Fixing Nigeria’s Logistics Crisis: Oyetola, Stakeholders Demand Seamless Multimodal Infrastructure

Fixing Nigeria’s Logistics Crisis: Oyetola, Stakeholders Demand Seamless Multimodal Infrastructure

 

As Nigeria’s logistics and transportation landscape face a critical turning point, top government officials and industry experts have united to demand a shift away from the country’s heavy reliance on road travel.

Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr. Adegboyega Oyetola, alongside transport experts and industry stakeholders, specificall called for the urgent integration of road, rail, maritime, inland waterways and aviation networks to accelerate economic growth and reduce logistics costs.

The consensus emerged at the 12th Nigeria Transport Lecture organised by Transport Day Newspapers at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, where participants stressed that Nigeria cannot achieve its full economic potential without a coordinated multimodal transportation framework.

Represented by a director in the ministry, Mrs Rashidat Yusuf, Oyetola described transportation as the backbone of economic development, trade facilitation and industrial growth, noting that the maritime sector remains central to Nigeria’s international trade and must be effectively linked with other modes of transport.

According to the minister, ongoing government investments in maritime security, port modernisation, digital transformation and inland waterway development are already yielding positive results by improving cargo movement, reducing logistics bottlenecks and enhancing investor confidence.

He said recent successes in combating piracy and other maritime crimes in the Gulf of Guinea have strengthened Nigeria’s position as a regional trade hub, while efforts to improve connectivity between seaports, rail lines and highways are expected to further boost economic productivity.

Oyetola, however, identified infrastructure deficits, weak inter-agency coordination, inadequate maintenance, regulatory bottlenecks and human capacity gaps as major obstacles to the sector’s growth, urging stakeholders to collaborate in addressing the challenges.

 

Delivering the keynote lecture titled, “Multimodal Transport Safety in Nigeria: Prospects, Challenges and Contribution to National Growth Pursuant to the Renewed Hope Agenda,” former Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps and Chairman of the Council of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, Dr Boboye Oyeyemi, warned that Nigeria’s heavy dependence on road transport is undermining safety, increasing costs and limiting economic growth.

Oyeyemi disclosed that nearly 90 per cent of freight and passenger movement in the country is carried out by road, placing enormous pressure on infrastructure, accelerating road deterioration and heightening accident risks. He added that only about 40 per cent of Nigeria’s road network is paved, further compounding the challenge.

The transport expert noted that although Nigeria possesses one of Africa’s largest transportation systems, it has yet to maximise the benefits of a fully integrated multimodal network.

He pointed to ongoing rail projects, including the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Railway and the Abuja-Kaduna corridor, as evidence of progress towards reducing pressure on the roads.

He further noted that plans to achieve 24-hour port operations, improve rail connectivity to seaports and expand the commercial use of inland waterways could significantly enhance logistics efficiency and strengthen Nigeria’s competitiveness under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

In a lead paper titled, “From Port to Hinterland: Rethinking Safety Governance Along Nigeria’s Intermodal Freight Corridors,” Associate Professor of Transport and Logistics at Lagos State University, Dr Ogochukwu Ugboma, called for a fundamental shift in the management of freight transportation in Nigeria.

She argued that safety should be treated as a governance issue rather than merely an operational concern, stressing that fragmented oversight across different transport modes continues to undermine logistics efficiency and freight safety.

 

According to Ugboma, more than 85 per cent of cargoes destined for Nigeria’s hinterland leave the ports by road, contributing to congestion, infrastructure damage, truck crashes, cargo theft and supply chain disruptions.

She advocated corridor-based governance, unified safety standards, shared databases, coordinated inspections and real-time monitoring systems to improve freight movement.

Also speaking, the Registrar of the Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria, Mr Kingsley Igwe, said the country possesses immense potential to develop a world-class intermodal transportation system.

He, however, identified inadequate infrastructure connectivity, regulatory fragmentation, poor maintenance culture, security challenges, human capacity deficits and limited deployment of data and technology as major impediments to progress.

Igwe urged the government to accelerate the adoption of water-based transportation, arguing that greater use of inland waterways would ease highway congestion, reduce freight delays and lower logistics costs that contribute to inflation and rising business expenses.

 

Earlier, the Publisher and Managing Editor of Transport Day Newspapers, Frank Kintum, said the annual lecture was established to provide a platform for regulators, operators and policymakers to identify challenges and develop practical solutions for the transport sector.

Participants at the event unanimously agreed that sustained infrastructure investment, stronger safety governance and seamless integration of all transport modes are critical to building a modern transportation system capable of driving Nigeria’s economic transformation under the Renewed Hope Agenda.