CLOSE-UP: Abubakar Dantsoho, the new NPA boss who rose from corps member to MD

In 1992, Abubakar Dantsoho walked into the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) to work as a corps member — 32 years later, his portrait has been hung as the managing director (MD).

Born to Alhaji Dantsoho and Hajiya Turai in 1969, the new MD started his journey at the port authority during his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme.

At the time, he had just graduated with a bachelor of science (B.Sc) from the University of Maiduguri in 1992.

While Dantsoho amassed educational certificates from several tertiary institutions, earning a master of science (M.Sc.) in international transport from Cardiff University of Wales in 1999 and a doctorate degree (PhD honours) in maritime technology from John Moores University in Liverpool, United Kingdom, in 2015, the NPA is the only company he has worked for.

THREE DECADES OF PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

With over three decades on his belt working at the NPA, Dantsoho is a recipient of the port authority’s 25-year-long service and merit award.

His career trajectory at the agency is that of an intriguing ascent — rising from the level of a trainee to the apex position at NPA.

Following his service year, Dantsoho rose through the ranks, starting from the position of marketing officer at the NPA headquarters from 1993 to 1998.

He later served as a senior marketing officer between 1998 and 2006, before becoming an assistant manager of the agency’s commercial department from 2006 to 2013.

During this period, he also doubled as a special assistant and personal assistant to middle and executive managements at different levels.

Between 2013 and 2015, he was also the manager of the commercial department at the Apapa port, and later served as the senior manager at the NPA headquarters from 2014 to 2017.

His work experience included being the principal manager in the tariff and billing division of the agency from 2016 to 2019.

In 2020, Dantsoho advanced further in his career when he was appointed the port manager for Onne Port complex, however, a year later, he was bumped up to work as the managing director’s technical assistant between 2021 and 2022.

This was a short stint as he was promoted to the position of assistant general manager in 2022 and went on to become the chief of staff to Mu’azu Jaji Sambo, former minister of transportation within the same year.

COMMITTEE AND DELEGATION WORK

Apart from his robust work experience, Dantsoho has chaired several external and in-house technical committees.

Some of them include committees for the establishment of cargo tracking notes in Nigeria, the establishment of port community system (PCS), and project monitoring team.

He was also an active member of the management committee on the berthing of the Egina floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) ship and a member of the 2023 ministerial committee on the presidential transition.

Dantsoho has been a part of several national delegations to different countries in the world.

In October 2022, the maritime expert was at the 77th regular session of the general assembly of the United Nations (UNGA77) in New York.

He was also part of a delegation to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) held in London, UK, in 2010.

Dantsoho was a delegate to the World Ports Conference of the International Association of Ports and Harbors ( IAPH) in Busan, South Korea, in 2011; the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED); the Earth Summit, Rio, Brazil, in 2012; and a participant at the International and Logistics Conference in Casablanca, Morocco, in 2013.

He has completed several consultancy studies and projects for NPA such as the consultancy study by Crown Agents, UK, on NPA concessions and joint venture agreements, single window and on 25-year ports development master plan, World Bank study on private sector participation in integrated transport systems, among others.

Dantsoho also received an NPA letter of commendation for successfully berthing the Egina FPSO ship on Nigerian territorial waters in 2018.