Stakeholders advocate logistics index

Key players in Nigeria’s transport and logistics industry have renewed calls for the establishment of a Nigerian Transport Index, citing the need to improve data collection, enhance trade route efficiency, and provide a clearer measure of the sector’s contribution to the national economy.

Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr. Kayode Opeifa, made this appeal during an interview with The PUNCH, on the sidelines of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Freight Forwarders Group Conference held in Lagos on Wednesday.

Opeifa highlighted that the persistent lack of reliable transport data has significantly hindered Nigeria’s capacity to monitor economic performance and implement informed development policies.

“The Federal Government needs to create and consistently update a Nigerian Transport Index, alongside a Freight Index and Maritime Index, to enable policymakers to accurately track the transport sector’s real contribution to the economy,” he said.

He further explained, “We need to create what we call the Nigerian Transport Index. Establishing those kinds of data systems will be a good economic indicator for Nigeria and a good source of planning to get Nigeria out of multidimensional poverty.”

Dr. Opeifa emphasized that “mobility poverty” and “transportation poverty” remain unaddressed components of Nigeria’s poverty challenges, and resolving these would require strategic coordination among the Ministries of Transportation, Aviation, Maritime, Budget and National Planning, Finance, and National Productivity.

He added that although a large volume of transport-related data is being collected across the country, it exists in uncoordinated silos and is not being utilized effectively.

“The data is already there in silos all over the place. Nobody is working on it,” he lamented.

According to him, “Transport data gives a good indication of the economy, and we are not doing enough in Nigeria. We are collecting so much data, but we are not putting it to use.”

Opeifa also criticized the current format of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) reporting, which he argued misattributes revenue generated from logistics operations to the Nigeria Customs Service instead of the transport sector.

“The revenue attributed to Customs is not being generated by Customs, as it is commonly mistaken. It’s generated by freight forwarders from the transport sector. But when you allocate that revenue on the GDP template, it goes to Customs and doesn’t reflect in the logistics, transport, and mobility sector,” he explained.

In a separate interview with The PUNCH, the Chairman of the LCCI Freight Forwarders Group, Las Alli-Shobande, reinforced the importance of harmonized data systems and expressed optimism about the ongoing National Single Window project. The initiative, driven from the Office of the Vice President, is expected to integrate 21 regulatory and service agencies onto a unified digital platform to streamline cargo clearance processes.

“You cannot take away the importance of data in our business. The only thing we can look at now is the National Single Window project. It’s being driven from the office of the Vice-President, which will bring all agencies, government and private, onto one platform,” Alli-Shobande said.

He noted that the system would be most effective when all players in the sector are connected to the same platform and able to approve documentation in real-time.

“The success of the single window takes precedence over whatever data you want to have concerning our operations,” he stated.

Similarly, Chairperson of the LCCI Maritime Trade Group, Funmi Folorunso, emphasized the critical role of the private sector in championing data reform in the transport space, but noted that effective collaboration with public institutions is essential since they hold much of the relevant data.

“Data is incontrovertible evidence. You cannot say it is your opinion. We must agree that data is different from opinion. That’s the first move: asking what data we are looking at, which sources, and who is the repository,” she stated.

Folorunso stressed that the private sector must drive the development of a national transport data framework, but that the government must be willing to release key data to make the system credible and complete.

“We don’t have custody of ports information or ports data; they have. So, it must be a synergy of both,” she added.

All stakeholders at the conference were unanimous in their position that a comprehensive transport index would not only reflect the true value of Nigeria’s logistics and mobility sectors but would also be instrumental in shaping informed policies, guiding investment decisions, and supporting poverty reduction efforts.