One chart shows Nigeria’s trade indicator loss under Buhari

Nigeria last year recorded an improvement in its Logistics Performance Index, a measure of countries’ ability to move goods across borders with speed and reliability.

Nigeria moved 22 places to rank 88, according to World Bank’s latest assessment.

But overall, it was not an impressive outcome for the outgoing Buhari administration as the performance fell below the pre-2015 level when the government came to power.

In 2014, a year before President Muhammadu Buhari took office, Nigeria’s logistics performance stood at 75. The figure fell despite the government’s commitment to improving the ease of doing business, reaching 90 in 2016 and 110 in 2018.

There were no assessments in the last three years as the Covid-19 pandemic caused a major supply chain disruption around the world.

– Unreliable supply chain

The LPI, which covers 139 countries, measures the ease of establishing reliable supply chain connections and the structural factors that make it possible. Such factors include the quality of logistics services, trade and transport-related infrastructure, and border controls.

It effectively measures a country’s attractiveness for international trade and uses indicators relating to aviation, shipping, parcel delivery, customs and inter-country road operations.

“Logistics are the lifeblood of international trade, and trade in turn is a powerful force for economic growth and poverty reduction,” said Mona Haddad, Global Director for Trade, Investment, and Competitiveness at the World Bank.

“The Logistics Performance Index helps developing countries identify where improvements can be made to boost competitiveness.”

The report says that end-to-end supply chain digitalization, especially in emerging economies, is allowing countries to shorten port delays by up to 70% compared to those in developed countries. Moreover, demand for green logistics is rising, with 75% of shippers looking for environmentally friendly options when exporting to high income countries.

“While most time is spent in shipping, the biggest delays occur at seaports, airports, and multimodal facilities. Policies targeting these facilities can help improve reliability,” said Christina Wiederer, Senior Economist with the World Bank Group’s Macroeconomics, Trade & Investment Global Practice and the report’s co-author.

– Nigeria against Africa

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria, are among the lowest performing in the index, meaning imports and exports take longer there. South Africa was the only African country to rank among the top 20 countries.

Landlocked nations such as Burkina Faso and the Central African Republic suffer from prolonged delays as they depend on their neighbour’s constrained port facilities and inadequate road or rail networks to import and export goods.

Still, some with seaports like Nigeria experience longer delays than the average European or North American country. The report highlights that port congestion is one of the primary reasons behind extensive delays, with Nigeria being a prime example of notorious slow port operations, with goods often taking several weeks to clear.

On average while it takes about 5.3 days to get a container through a port in South African and 4.3 days in Mauritius, it takes an average of 16.2 days in Nigeria, according to the report.

Mirroring its predecessors

In a way, the performance of the Buhari administration mirrors the achievement of its immediate predecessor, the Yarádua/Jonathan administration, according to a Pluboard’s analysis of the rankings from 2007.

The Yarádua government started with 93 in 2007 before the figures fell to 100 in 2010 when President Goodluck Jonathan took over. The decline continued to 121 in 2012 before the country recorded a big jump to 75 in 2014 as the administration came to an end.

Nigeria shares its current position with Mali, Bangladesh, Guinea-Bissau, Russia, Congo Republic, Guatemala, Dominican Republic and Uzbekistan.