Chinedu Eze
Experts who are into domestic and international freighting of goods and services have projected the logistics market in Nigeria to be about $60 billion annually with huge growth potential if the country would harness agro produce opportunities at its behest.
Speaking during the Chinet Aviacargo Conference in Lagos yesterday, the CEO of Chisco Logistics Limited, Obinna Anyaegbu, said Nigeria has great opportunity to be the number one exporter of agro-produce in Africa because it has the most expansive land with fertile soil from the mangrove to the Sahel and temperate climate that enables the country to grow all kinds of crops for export and local consumption, if only the country is prepared to harness these opportunities.
Anyaegbu who disclosed that his company was into heavy duty haulage, which brings goods from different parts of the country for export through the ports and by air, said, “Chinese people want to eat our bananas, plantain and pineapples. We have one of the most nutritious fruits in the world but demand and supply are not meeting at the moment and that is why Chisco Express wants to bridge this gap.
“We have always made assets available for traders and this is what we have done for the last 40 years. But government and the regulatory bodies have to be involved.
“We have seen aviation investments go bad, so if we have to do this in the aviation sector, we want to ensure we do this correctly with the government parastatals and traders that have contracts for supply in Europe and other parts of the world.”
He explained that there are cargo planes and passenger bellies that go out of Nigeria empty, but there are also rotten fruits in the farm, showing a huge gap to be addressed. And this he said was why Chisco Logistics was trying to consolidate and see how the company as a logistic solution could provide solutions in this regard.
“When you look at the GDP of the country, about 10 to 13 percent is from the Logistics sector because this is about commerce and production. We eat and drink every day and things have to move around.
“We need to pay for logistics. Nigeria’s logistics market is about $60 billion market. If you say our GDP is $500 to $600 billion market, so 10 percent of this will amount to about $60 billion,” he explained.
He recalled that two years ago, Chisco Logistics leased an aircraft for cargo export but did not get cargoes to fill the aircraft.
“We have leased an airplane two years ago, doing Lagos-Accra when our vehicle service was down. Every single day, we move from Lagos to Accra with buses and trucks. But when COVID-19 hit, we leased an airplane but we had no goods to move. It was a 14 tonne Boing B737 airplane and we were struggling to get two tonnes in a week.
“We observed that the biggest player on the route was DHL and they are bringing about 70 to 80 tonnes of cargo into Nigeria and move it across West Africa.
“So it is mostly imported goods that are moving via the African routes. Kenya is taking out a lot and they have great supply contract. This is because they meet the international standards,” the CEO, Chisco Logistics said.
President Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association of Nigeria, Alex Nwuba, said there are comparative advantages as regards where cargo airports are built which presents opportunities for traders, farmers and airlines, noting that the Anambra cargo airport could be fully utilised to move agro-produce.
The Managing Director, Cornerstone Insurance PLC, Ganiyu Musa, who spoke on the topic: ‘The Role of Insurance in Growing Aviation and Cargo Business in Nigeria,’ said the balance sheets of all insurance companies in Nigeria put together was about $1billion.
