Performance Evaluation of Nigerian Ports: Pre and Post Concession Eras

Abstract

This paper x-rays the performance of the Nigerian ports at two points in time; that is, from 1956-2005 as pre concession era and 2006-2012 as post concession era. It highlights the challenges that undermine the capacity of the sector from meeting up with the global best practices. The data on cargo movement were derived from the Nigerian Port Authority Annual Reports. The study relied on descriptive statistics, trend analysis, chi-square analysis and port performance indicators such as indicator of output and indicator of service in explaining the trend of port performance for the periods under review. The trend analysis employed to explain the trend of cargo movements in all the ports in Nigeria was the Quarterly Moving Averages. It was revealed that the trend of cargo throughput in Nigeria is determined by the inward cargo movement. The analysis also revealed a fluctuation in cargo movement from 1956 to 2005 while the cargo throughput continues to increase unabated from 2006 to 2012. The concession of the port must have been responsible for this upward movement in cargo trend. There was a remarkable increase in inward and outward cargo movement during the post concession era in comparison to the pre concession era.      This paper recommends that government encourages public ownership and private sector operations of the port infrastructure in Nigeria.

Keyword: Port concession, infrastructure, evaluation, indicators, performance