The Federal Government has directed the transfer of Inland Dry Port functions from the Nigerian Shippers’ Council to the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, as part of efforts to separate port economic regulation from operations and development.
Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Adegboyega Oyetola, gave the directive in a statement signed by his Special Adviser, Bolaji Akinola.
Oyetola also ordered the immediate constitution of a ministerial committee to oversee the transition of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council into the newly established Nigeria Ports Economic Regulatory Agency, NPERA. This follows President Bola Tinubu’s assent to the NPERA Act, 2026.
According to the Minister, the directives are aimed at establishing a clear institutional framework for the new port economic regulatory regime, eliminating overlapping responsibilities and ensuring 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 2026, formally establishes a substantive economic regulator for Nigeria’s port sector, bringing to an end a two-decade wait for a dedicated statutory port economic regulator.
With the enactment of the law, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, which had functioned as the country’s interim port economic regulator since 2014, will now transmute into NPERA.
FG Orders Transfer Of Inland Dry Ports To NPA
