Will the $1.5bn Lekki deep seaport end Lagos' woes?

Feb 24, 2022|Adesola Afolabi

All over the world, governments are splurging on infrastructure. And with good reason too.

In America, the world’s largest economy, $110 billion has been earmarked to build and rehabilitate roads, bridges and other crucial transport infrastructure. The Economist has argued that this rededication to upgrading public infrastructure could not have come earlier. America’s ageing infrastructure has been a major bottleneck for development. By contrast, infrastructure spending on the Asian continent has increased by more than 50% between 2007 and 2015, with China alone contributing more than half of this increase.

Some takeaways:

The commencement of the Lekki deep seaport is expected to reduce the congestion and trade pressures in Apapa, where over 70% of ships bring goods into Nigeria lands.
However, without enhanced road infrastructure and railway connectivity that would ensure the smooth flow of cargo, trucks and containers to and from the new seaport, a repeat of the traffic woes witnessed in Apapa looms on the Lekki-Epe corridor.
Nearly 7,000 trucks are estimated to ply the Lekki-Epe corridor daily once activities from the Lekki deep seaport and other surrounding businesses such as the Dangote refinery begin.

Luckily, Nigeria is not holding back on the infrastructure splurge either.

Whether the government is motivated by genuine development goals or trying to curry favour amongst voters before election season kicks off, the infrastructure boom is welcome. The President has launched big-ticket railway projects, including the $2 billion railway line linking Nigeria to Niger and a $3 billion railway line that connects Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri.

Another interesting infrastructure project is the Lekki Deep Seaport, which will cost $1.5 billion and is located at the Lekki Free Trade Zone (LFTZ). While nobody can be sure when