By Stephen Simon
The rising cost of moving goods across Nigeria is putting additional pressure on manufacturers, importers and consumers, as infrastructure gaps, port congestion and inefficient cargo clearance continue to undermine the country’s supply chains.
Transport experts raised the concern at the Second Nigerian Transport Summit 2026 in Lagos, where stakeholders called for better integration of road, rail, maritime and inland waterway transportation.
The Director-General of the Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency, Pius Ukeyima Akutah, identified cargo clearance delays, unpredictable charges, inadequate infrastructure and poor coordination among agencies as major obstacles to efficient trade.
The scale of the problem is also reflected in the World Bank’s 2025 Logistics Performance Indicators 2.0 report. Its findings showed that only 0.2 per cent of containers at Apapa Port left within one day, while half took up to 13.4 days to exit.
The delays add to the cost of importing goods through storage charges, documentation, cargo handling, truck availability and inland transportation.
Stakeholders argued that investments in individual transport infrastructure would produce limited results without effective coordination and efficient cargo evacuation systems.The summit called for stronger collaboration among government agencies, port operators, shipping companies and transport providers.
They maintained that improving logistics efficiency would help reduce production costs, strengthen the competitiveness of Nigerian businesses and ease some of the pressure on consumer prices.
