The United Kingdom has agreed to finance a £746 million upgrade of Nigeria’s Apapa and Tincan Island ports, Adegboyega Oyetola, the minister of marine and blue economy, said on Tuesday.The financing agreement will be formally signed on March 18 and 19 at Windsor Castle, where President Bola Tinubu will be hosted by King Charles III.Though the terms of the deal were not immediately stated, the ministry said the “ambitious” deal was secured with the backing of UK Export Finance (UKEF), which provides loan-backed financing for international projects.The Lagos Port Complex Apapa, established in 1913, has for more than a century remained Nigeria’s oldest and busiest seaport, serving as the gateway for a vast proportion of the nation’s imports and exports. The Tin Can Island Port Complex was later developed to complement Apapa and was officially commissioned in 1977.
Together, the two ports handle more than 70 percent of Nigeria’s cargo trade, and serve as the central arteries of the nation’s maritime business. Despite their importance, neither facility has seen any modernisation of importance, costing Nigeria millions of dollars in revenue as large vessels are diverted to regional ports.
“What we are set to do is not merely an upgrade, but a comprehensive transformation that will bring our ports into alignment with international best practice,” the minister said. “Modern infrastructure supported by digitalised and automated processes will significantly enhance efficiency, transparency and operational reliability,” Oyetola added.
In October 2025, BusinessDay reported that the federal government approved N1.4 billion for Lagos ports modernisation. While the federal government did not disclose many details about the project, including a timeline, an earlier report by Africa Intelligence disclosed that the contract was awarded to ITB Nigeria, a construction company owned by Gilbert Chagoury, a Lebanese-Nigerian businessman with close ties to Tinubu.
The Lagos port renovation project was expected to begin in the second quarter of 2025, financed through a loan from Nigeria’s Citibank, backed by UK Export Finance.Oyetola said the modernisation project will enable faster clearance of imports and exports, reduce demurrage and logistics costs for businesses, and ensure a more predictable and transparent cargo movement system.