As announced by the Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Dr. Abubakar Dantsoho, the approved ports are Badagry (Lagos), Olokola (Ondo), Ibom (Akwa Ibom), Bakassi (Cross River), and Bonny (Rivers).
The Agge Deep Sea Port in Bayelsa State is not approved yet under this specific batch because it is at a different stage of regulatory and administrative readiness.
Below is an analytical commentary detailing the location of the Agge port and why it was excluded from the latest approvals.
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Where is the Agge Deep Sea Port?
The proposed Agge Deep Sea Port is located in the Ekeremor Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, sitting along Nigeria’s Atlantic coastline in the Gulf of Guinea.
• The Site: It spans an estimated 70 million square meters.
• The Strategic Value: It features a highly advantageous natural deep-draft condition. This allows it to accommodate massive modern vessels with minimal initial dredging.
• Economic Intention: The port is being designed as a $3 billion Public-Private Partnership (PPP). It aims to serve as a major maritime gateway for the oil and gas industry, agriculture, and manufacturing. It will also link commercial corridors across the South-South and South-East regions.
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Why is Agge Port Not Included in the 5 Approved Seaports?
The omission of the Agge port is not a rejection, but rather a reflection of its technical and bureaucratic developmental stage. The five selected ports have finalized their complex, multi-year regulatory compliance tracks, while Agge is actively catching up.
The specific reasons for its exclusion from this batch include:
1. Delays in Finalizing the Outline Business Case (OBC)
To get full federal compliance certification, a project must present a foolproof Outline Business Case (OBC) and Full Business Case (FBC) to the federal cabinet. Review mechanisms by the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy revealed that Agge’s past administrative efforts suffered execution gaps, leaving the project at a standstill for nearly a decade.
2. Ongoing Appointment of a Transaction Advisor.
Unlike the five approved ports that already have established investor frameworks, the Bayelsa State Government is still finalizing the selection of a highly credible Transaction Advisor. This advisor is legally required to coordinate the financial, technical, and environmental impact consortiums before the federal government can grant final investment clearance.
3. Incomplete Evacuation Corridors
A deep seaport cannot function without land infrastructure to move cargo inland. The Agge site is highly riverine. The Bayelsa State Government is currently constructing the critical Ekeremor-Agge road link. However, the lack of fully established transport networks (roads and rail links) means the project fails the immediate logistical readiness required for final federal rollout.
4. Restructuring of the Concession Timelines.
The initial 25-year concession timeline proposed for Agge was deemed economically unviable for a $3 billion greenfield infrastructure project. The federal steering committee and the state are restructuring the terms to a more realistic 40 to 45-year concession period to attract major global investors.
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Current Status: Is the Agge Port Dead?
No, the project is highly active. The exclusion from the five approved ports simply means it belongs to the next pipeline of development.
Recent progressive developments show strong momentum:
• Federal-State Partnership: A Joint Project Steering Committee from the Federal Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy has completed active site visits to Agge to accelerate its path to approval.
• State Committment: Bayelsa State became the first coastal state to create a dedicated state-level Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy to drive this exact asset to completion.
• National Policy Inclusion: The Agge Deep Seaport remains formally listed as one of the major upcoming ports captured under the National Policy on Marine and Blue Economy framework.
As soon as the Bayelsa State government completes its updated viability studies and seals its transaction frameworks, the Agge port will be positioned to receive identical compliance approvals from the Bola Tinubu administration.