The contract to revamp Lagos's ports has been awarded to ITB Nigeria, a company owned by a Lebanese-Nigerian. The close associate of President Tinubu is thus set to embark on another major new project in the African megalopolis.

There was very little doubt in recent weeks in Lagos about which firm would bag the $700m contract to renovate the city's two main ports, Tin Can and Apapa. The Nigerian government, in a meeting in early February with the Federal Executive Council, duly chose Chagoury Group, and its subsidiary ITB Nigeria headed by Ramzi Chidiac. Despite the group's lack of experience in the port sector, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who had the final say on the matter, decided to once again place his trust in his "confidant", the Lebanese-Nigerian billionaire Gilbert Chagoury. ITB Nigeria did not respond to Africa Intelligence's request for comment.

The work, which the Nigerian Port Authority (NPA) said would begin in the second quarter of 2025, will be financed by a loan from Nigeria's Citibank and backed by UK Export Finance, Britain's official export credit agency. Afreximbank had also offered its services, and APM Terminals, a subsidiary of the Danish maritime giant Maersk and operator of the port of Apapa, offered an investment of $500m in January 2024. This offer is still on the table of the NPA, which has been headed since July by Abubakar Dantsoho.

Chagoury is also seeking to impose Dubai-based DP World as a new port operator in Lagos. Tinubu met with the firm's boss Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem in Abuja on 26 February along with Chagoury and Marine and Blue Economy Minister Adegboyega Oyetola, who is a cousin of the president.

Port operators need Lagos

DP World has in recent months been mulling boosting its presence in Nigeria, and in Lagos in particular (AI, 24/10/24). Nigerian Vice President Kashim Shettima met with bin Sulayem last September on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. DP World told Africa Intelligence in October that they were "considering investment in ports and infrastructure development opportunities" and "should a suitable opportunity arise in Nigeria" they "will consider it."

The situation is being monitored by the various operators already present in Lagos, such as APM Terminals, whose concession for Apapa will end in 2031, and by those present in the port of Tin Can, where some concessions are already available. The two sites account for most of Lagos's port activity, with the rest handled by Lekki port, operated by CMA Terminals, a subsidiary of France's CMA CGM which is owned by Rodolphe Saadé. Thanks to a clause in his contract with the NPA, Saadé has ensured that no new port that can receive containers coming directly from abroad will be built before December 2028.

Lagos's ports are among the most expensive in the world, but it is nonetheless a major destination for any company wanting to develop its involvement in Africa (AI, 13/11/23). Despite Nigeria's economic problems and the stiff fees levied by the various port regulatory agencies and customs, the maritime giants want to remain or establish their presence there, whatever the cost. APM Terminals, for example, paid almost a billion dollars in 2006 to obtain a 25-year concession for the port of Apapa.

Construction and politics

Gilbert Chagoury is omnipresent in Nigeria's economic capital, where he lives for part of the year. His firms are involved in building the main thoroughfares in the Victoria Island and Ikoyi areas, and in the creation of the Eko Atlantic district, a mammoth project that began in 2007. In 2024, the billionaire bagged a contract to build a motorway linking Lagos to the city of Calabar in the far southeast, a project estimated to cost nearly $11bn. Despite various controversies, lorries and diggers bearing the logo of Hitech Construction Co, another of his companies, are already hard at work on Landmark beach to build the first section linking Eko Atlantic to Lekki port.

The links between the Chagoury family and the Tinubu clan are numerous (AI, 25/10/22). The president's son, Oluwaseyi Tinubu, known as Seyi Tinubu, is on the board of CDK Integrated Industries, another subsidiary of the Chagoury group (AI, 25/04/24). President Tinubu has since taking office in 2023 awarded numerous contracts to the Lebanese-Nigerian businessman, who backed him during his election campaign (AI, 25/10/22) and is expected to play a major role in his bid for re-election in 2027.

Tinubu's popularity is low across the country, from the north to the state of Lagos, of which he was the governor between 1999 and 2007. His abolition of fuel subsidies and the devaluation of the naira led to a sharp rise in inflation, which reached 35% in December. The president will therefore have to conduct a large-scale and particularly costly re-election campaign, for which he will need financial support. (Text, excluding headline: Africa Intelligence)