Infrastructure Financing and Management: The Impact of Concession on the Operations and Performance of Nigerian Seaports

This paper study examined the effect of privatization on the performance of Nigerian seaports, using pre- and post-privatization data. A Mann-Whitney Wilcoxon (MWW) test was applied to data (secondary) on two major indices of port operation (average berth occupancy and average turn-around time). The result of the analysis showed that on average, the berth occupancy and turn-around time improved from 51.35% to 72.47% and 8.18 days to 4.83 days respectively. It was also found that at a 0.05 level of significance, the concession of Nigerian ports has significantly improved average berth occupancy and average turnaround time of the vessels calling at Nigerian ports. The study emphasises the need to provide enabling environment through the formulation and implementation of effective policies as a way of ensuring optimal performance of the concession model.