Expert: Nigeria loses N3.2 trillion annually to transport inefficiencies.

By Providence Ayanfeoluwa

Evidence suggests that Nigeria forfeits N3.2 trillion (about $4 billion) each year due to transport inefficiencies, including traffic congestion, weak modal integration, and fragmented logistics.

Dr. Oluwasegun Musa, Chairman of Global Transport Policy (GTP), made these remarks at the 2026 Annual GTP Conference held in Lagos.

He noted that logistics costs account for more than four percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), far above the global best practice benchmark of under 1.5 percent.

Musa highlighted that road transport handles nine percent of freight and passengers, whereas rail carries less than one percent. This imbalance drives up costs and emissions, and road traffic fatalities exceed 12,000 deaths with 70,000 injuries annually.

He added that only 18 percent of transport agencies have fully digitised workforce planning.

“We face a skills gap of over 200,000 trained logistics multimodal professionals. Without deliberate investment in institutional capacity and human capital, no technology or infrastructure will deliver results,” he said. “We must move from ad‑hoc training to certified continuous workforce resilience,” he added.

In his presentation, Mr. Onoruoiza Onuchi, Chief Operating Officer at GTP, stated that intra‑African trade represents 15 to 27 percent of total trade, compared with 60 percent in Europe and 40 percent in Asia.

He argued that logistics costs in Nigeria are estimated at 25 percent, with freight logistics and inefficiencies reaching up to 45 percent of total trade value, versus 5 to 10 percent in more efficient markets.