Customs Begins Clearance of Over 300 Abandoned Power Sector Containers at Lagos Ports
Customs Begins Clearance of Over 300 Abandoned Power Sector Containers at Lagos Ports
By Jerry Aguigbo
The Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), in partnership with the Ministries of Power, Finance, and Marine and Blue Economy, has commenced the clearance of over 300 containers of critical power sector equipment left stranded at Lagos ports for up to 20 years.
The long-delayed consignments include high-capacity transformers, cables, switchgear, and hydropower components imported via the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) and the Niger Delta Power Holding Company,(NDPHC) were trapped due to unpaid port charges, tax disputes, and administrative red tape.
Following a memo presented by the Minister of Power, Joseph Tegbe, to the Federal Executive Council, President Bola Tinubu ordered the immediate release of the equipment and directed relevant agencies to waive accumulated demurrage and charges.
Speaking at the flag-off at the Apapa Port, Comptroller-General of Customs, Adewale Adeniyi, confirmed that priority processing and joint examinations are already underway for an initial batch of nearly 100 containers across Apapa and Tin Can Island ports.
Beyond clearing the backlog, Adeniyi flagged a recurring and costly pattern: contractors who collect full public funding for government projects, import the required hardware, and deliberately abandon the goods at the port.
“Contractors who accept government projects, are paid for them, and fail to deliver while abandoning materials at the ports should henceforth be regarded as economic saboteurs,” Adeniyi declared.
The Customs Service is now compiling data on the abandoned consignments to help supervising ministries and oversight bodies hold defaulting contractors legally and financially accountable.
Once cleared, technical teams from TCN and the Ministry of Power will inspect the hardware. Serviceable items will be rushed to stalled infrastructure and substation projects in places like Kaduna, Lokoja, Enugu, and Lafia, while obsolete parts will be decommissioned according to regulations.
The government aims to evacuate all remaining stranded containers within a month as part of a broader push to stabilize the national grid, shrink the metering gap, and leverage the Electricity Act 2023 to expand power access.
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