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Nigeria Moved $157trn Worth of Goods, Services in 2025 – FG
The Federal Government has put the value of goods and services transported across Nigeria in 2025 at $157 trillion.
Technical Adviser to the Vice President on Transportation, Logistics and Innovation, Segun Obayendo, disclosed this on Thursday in Lagos at the 2026 Transport Industry Summit organised by the Transport Correspondents Association of Nigeria.
The summit was themed “Unlocking Economic Growth Through Transportation Logistics.”
Addressing the gathering, the presidential aide stressed that, “So, if a particular sector is moving and taking care of $157tn goods in value, which sector will be most important to any government? I’m not being biased because I’m into, I mean, the sector. It should be transportation,” Obayendo said.
According to him, the transport sector should be most critical to any local government, state government and the Federal Government. “As a matter of fact, I think Adam Smith is wrong to have propounded the factors of production and did not include transportation,” he said.
Emphasising the economic value of transportation, the presidential aide said, “It’s either we have transportation, or our economy is doomed.”
He also identified logistics as a major driver of the nation’s economy.
“If you look at what logistics has been able to do to manufacturing, to agriculture, to mining, e-commerce, tourism, which was alluded to in different goodwill messages here that we got here today, it can only be an efficient system that can cut waste and that can make goods and services cheaper,” he said.
According to him, global best practice says seven per cent should be for logistics and transport for the purpose of distribution.
“But when you are taking your goods to market, by the time you add the cost of logistics and transport and what have you to it, you are not adding less than 30 per cent. It’s in the neighbourhood of 23, 25, 30 per cent depending on the source where you are bringing the goods from,” he said.
Also speaking at the summit, the Minister of Marine and Blue Economy, Dr Adegboyega Oyetola, said comprehensive seaport modernisation would improve efficiency, capacity and competitiveness across Nigeria’s transportation and logistics system.
Oyetola, represented by Paul Garnuwa, Director, Inland Transport Services, Nigerian Ports Economic Regulatory Agency, said transportation logistics directly influenced investment, production, trade and employment through the cost, speed, reliability and predictability of moving goods across Nigeria.
The minister said ports and waterways must function as interconnected components of the wider transport chain, alongside roads, rail, warehouses and distribution networks nationwide.
Oyetola said the Federal Government was focusing on improving maritime infrastructure and efficiency to strengthen Nigeria’s capacity to participate competitively in regional and global trade.
He announced that Nigeria would commence its most ambitious seaport modernisation programme in more than five decades, following approval by President Bola Tinubu.
According to him, the programme covers Apapa and Tin Can Island Ports, Onne, Rivers, Calabar and Warri ports, with major infrastructure improvements planned nationwide.
He said the programme would involve reconstructing quay walls, deepening channels, replacing obsolete cargo-handling equipment and further digitalising terminal and gate operations.
Oyetola said the modernisation programme was designed to increase capacity, reduce vessel and cargo delays, lower logistics costs and strengthen Nigeria’s maritime gateways.
He noted that port delays affected manufacturers, exporters, transport operators, distributors and consumers, stressing that inefficiencies at ports ultimately affected the entire logistics chain.
The minister said Nigeria’s improving port performance had received international recognition through the 2025 Container Port Performance Index produced by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence.
He said Tin Can Island Port ranked 10th while Lagos Port Complex, Apapa, ranked 12th among the world’s 20 most improved container ports between 2020 and 2025.
Oyetola said the recognition was encouraging but reinforced the need to sustain reforms aimed at achieving shorter turnaround times and predictable cargo movement.
He also announced the removal of the United States Coast Guard’s Conditions of Entry on vessels arriving from Nigeria after 12 years of additional security requirements.
According to him, the decision followed sustained efforts to strengthen compliance with international security standards, improve access controls and address identified port-security gaps.
He said the development would strengthen confidence in Nigeria’s port-security arrangements while removing additional procedures affecting vessels travelling between Nigerian and United States ports.
Oyetola said the ministry was also working with state governments and private investors to develop deep seaports across several coastal states, including Akwa Ibom and Bayelsa.
Others, he said, were Cross River, Ogun, Ondo and Rivers, adding that the projects would expand capacity, create maritime corridors and reduce pressure on existing gateways.
He said the Federal Government would provide regulatory frameworks, facilitate inter-agency coordination and support viable public-private partnerships to accelerate sustainable port development across the country.
Oyetola said the Nigeria Ports Economic Regulatory Agency Act 2026 would provide a permanent framework for regulating tariffs, charges, service standards, competition and protection of port users.
