Oscillating Seaport Location in Nigeria∗

Neither a deduction from Bird's Anyport model nor the portoutport model completely explains the shifting location of Nigerian seaports from the interior to the coast, then back to the interior, and most recently back to the coast. The western and eastern Niger Delta and the Lagos and Calabar areas show broadly the same sequence of changes, despite their differences in physical structure. Sociopolitical influences, changes in the volume and nature of traffic, and technological developments in transport are the major determinants of shifts.