Stakeholders in the transport and logistics industry have called for a Nigerian transport index to strengthen data collection, enhance trade route efficiency, and provide a more accurate measure of the sector’s contribution to the economy.
Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Dr. Kayode Opeifa, in an interview with The PUNCH, observed that the lack of reliable transport data has limited the country’s ability to track economic progress and implement effective development policies. He spoke on the sidelines of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s Freight Forwarders Group Conference held in Lagos on Wednesday.
Opeifa noted that the Federal Government has to set up and consistently update a Nigerian Transport Index, alongside a Freight Index and Maritime Index, to enable policymakers to track the sector’s real contribution to the economy.
He said, “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.”
He identified “mobility poverty” and “transportation poverty” as overlooked dimensions of poverty directly linked to the sector’s performance. The NRA chief argued that resolving these aspects of Nigeria’s poverty would require collaboration between the Transportation, Aviation, Maritime, Budget, Finance, and National Productivity ministries.
“The data is already there in silos all over the place. Nobody is working on it,” he lamented.
According to Opeifa, “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.”
He criticised the current Gross Domestic Product reporting format, which he said wrongly attributes logistics-generated revenue 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.
Similarly, in an interview with The PUNCH, the Chairman of the LCCI Freight Forwarders Group, Las Alli-Shobande, highlighted the importance of harmonised data systems and expressed confidence in the government-led national single window project, which aims to integrate 21 relevant agencies onto one digital platform for streamlined cargo clearance.
Alli-Shobande remarked, “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.
He emphasised that having all players in the sector “hooked on that single window,” ensuring they can approve any documentation at a specific time, is critical.
“The success of the single window takes precedence over whatever data you want to have concerning our operations,” the LCCI Freight Forwarders Group chair maintained.
Meanwhile, Chairperson of the LCCI Maritime Trade Group, Funmi Folorunso, said the private sector must lead the push for better transport data, supported by public institutions that hold critical information.
Folorunso stated, “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 added that while the private sector must drive the development of a national transport data system, government agencies must release relevant information to ensure completeness and accuracy.
“We don’t have custody of ports information or ports data; they have. So, it must be a synergy of both,” she said.
The stakeholders maintained that a robust transport index would highlight the true value of the logistics and mobility sector and serve as a powerful tool for policymaking, investment decisions, and poverty reduction strategies.
