Nigeria's Transport Woes and Their Heavy Costs

Nigeria has spent over $200 billion on infrastructure since 2000. Yet, a businessman cannot travel between two cities in a day without losing time. The transport sector is vital for every economy. Ours is stuck on the road, and until that changes, our promised growth will only be talk.

I flew three times last week. I went from Lagos to Asaba, then from Asaba to Abuja, and finally back from Abuja to Lagos. Only one flight was on time: XE Jet from Abuja to Lagos on Wednesday, 23 September. The other two were late, with one experiencing the typical delays we see in Nigerian air travel.

On 18 September, my 1:30 p.m. flight with United Nigeria from Lagos to Asaba did not leave until around 6 p.m. Passengers were upset, and their anger had a clear reason. They accused the airline of merging two flights because there were not enough passengers. Whether true or not, this shows what travelers expect these days. I sued Aero Contractors in 2018 for a delayed flight. The case went nowhere, and I eventually dropped it. That is our system: you can sue, but winning is another story, and you may not want to keep trying.

At Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, we saw the outcome of this situation. Passengers scheduled for an 8 p.m. Air Peace flight to Lagos, already delayed for hours, were told late that their flight was cancelled. They blocked the boarding gate and decided that if they were not flying, nobody else would. Passengers on other airlines found themselves stuck in the concourse. Air Peace blamed a lack of Jet A-1 fuel and the sunset restrictions at Maiduguri. Both problems are known, and both are real. An airline that schedules a flight into a curfew airport when fuel is low and acts surprised when it misses the window is showing poor judgment.

The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority released some numbers in August. Out of 7,961 domestic flights, 4,765 were delayed. That means 59.9 percent were late! Only 36 flights were cancelled, suggesting airlines prefer to keep their planes on the ground rather than cancel flights. Air Peace delayed 1,330 of 1,864 flights. United Nigeria delayed 943 out of 1,231 flights, which is a rate of 76.6 percent. Nationally, 642 flights were delayed by two hours or more.

Our 2025 video essay, “Nigeria’s roads: A crisis in infrastructure,” examined the national situation. Agricultural routes suffer when the journey for food stretches from hours into days on bad roads, ruining perishable goods and raising food prices. We talked to truck and bus operators and found many issues like flat tyres, broken suspensions, and vehicle failures.

The careless treatment of transport does not just affect air travel. On Tuesday, 15 September, I left a meeting in Anthony Village at 4:15 p.m. with the fuel light on. I bought 30 litres of fuel. By the time I parked in Magodo, the fuel light was on again. I got home just after midnight. I felt like I had burned my money.

SBM Intelligence has been tracking these issues for years. In 2020, their study, Transportation in Lagos, looked at commuter routes from Ikeja. The trip to CMS took 64 minutes, and coming back took 65 minutes. Ikeja to Ikorodu took 80 minutes. Ikeja to Badagry took six hours and 39 minutes going and four hours and 28 minutes back. Ikeja to Epe took four hours and 28 minutes outbound. Even the water route from Ebute to Falomo and CMS took an hour and 17 minutes going and two hours and one minute returning. Lagos has less than 5,000 kilometres of paved roads. The waterways authority recorded about 1.2 million monthly water commuters, a small fraction of total transit. This is because of poor jetties and conflicts between federal and state authorities. The report compared costs with Cairo, New Delhi, and Dhaka, showing how long commutes force workers to live close to business areas during the week.

Our 2025 video essay, “Nigeria’s roads: A crisis in infrastructure,” looked at the national picture. Agricultural routes suffer when food transport takes too long over bad roads, ruining goods and increasing food prices. We spoke to truck and bus operators and discovered many flat tyres, broken suspensions, and vehicle failures. Vehicles stuck on remote routes are also at risk of kidnapping and robbery. We highlighted the Bauchi-Kano route, the Lagos-Sagamu expressway, and traffic jams in Lagos and Port Harcourt. High vehicle costs and extra fuel usage from driving over potholes affect the prices we pay.

The average commuter spends 2.21 hours in traffic every day. The city loses about 14.12 million productive hours each day. The aviation sector adds between $1.7 billion and $2.5 billion to GDP each year and supports over 216,000 jobs. But overall, the transport sector contributes less than three percent of GDP, and poor transport infrastructure raises business costs by 30 to 40 percent.

The Danne Institute says Lagos traffic costs about ₦4 trillion each year in lost productivity, wasted fuel, and missed business chances. That is about four percent of GDP. The average commuter spends 2.21 hours in traffic daily, causing the city to lose around 14.12 million productive hours each day. Aviation contributes between $1.7 billion and $2.5 billion to GDP yearly and supports over 216,000 jobs. But the transport sector overall contributes less than three percent of GDP. Poor transport infrastructure adds an estimated 30 to 40 percent to business costs. The Chartered Institute of Transport Administration has stated that reaching the $1 trillion economy target by 2030 is impossible without fixing transport issues. They are being nice. It is not hard; it is impossible.

The proof from other countries is clear. China’s high-speed rail has linked inland cities to the national economy, with corridor cities growing 1.2 percentage points faster than the national average. Every ¥100 million invested has brought back more than ¥200 million in GDP. The Jakarta-Bandung railway reduced a three-hour trip to just 46 minutes. Indonesia’s Brantas Tarum Barat project found that every rupiah invested created 2.59 rupiahs in value. The ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development expects the Bauchi roads and bridges program to return 14 to 16 percent annually and create 7,000 jobs.

Nigeria has spent over $200 billion on infrastructure since 2000. Yet, a businessman cannot travel between two cities in a day without losing time. The transport sector is vital for every economy. Ours is stuck on the road, and until that changes, the growth we keep promising will remain just talk.