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Cote d’Ivoire, others ahead of Nigeria on global logistics hub

By Gloria Ehiaghe
25 April 2017   |   4:00 am
A recent report by the World Bank index on logistics competence placed Cote d’ Ivoire, Senegal, and Sao Tome respectively above Nigeria in the ranking on global logistics hub.

A recent report by the World Bank index on logistics competence placed Cote d’ Ivoire, Senegal, and Sao Tome respectively above Nigeria in the ranking on global logistics hub.

Based on the report, Nigeria occupies the fourth position, while Cote d ’Ivoire tops the hub.

For Nigeria to be in the top bracket on the global hub in Africa, it must have an efficient logistics competence and capacity while its vision and strategies must be developed.

An expert in logistics and supply chain, Alban Igwe, said at the public presentation of a book: “Freight Forwarding in Global Logistics and Supply Chain,” the country must develop its infrastructure and human capital to breed experts who are knowledgeable in the field.

Said Igwe, who is also the Deputy National President of Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, said: “How to deal with logistics competence is when we change orientation, get men and women who understand what we are talking about, and then we can begin to see that we can totally compete logistically. Even if we don’t manufacture anything yet, we can encourage ourselves to sit up and improve on areas of logistics competence.”

Citing instances of some countries that do not have oil but have made themselves a logistics hub in different services, he said Nigeria can borrow a leaf from a country like Singapore, which rose from being a third world country to the first.

The author of the book, Milton Ofobrukweta, explained that the role of the freight forwarder in global logistics and supply chain is not fully understood as the skills and knowledge required by individuals to prepare them for the job of freight forwarding were yet to be harnessed.

He further said: “Logistically speaking, we have a logistic advantage to develop ourselves with Africa being at the centre of the world, and when you come to Africa, you find Nigeria is well located.

God has logistically positioned us to be the centre to the world, but unfortunately, we have not developed our capacity enough to actually exploit this through technology.

So, that is why Europe has taken the role and they are using it very well at a global cost”.

“There are those who don’t have oil and they are competing on logistics. Singapore, for instance, became independent in 1965, five years after Nigeria. They were a third world country; they don’t have oil but they have refineries. They made themselves a logistics hub on services based on technology; they receive about a thousand ships a day. They are about number one in almost everything,” Igwe noted.

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