The Nigerian Shippers Council, NSC, has said that the seeming perennial poor transport connectivity remains a major obstacle to trade in the entire sub-Saharan Africa. Executive Secretary/CEO of the council, Mr. Hassan Bello, who made this observation, said that this challenge has stalled efforts by countries within subregion from achieving their potential both in terms of regional and global trade. The Nigerian Export Promotion Council, NEPC, had said recently that non-oil exporters lose over 30 per cent of their export product value to the poor transportation system, especially in the course of movement of the products from the rural areas to seaports and exports. Bello, who spoke at the just concluded Sub-regional Workshop on Transport Cost and Regional Connectivity of African Countries organised by the council in Abuja, regretted that Sub-Saharan African countries pay dearly for the poor connectivity unlike their peers in developed economies. Available statistics show that while freight as a percentage of the value of imports is only about three per cent in developing economies it is about 10 per cent. Investigation however shows that for Africa, the fi gure is estimated at about 35 per cent, especially for land locked countries. He said: “With the advent of global supply chains, a new premium is being placed on being able to move goods from A to B rapidly, reliably, and cheaply. Being able to connect to what has been referred to as the “physical internet” is fast becoming a key determinant of a country’s competitiveness”.

According to him, transportation networks represent the economic arteries of countries and regions, he said the network of transport routes and facilities all over the world can be likened to an internet. Transportation experts have consistently argued that countries that able to connect, the physical internet brings access to vast new markets while those whose links to the global logistics web are weak, the costs of exclusion are large and growing. “Whether a cause or consequence, no country has grown successfully without a large expansion of its trade”, Bello also said The NSC-boss also noted that most countries in the sub-region, including Nigeria, do not own fl eets, adding that with this, the sub-region was at the mercy of foreign shipping companies. As part of measures to improve the connectivity and lower the cost of transport, he appealed to the governments and people of the sub-region to invest in ship building and vessels ownership with a view to increasing the number of vessels plying their waters, which will promote international trade business both in the long and short term. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Transportation, Senator Hadi Sirika, while speaking at the event had said that true connectivity should be nationally, sub-regionally and internationally. This, according to him will include a multi- modal, integrated and sustainable transport system in order to foster quality connectivity within the West and Central African sub-region and indeed the rest of Africa.

The Minister argued that the seaports alone are insuffi cient to connect to the markets, adding that other modes, including road, rail and air transport, inland waterways and inland ports are also essential. To address this major obstacle to trade, he made a strong for the adoption of a holistic approach towards addressing the challenges of transport costs and connectivity. According to him, such approach must take into consideration important issues as cost effectiveness of shipping services, competitiveness and survival of national and regional operators, effi ciency of seaports, availability of coastal shipping services, protection of shippers’ interest and partnership with service providers. On Nigeria’s response to this challenge, he hinted that the Federal Government was working towards creating an enabling environment for Public- Private Partnership PPP, through designing new policies, legislation and institutional framework that would support the envisaged improvement on trade. “The government of President Muhammadu Buhari is interested in addressing the lingering challenges in trade and transport sectors of the nation’s economy”, he said. He also said that the main policy thrust of the administration is to evolve a multimodal, integrated and sustainable transport system with greater emphasis on rail and inland waterways transportation in order to foster quality of connectivity within the system.