Indications have emerged that ITB Nigeria, a construction firm owned by Lebanese-Nigerian businessman and President Bola Tinubu’s longtime associate Gilbert Chagoury, will execute the renovation contract for the Lagos Tin Can and Apapa Ports under the £746 million financing deal recently sealed between Nigeria and the United Kingdom during the President’s state visit to London.
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The revelation has triggered a storm of criticism from the opposition African Democratic Congress, which described the agreement as a “mugu deal” that disproportionately favours the UK economy, maritime industry experts who accused the government of deepening regional imbalance by channelling the entire loan to Lagos while neglecting ports in other parts of the country, and the Ohanaeze Youth Council which alleged the deal is further evidence of the marginalisation of the South-East.
The Federal Government has defended the arrangement, saying it is a strategic investment aimed at accelerating critical infrastructure upgrades that cannot be achieved through internally generated port revenues alone.
Checks revealed that Chagoury, whose conglomerate operates through the Chagoury Group, was part of the Nigerian delegation to London where the financing agreement was sealed during President Tinubu’s two-day state visit.
A report by Africa Intelligence as far back as March 2025 had revealed that the Federal Executive Council meeting in February 2025 selected Chagoury Group and its subsidiary ITB Nigeria for the contract.
The Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Gboyega Oyetola, confirmed on October 22, 2025, that the federal government approved $1 billion (N1.4 trillion) for the modernisation of the Apapa and Tin Can Island seaports.
Tinubu had in January 2026 conferred the Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger — Nigeria’s second highest national honour — on Chagoury “because of his contributions to the country.”
Chagoury co-founded the Chagoury Group in Lagos in 1971, building it into a sprawling conglomerate with interests in construction, real estate, hospitality, manufacturing, infrastructure, and energy.
The group is already handling the N15 trillion, 700-kilometre, 10-lane Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road project designed to connect Lagos to Cross River State through seven states. Section one, phase one of the project, handled by Chagoury’s Hitech subsidiary, has been concluded.
Among the group’s most prominent undertakings is the Eko Atlantic City project, built on reclaimed land along the Atlantic coastline, as well as the development of Banana Island — both landmark Lagos properties.
Under the agreement signed by Nigeria and the UK, UK Export Finance will guarantee loans for the upgrade of the Apapa and Tin Can Island port complexes. The £746 million deal was sealed during a meeting between Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Tinubu at Downing Street.
The financing will be delivered through UKEF’s Buyer Credit Facility and arranged by Citibank N.A., London Branch. UKEF is the UK government’s export credit agency, and its Buyer Credit Facility enables foreign buyers to access financing from commercial banks to procure UK goods and services, typically for projects requiring significant UK content participation.
In practical terms, UKEF guarantees a loan obtained by Nigeria from a commercial bank, which is then used to pay for UK goods and services, with the bank paying UK exporters directly on Nigeria’s behalf.
The ADC launched the most withering attack on the agreement. National Publicity Secretary Bolaji Abdullahi said while the APC has tried to portray the deal as a diplomatic success, it is in fact an achievement of the UK Government.
“Through this deal, the UK has managed to save its steel industry, protect thousands of UK jobs, and get Nigeria to pay for it,” Abdullahi stated.
The ADC highlighted specific provisions that it says demonstrate the deal’s one-sided nature. Under the agreement, at least £236 million of the £746 million in supplier contracts will be awarded to British companies. British Steel will supply 120,000 tonnes of steel billets under a £70 million contract — its largest UKEF-backed export order — for the port rehabilitation projects.
The UK Government’s own website described the deal as a “major vote of confidence in UK manufacturing.”
“In simple terms, Nigeria is taking a loan to fund the British economy,” the ADC stated.
The party demanded answers to several specific questions: What are the repayment terms, duration, and applicable interest rate? What percentage of local goods, services, and subcontracting is involved? How many direct and indirect jobs will be created for Nigerians? What is the project timeline? What provisions exist for training, apprenticeships, and skills transfer? What are the limits on expatriate staff, and are there defined quotas for SMEs and community benefit obligations?
“If the APC government has answers to these questions, it should make them available to Nigerians. Otherwise, Nigerians are justified in concluding that, 66 years after independence, President Bola Tinubu has travelled to London to sign an agreement that resembles a colonial-era treaty, one that risks mortgaging the country’s future for limited value and symbolism,” the ADC stated.
Maritime operators and regional advocates accused the government of deepening infrastructural imbalance by prioritising already functional Lagos facilities over neglected ports in other parts of the country.
The Sea Empowerment and Research Centre, in a statement signed by its Head of Research, Dr. Eugene Nweke, said while the centre acknowledged the economic importance of the Lagos upgrades, it was concerned about “the continued structural neglect of other national port assets.”
“Nigeria’s maritime system remains heavily concentrated in Lagos, which currently accounts for the majority of cargo throughput. However, this concentration has resulted in persistent congestion and logistics inefficiencies, increased cost of imports and exports, and overstretching of port and road infrastructure,” SEREC stated.
“At the same time, strategic ports in Port Harcourt, Warri, Calabar and Onne remain significantly underutilised due to policy neglect, inadequate infrastructure linkages and inconsistent investment priorities.”
The centre argued that overdependence on Lagos ports drives up import handling costs and creates congestion-induced inefficiencies that indirectly pressure the naira and Nigeria’s external reserves.
Captain Warredi Enisuoh, a maritime expert and former Director of Operations at NIMASA, said the deal should have been geared toward decentralisation and automation rather than concentrating further investment in Lagos.
Lucky Amiwero, president of the National Council of Managing Directors of Licensed Customs Agents, questioned the rationale for taking a loan at all, noting that revenue from port operations is more than enough to fund upgrades. He asked what happened to the money realised from terminal operators when the nation’s seaports were concessioned in 2006.
“The government’s focus on Lagos ports is short-sighted and neglects the economic potential of other ports. We need to develop our ports in a way that promotes economic growth across all regions, not just Lagos,” Amiwero stated.
Businessman Okey Okonkwo described the deal as “a clear example of the federal government’s lack of commitment to developing the Niger-Delta region,” noting that ports in Warri, Port Harcourt, and Calabar are in dire need of upgrade.
The Ohanaeze Youth Council, through its president Igboayaka Igboayaka, alleged the deal was further evidence of the marginalisation of the South-East, warning that continued neglect of seaport infrastructure in Igbo-dominated areas could deepen separatist sentiments.
The council cited what it described as historically viable maritime locations in the South-East, including Ose-Akwa/Ose-Moto in Ihiala and Oguta, Azumini Blue Sea in Abia State, and Ozziza Beach in Ebonyi State.
The council specifically noted that the Ose-Akwa Ihiala site boasts a natural harbour depth of 22 metres and is only 18 nautical miles from the Atlantic Ocean — compared to the 60 nautical miles between the Apapa and Tin Can ports and the Atlantic — yet was neglected in favour of Lagos.
The group demanded the immediate dredging of the proposed Ose-Akwa/Ose-Moto seaport channel and similar projects in Abia State.
Dr. Bolaji Akinola, Special Adviser to the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, defended the arrangement, explaining that the financing is aimed at undertaking a comprehensive and simultaneous overhaul of key port infrastructure rather than implementing upgrades in small phases.
He clarified that the port facility upgrade includes dredging of port channels to allow bigger vessels and that dredging is not limited to Lagos ports only.
Akinola explained that under the port concession model, terminal operators manage cargo handling operations but the responsibility for core port infrastructure and common user facilities — including channel dredging, quay apron maintenance, berth rehabilitation, internal port roads, and shared infrastructure — remains with the federal government.
“The financing being secured by the federal government is directed at addressing these critical infrastructure components that fall outside the scope of the terminal operators’ obligations,” Akinola stated.
He added that while discussions about the financing began a couple of years ago, the agreement was not concluded or signed at that time. What occurred earlier was the initiation of the financing process, including negotiations and structuring.
The modernisation programme, according to the government, will improve the structural integrity and capacity of port infrastructure, enable accommodation of larger and more modern vessels, enhance cargo handling efficiency, reduce vessel turnaround time, and improve overall logistics performance.
The controversy over the ports deal touches on several recurring themes in Nigerian public discourse: the concentration of infrastructure investment in Lagos at the expense of other regions, the transparency of large-scale government contracts, the relationship between political patronage and contract awards, the terms of foreign financing arrangements, and the question of whether Nigeria is getting value from its international agreements.
The emergence of Chagoury — a longtime Tinubu associate who recently received the nation’s second highest honour — as the contractor for the project adds a layer of political sensitivity, particularly given that the £746 million financing was sealed during a presidential state visit and that Chagoury was reportedly part of the delegation.
The ADC’s characterisation of the deal as resembling a “colonial-era treaty” and the maritime industry’s concerns about regional imbalance ensure that the ports modernisation project will remain a subject of intense public scrutiny as it moves from agreement to implementation.
The questions raised by the opposition about interest rates, repayment terms, local content, job creation, and the proportion of funds that will remain in or return to the UK economy remain unanswered as of the time of this report.
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