Maritime Stakeholders Warn NPA Against “Fraudulent” Move to Cancel Cargo Survey Contracts

|By Adejumo Adekunle

Stakeholders in Nigeria’s maritime sector have raised the alarm over alleged plans by the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to terminate legally awarded Cargo Survey (CS) contracts, describing the move as unlawful and potentially costly to the federal government.

The contracts, which were awarded in 2019 for a 10-year period and expected to run until 2029, were reportedly slated for cancellation under claims of “operational needs and efficiency” by the NPA Managing Director, Abubakar Dantsoho, in a letter dated September 2025.

But members of the Maritime Integrity Movement, a coalition of industry professionals, faulted the decision, insisting that the affected firms had not defaulted on their obligations. According to the group’s convener, Lucky Abegunde, the NPA failed to engage the contractors or present any record of underperformance before initiating the move to terminate the agreements.

“This is not the first time the NPA has attempted to scrap these contracts,” Abegunde said in a statement. “The Authority had previously sought a ‘No Objection’ from the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) to re-procure the services through selective tendering. The BPP rejected the request and directed the NPA to adopt open competitive bidding as provided in the Public Procurement Act, 2007.”

He further alleged that the NPA, after persistent pressure, secured restricted procurement approvals for some CS contracts awarded to companies allegedly linked to its leadership.

The movement accused the ports authority of deliberately delaying invoice payments and creating procurement confusion to frustrate existing contractors. It warned that terminating the contracts without cause could expose the federal government to legal battles and financial losses.

The group therefore urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) to probe what it called “a fraudulent attempt to cancel and reallocate the cargo survey contracts.”