By CHIDIEBERE NWANKWO
Nigeria can harness its logistics industry to generate up to 50% of the country’s annual budget.
This is the view of the Executive Chairman, Courier and Logistics Management Institute (CLMI), and pioneer Head of the Courier Regulatory Department (CRD) of NIPOST, Professor Simon Emeje, at the just-concluded CLMI International Conference & Investiture 2025, held in Lagos.
Other stakeholders also corroborated this view, noting that it has become very necessary that the current government give the sector adequate attention.
According to Prof. Emeje, “This industry can generate no less than 50% of the annual budget of any country at all, including Nigeria.
“This is an industry that has a global capacity of no less than $60 trillion worth of market value.
It’s a huge industry. And going down to Nigeria, we have a market value of no less than N35 trillion, which by exchange rate today, is no less than about $60 billion.”
While calling for government attention, he further stated: “Our revenue, whatever it is, our budget, whatever it is, even in the United States or wherever, whatever is the annual budget, wherever we are operating from, we can generate no less than 50% on the conservative side. And if an industry can produce this, you will agree with me, therefore that it’s an industry to pay attention to. We are sounding this again and again because we want our country to be better than what it is.”
Some of the measures proffered by the stakeholders include re-evaluation of funding priorities to favour the industry; public-private collaboration; government involvement of logistics professionals in national and urban enterprises planning to ensure seamless implementation of various projects; creating synergy among regulators, operators, financiers, and innovators that will create sustainable growth; and dismantling NIPOST’s regulator-operator position.
Prof Emeje said: “Our regulation is still merged with operation, and that is not professionally acceptable. We are calling on the government once again that we should look into it, look at the postal service, look at the regulatory environment, and pay attention to this industry.”
Chairman of the Occasion and Chairman, Senate Committee on Communications, Senator Aliyu Ikra Bilbis, noted that with the contribution of the courier industry to the GDP of Nigeria amounting to a minimum of 4.5%, the entire worth of this industry, which is about $35 trillion, and all important governance role of this sector for the citizenry and enterprises, are reasons for the current government to give the sector adequate attention
“The government regulatory policies should be reformed to create a more uniform environment for the operators in this industry. Perceiving the contribution of the industrial and career industry to the GDP of Nigeria amounted to a minimum of 4.5%, the entire worth of this industry, which is about $35 trillion, and then all important governance role of this sector for the citizenry and enterprises. It has become very necessary that the current government should be given the sector adequate attention
Consequently, owing to the importance of logistics, it is worthwhile to start introducing this subject in the curriculum of secondary and tertiary institutions,” Sen. Bilbis opined.
Chairman, Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Senator Adedayo Clement Adeyeye, in his Keynote observed that no economy grows faster than its logistics network allows. “In Nigeria, over 80% of our international trade by volume and 70% by value is maritime-based, which makes the Nigerian Ports Authority a strategic driver of national wealth and industrial growth.”
Senator Adeyeye, who was represented by Senator Bosun Oladele, disclosed that the NPA is moving towards 100% digital operations in documentation, vessel scheduling and cargo delivery, thereby minimizing delays and human interference. “The next step is infrastructure modernization.”
Senator Bilbis, while speaking on the sidelines of the conference, gave the assurance that the Courier Bill will be revisited in a bid to reassess its content: “The Courier Bill is very important to revisit. I will personally go through it to understand exactly the content of the bill before presenting it to the National Assembly. I will also speak to my colleagues in the National Assembly and in the House of Representatives to support the bill, because this is a bill that really needs to be supported by everyone in Nigeria, and not only by members of the National Assembly.”
