…as IMO emissions deadlines close in
Nigeria’s stevedores, who oversee the loading and offloading of cargo at the nation’s busiest ports, are pushing for access to proper financing with sights set on the Green Climate Fund (GCF) pipeline that could deliver an overhaul of ageing, emissions-heavy port equipment.
Bolaji Sunmola, president of the National Association of Stevedoring Operators (NASO), speaking at the 2026 Shipping Correspondents Association of Nigeria (SCAN) Dockworkers Day in Apapa, Lagos this week, called on the Federal Government and the Nigerian Ports Authority to develop an industry-wide equipment upgrade roadmap “calibrated to what Nigerian stevedoring operators can realistically achieve” and supported by the GCF financing framework which it says the Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) is now tapping.
The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is the world’s largest climate fund, established by 194 governments to help developing countries limit greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate change.
The ask has urgency behind it. The International Maritime Organisation has mandated a minimum 20 percent reduction in shipping emissions by 2030 and net-zero by 2050, deadlines Sunmola described as “operational imperatives with real-world consequences for market access, trade competitiveness, and cargo routing decisions” affecting every Nigerian port terminal and dockworker.
