Transport

With Africa’s largest economy and its biggest population, Nigeria’s growth potential has been widely reported; however, long-term bottlenecks have prevented the country from realising that potential. The transport sector has been identified over the years as one of those bottlenecks. As a result of decades of poor maintenance and underinvestment in new capacity, the sector is marked by congestion, inefficiency and high overheads. Therefore, transport infrastructure and the logistics sector were identified as key elements of the March 2017 Economic Growth and Recovery Plan – President Muhammadu Buhari’s strategy for the country’s post-recession development. Officials have stated that public sector spending alone cannot address all of the challenges facing the sector, however, leading to a shift towards improving the business environment in order to attract new private investment in rolling stock, infrastructure and facility management.

This chapter contains interviews with Hadi Sirika, Minister of Aviation; and Hadiza Bala Usman, Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority.