Stakeholders in the maritime industry have cautioned the Nigerian Ports Authority, NPA, against reported plans to cancel Cargo Survey, CS, contracts that were legally awarded in 2019 for a duration of 10 years and were due to expire in 2029.
Recall that a letter dated September 2025, by NPA’s Managing Director, Abubakar Dantsoho, had said “operational needs and efficiency” justified the cancellation, even though the firms had not defaulted on their obligations.
The industry stakeholders under the aegis of the Maritime Integrity Movement said the NPA neither engaged the organisations in discussion nor accused them of under performance before initiating the move to terminate agreements.
Lucky Abegunde, convener of the group, said in a statement, “This is not the first time the NPA has attempted to scrap the agreements. It had previously written to the Bureau of Public Procurement, BPP, seeking a ‘No Objection’ to re-procure the services through selective tendering.
“The BPP rejected the request, warning against abuse of restricted procurement and directing the NPA to embrace open competitive bidding in line with the Public Procurement Act, 2007.
“However, after sustained pressure, the BPP approved restricted procurement on some CS contracts to companies tied to cronies of the NPA leadership.”
The movement also accused the NPA of deliberately withholding invoices and creating procurement uncertainties to weaken existing contracts, but the movement warned that terminating contracts midstream without breach would expose the federal government to litigation and increase costs.
The group called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, and the Independent Corrupt Practices Commission, ICPC, to investigate what it described as “a fraudulent attempt to cancel and reallocate the cargo survey contracts.”
Maritime stakeholders raise alarm over NPA’s moves to terminate 10-year agreements