Nigeria’s ports of extortion

The recent discovery by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council (PEBEC) of widespread extortion checkpoints along the Apapa and Tin Can Island port corridors in Lagos is not merely another story of corruption. It is a painful reflection of how deeply institutional decay has crippled Nigeria’s economy and weakened confidence in governance.

What should ordinarily be strategic gateways for trade and economic growth have instead become corridors of exploitation, lawlessness, and organised extortion. The revelations emerging from the two-day enforcement sweep paint a disturbing picture of a nation where official and unofficial actors have turned public infrastructure into personal toll gates.

At the heart of the scandal lies a dangerous normalisation of illegality. Illegal checkpoints operating openly with makeshift tents, broken chairs, notebooks, and beer bottles reportedly extracted millions of naira daily from truck drivers moving goods in and out of the nation’s busiest ports. Some truckers alleged they paid between N45,000 and N50,000 in unofficial charges before accessing terminals. With between 2,500 and 3,500 trucks entering the ports daily, the estimated scale of extortion, between N112 million and N157 million every day, is staggering. This is not petty corruption but an entrenched economic racket.

More troubling is the fact that many of the agencies accused of participating in these extortion schemes are institutions established to facilitate trade, maintain security, and ensure order. From the police to customs, traffic officials, and maritime operatives, the allegations reveal how public authority has, in many cases, been weaponised against economic productivity.

The implications for Nigeria’s economy are severe, as ports are the arteries of international trade. Any dysfunction within them directly affects inflation, investment, industrial production, and consumer prices. When truckers are forced to pay illegal fees at multiple checkpoints, those costs are inevitably transferred to importers, manufacturers, retailers, and ultimately ordinary Nigerians. The result is higher prices across the economy.

For manufacturers already battling unstable electricity, foreign exchange volatility, and rising logistics costs, port extortion further weakens competitiveness. Delays caused by illegal checkpoints increase turnaround time for cargo movement, disrupt supply chains, and create avoidable congestion that cripples productivity. In practical terms, Nigeria is taxing itself into inefficiency.

The situation is painful, as the government aggressively courts foreign investors and promotes ease-of-doing-business reforms, but the reality on the ground tells a different story. Investors judge nations not by policy speeches but by operational realities. A businessman whose goods spend days trapped in traffic while security operatives demand bribes at multiple checkpoints is unlikely to view Nigeria as an attractive investment destination.

This undermines the work of reform-minded agencies and damages the nation’s international reputation.

Even more alarming is the apparent sophistication and resilience of the extortion network. The report that some dismantled checkpoints reappeared barely a day after the inspection suggests that this is no isolated misconduct by rogue officers. It points instead to an organised system with deep institutional roots and possibly internal protection.

That no arrests were made during the operation, despite widespread allegations, further raises questions about the seriousness. While officials cited a lack of verifiable evidence, the visibility and persistence of these structures indicate that the problem has long been known but tolerated.

Nigeria cannot continue to operate critical economic infrastructure through informal arrangements and selective enforcement.