clearly separated from operational, developmental and promotional responsibilities.
“We must get the transition right,” he said. “The establishment of NPERA is a landmark reform, and the process of moving from the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to the Nigeria Ports Economic Regulatory Agency must be carefully managed. The ministerial committee will provide the necessary oversight to ensure that the transition is seamless and that every function is domiciled in the appropriate institution.”
He argued that the credibility of an economic regulator depends on its ability to act as an impartial referee without responsibilities that could create actual or perceived conflicts of interest. Functions that are operational, developmental or promotional in nature should be transferred to agencies with the appropriate mandates and institutional capacity.
“A regulator cannot function as an operator and, at the same time, be expected to be perceived as an unbiased referee,” Oyetola said.
He added that a clear separation of responsibilities would strengthen confidence in the regulatory framework, improve transparency and create a more predictable operating environment for port users, investors, terminal operators and shipping companies.
The minister asked stakeholders not to interpret the transfer as a reduction in the Federal Government’s commitment to inland dry port development. Instead, he said, the objective is to strengthen the dry port programme by placing its promotion within an institution better positioned to integrate the facilities into the nation’s wider port infrastructure and operational network.