Poor Connectivity Costs Nigeria N3.6tn in Transport Losses, Experts Warn

Dr. Obiora Madu, Director-General of the Africa Centre for Supply Chain, has revealed that Nigeria loses more than N3.6 trillion annually to inefficiencies and distortions within its transportation and logistics sector.

Madu cautioned that disjointed transport networks are severely hampering business operations, particularly for small-scale enterprises, and stunting the sector’s overall contribution to economic growth. He made this known during the BusinessDay Mobility and Logistics Conference in Lagos, where industry stakeholders advocated for an integrated transport system to lower logistics costs and enhance national competitiveness.

Emphasizing that infrastructure expansion alone is insufficient without modal coordination, Madu stated:

“If we don’t get the logistics right, the small-scale businesses would not be optimised. We do not need digital islands, we do not need superlative infrastructure, what we need is connected systems.”

He stressed that a resilient ecosystem relies on seamless linkages between infrastructure, businesses, and distribution networks, rather than isolated investments in individual components.

Echoing this sentiment, Dr. Kayode Opeifa, Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), highlighted that integrating transport modes is vital for Nigeria’s economic resilience.

Speaking on the theme, ‘Scaling the Future: Building a Resilient and Efficient Mobility and Logistics Ecosystem in Nigeria,’ Opeifa noted that current network deficiencies drive up logistics costs, cause delivery delays, lower productivity, and ultimately inflate the prices of goods and services.

Opeifa advocated for a complementary approach across rail, road, maritime, and air transport. He emphasized rail’s strategic capacity to move high volumes of freight over long distances, which would ease highway congestion and fortify connections between seaports, industrial clusters, inland terminals, and urban centres.

“Rail should not be viewed as a competitor to road, maritime or air transportation, but each should continue to develop as complementary components of an effective integrated transport system,” Opeifa stated.

He clarified that while road transport remains essential for cargo collection and last-mile delivery, and maritime transport anchors international trade, inland terminals facilitate crucial cargo handling. Rail, he added, provides the high-capacity linkage between these facilities and centres of production and consumption.

Opeifa concluded that optimizing these modes through effective coordination will lower costs, promote regional commerce, and elevate the global competitiveness of Nigerian products.