TCAN’s Reform Package for Nigeria’s Transport Sector (2025)

On Wednesday , 24th September 2025, Transportation Correspondents Association of Nigeria (TCAN) organized a national summit on transportation which took place in Lagos on the theme: “Driving The Transport Logistics Value Chains for Economic Growth.”

A summit, according to a maritime expert, is an assembly of leaders who have come together to find solution to problems that workshops and seminars could not address.

Chairman of TCAN, Mr. Tola Adenubi, in his opening gambit at the event, told  transport sector stakeholders why the summit was organized.

According to him, the purpose of the summit which he described as  “historic”, is to deepen conversation on achieving sustainable urban mobility in Nigeria.

“At 65, Nigeria is yet to have an acceptable protocol to guide the entire transport system leaving the space open to all comers to do as they please,” the TCAN leader stressed while giving reasons for holding the summit and for choosing its main and sub-themes.

The programme of the event had many episodes such as goodwill messages, but the most entrancing of them all is the panel session which focused on the topics: “2023 Waterways Transport Code: Benefits and Challenges,” and “Intermodal Cargo Evacuation – Benefits and Challenges.”

The panel session comprised stakeholders with skills and specialist knowledge who provided advice or expressed opinions on matters affecting transportation in Nigeria.

The panelist from Nigerian Shippers Council laid emphasis on evacuating cargo by railway, by inland dry port or by inland waterways as preferred alternatives because of the difficulty of road infrastructure. He defined inland dry port as the port where there is no sea. Inland dry port reduces congestion and human contacts in seaports and accelerates transmission of cargo from seaports to the hinterland, he explained.

According to this panelist, the major instrument of effective inland dry port is the revitalization of the rail transport system, because “we want to move away from transmitting cargo by trucks.”

But the truckers representative on the occasion complained that there is no policy-driven purpose from government for the truckers.

“We still have infrastructure delay in our transportation business,” the trucker-panelist reacted, stressing: “No infrastructure to back up whatever we’re doing.”

An official of Lagos State Waterways Authority (LASWA) said that they have been able to standardize ferry passenger operations in inland waterways. “This has attracted foreign direct investment (FDI) from the EU (European Union), and French government. According to him, electric vehicle has been introduced to drive the ferry transport system, in addition to other innovations.

While suggesting that the Ministry of Marine and Blue Economy should build facilities on water, the LASWA official also made a request: “We need a floating fuel dock on the waters for boat operators,” because “this is the means of getting fuel for the boats.” He pointed out that it is usually unsafe to transport litres of fuel on boats, because doing so puts the lives of passengers at risk. He said that marine police should wear floating jackets and that there should be floating checkpoints. Also necessary is the installation of navigational light to give directions at night, the chief said.

Mr. Onwubuariri of Truck Transit Park (TTP) defined intermodal transport system as using the best possible means of transport for any cargo that needs to be evacuated.

He noted that there are a lot of abandoned rail lines in Lagos, stressing that the abandoned rail relics constitute obstacles even to road vehicles. So, the TTP chief said: “Government should reactivate the railway system and extend its operations, because it will help in the intermodal system of transportation.” He pointed out that it takes a lot of costs for a truck to go into the port to pick up a cargo, go to the warehouse or go to the market to take the cargo to the final destination. In addition, he said that a truck can only carry two containers at a time, but the rail transport can carry up to 60, 100 or even 200 containers at once and deliver them within a short time.

“Rail is a lot environmentally sustainable way of moving dry cargo, particularly containerized cargo. It also has impact on road infrastructure,” Onwubuariri emphasized.

According to him, the waterways in Nigeria are currently not fully utilized because of infrastructure policy and enforcement issues.

The TTP official reflected on upcoming ports, like Lekki port and Badagry port that is in its planning stage, and said, “If we’re going to bring in the much cargo that these ports need for optimal performance, we also need to ensure that evacuation of cargo from these ports through the waterways which we’re blessed with are optimized.” He added that Nigeria has the destination of 70 per cent of cargo that comes to West Africa. He summed up his points by stating that “optimizing intermodal transport, particularly waterways and rail systems, is critical for us to match our population and economic and infrastructure needs.”

Another contributor to the conversation disclosed that NIWA’s (Nigerian Inland Waterways Authority) online research showed that Nigeria has 10,000 kilometres of inland waterways of which 3,800km is navigable. “The inland waterways”, the speaker highlighted, “is connected to 36 States in Nigeria and to five African countries which include Chad, Cameroun, Niger Republic and Benin Republic.”

He pointed out that barges are used for moving cargo in inland and coastal waterways, but lamented that infrastructural gap, no navigational aids, as well as high cost of barge operations constitute grave challenges.

It was also pointed out that funding barge operations in Nigeria is regulated by Cabbotage Act which has provision for such things that are related to cabbotage vessel financing. Recommendation was made thus: Explore the opportunities these things have. Have good collaboration with critical stakeholders.

Questions that arose on the occasion included one that expressed wonder that with all the infrastructure in place, how many hours does it take for trucks to be called to the port for loading?

An answer that followed indicated that as at the day of this summit there has been metrics for measuring the time it takes for a truck to complete a cycle or transaction. “Going to the ports or out”, reported a stakeholder, “is about two to three days – in comparison this used to be two to three weeks before February 2021. At the moment, as at last month we deployed another metrics to measure how the terminals are efficient.”

According to the narrator, as at the previous week before the summit, it took about one hour for a truck to enter and exit the the port, while the process takes about 45 minutes in ports in Abijan.

It is hoped that as more of the operators adopt technology – AI inclusive perhaps – and integrate with the new system the efficiency is going to improve.

Stakeholders hinted on the resuscitation of Cabbotage Fund, and emphasized the insurance and financial aspect for boat operators.