BUILDING THE SUPPLY CHAINS THAT WILL MOVE AFRICA’S TRADE

Africa’s ambition to deepen intra African trade is entering a more demanding phase. The African Continental Free Trade Area has created the framework for a larger continental market. The harder task is making the systems behind that market work efficiently across borders.

 

Nigeria’s ports offer a current indication of the challenge.

In the first half of 2026, cargo throughput at Nigerian ports increased by 12.2 percent to 68.3 million metric tonnes, while vessel calls rose 6.9 percent to 2,300. Yet average vessel turnaround time increased from 5.0 days in the first half of 2025 to 5.3 days. Five of the seven ports covered in the Nigerian Ports Authority review recorded longer turnaround times. At Lekki Port, turnaround increased from 2.1 days to 3.3 days.

The figures reveal a tension that matters beyond Nigeria. More cargo and more vessel activity do not automatically produce greater efficiency.

For a continent seeking to increase trade within its own market, that distinction is critical.

Dr. Obiora Madu, Chairman of Multimix Group and a trade, logistics and supply chain expert, said Africa needs to move beyond viewing trade primarily through national boundaries and begin organising around continental value creation.

 

“Agreements do not move goods; supply chains do.”

A product may be produced in one African country, processed in another, packaged in a third and consumed in a fourth. If each stage is treated simply as a separate national transaction, the supply chain becomes burdened by multiple borders, procedures and regulatory systems.

 Organising that activity as one African value chain shifts the focus towards how efficiently production, logistics, finance, information and markets connect across those jurisdictions.

 That places greater importance on the corridors linking African economies.

 “A road is infrastructure. A corridor is an economic system,” Madu said.

For a corridor to become an economic system, he identified connectivity, trade facilitation, productive capacity, logistics services and market access as interconnected requirements.

A road can connect two markets while customs delays, poor warehousing, fragmented regulation or limited production capacity continue to constrain the movement and value of goods.

 Dr. Kofi Mbiah, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Chamber of Shipping, has similarly highlighted trade facilitation as a critical condition for African commerce.

Mbiah has identified complex customs and administrative procedures, inefficient and costly transit systems, informal checkpoints and the lack of harmonised trade procedures, standards, regulations and documentation as persistent barriers to intra African trade. He has also emphasised efficient ports, competitive port costs, speedy cargo delivery, intermodal connections and effective human resources as important conditions for trade facilitation.

Those challenges are visible in Nigeria’s current port performance.

The NPA data shows that cargo throughput and vessel calls increased in the first half of 2026 while average vessel turnaround also increased.

 Five of the seven ports covered by the review recorded deterioration in turnaround performance.

The NPA is responsible for the administration and management of Nigeria’s ports, including port infrastructure, facilities, marine services and the coordination of port operations.

Against that responsibility, the deterioration in vessel turnaround represents a measurable efficiency issue within the port system.

The increase at Lekki is particularly significant. Average turnaround moved from 2.1 days in the first half of 2025 to 3.3 days in the first half of 2026, even as activity across the national port system increased.

The figures raise a straightforward question: are existing port capacity and operations keeping pace with growing demand?

Madu said infrastructure alone does not create logistics performance. The operating architecture around the infrastructure matters.

Customs processes, regulatory duplication, fragmented government agencies, poor information flows, inefficient truck utilisation, warehousing and supply chain visibility can all influence how effectively infrastructure performs.

This is increasingly relevant as Nigeria and other African economies invest in digital trade systems.

Nigeria launched the first phase of its National Single Window in March 2026 as part of efforts to simplify interactions between traders and government agencies involved in cargo clearance.

 Madu’s assessment is that digital transformation must begin with process transformation.

“You cannot digitise what is not in existence,” he said.

 A fragmented process can be transferred onto a digital platform without removing the fragmentation. The result may be electronic bureaucracy rather than genuine trade facilitation.

For digitalisation to improve African trade, information needs to move more easily across agencies and borders, supported by interoperable systems, common data standards, electronic documentation, digital identities and cargo visibility.

Mbiah’s work on African trade facilitation has similarly emphasised coordinated systems, harmonised procedures and efficient port processes as necessary conditions for reducing friction when goods move across borders.

The broader issue is the relationship between infrastructure and economic performance.

 

 Industry stakeholders have said significantly greater capacity and faster cargo clearance will be necessary to support Nigeria’s ambition of becoming a $1 trillion economy.

 But capacity is only part of the equation.

A port can have additional berths, deeper channels and modern equipment and still underperform if vessels, cargo, trucks, customs processes, terminal operations and government agencies are not sufficiently coordinated.

The same principle applies across Africa’s emerging trade corridors.

The physical movement of goods must connect with production.

Madu argues that logistics should therefore be considered part of Africa’s industrialisation strategy rather than simply a cost of doing business.

Agricultural commodities illustrate the point. A supply chain that connects farmers to aggregation, packaging, cold chain, transportation, finance and manufacturing allows more economic activity to remain within the continent before products reach consumers.

The same applies to minerals and other natural resources.

For Africa, increasing trade volumes without increasing the value retained from that trade would leave a significant part of the AfCFTA opportunity unrealised.

Mbiah has previously argued that Africa’s regional economic blocs also need stronger integration if the continental free trade framework is to achieve its objectives. The continent cannot operate an effective continental market if the regional systems beneath it remain poorly connected.

Madu approaches the same challenge from the supply chain perspective.

He said Africa needs people who can connect policy, technology, operations, finance and execution. The capability required goes beyond managing individual logistics functions. It requires understanding how decisions in one part of the supply chain affect production, trade, investment and market access elsewhere.

Taken together, the evidence points to an interconnected system.

AfCFTA provides the continental framework.

 Ports provide gateways. Roads and railways provide connectivity. Customs and regulatory institutions determine how goods cross jurisdictions. Digital systems connect information. Logistics providers connect production to markets. Finance enables participation. Manufacturing determines how much value remains within Africa.

The performance of one component increasingly affects the others.

Nigeria’s port data provides a practical example.

 Rising cargo volumes demonstrate growing demand, while longer vessel turnaround times show that increased activity does not automatically translate into increased efficiency.

For Nigeria’s port system, the issue is measurable. More cargo is moving through the ports, but vessels are taking longer to turn around at most of the ports covered by the NPA review.

Across Africa, the same operational challenge extends to the corridors that will carry AfCFTA trade.

The continental market is being built. The supply chain architecture required to make that market work is still being developed.

PRIMEAXIS INSIGHT

Africa’s trade integration will increasingly be measured by what happens after agreements are signed.

The decisive indicators will be how quickly goods cross borders, how efficiently ports and corridors handle growing volumes, how effectively digital systems remove friction, and how much production and value remain within the continent.

AfCFTA provides the framework. The performance of Africa’s supply chains will determine how much of its economic potential becomes reality.