The World Economic Forum report, 2011-2012, in terms of the quality of overall infrastructure, ranked Nigeria at 125 out of 142 countries, with a value of 3.0 (1.3 below the mean value). Cameroon was ranked at 122 and Ghana at 90. With regard to road quality, Nigeria was ranked at 120, with port infrastructure at 117, railroad quality at 104 and air transport quality at 104.
There are almost 200,000 km of roads in Nigeria, 15 % of them paved (2012). There are over 3,500 km of railway and much of the network is single track. The main international airports include Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Abuja (35km from the city), Kano and Port Harcourt, and some of the main domestic airports are to be found in Benin City, Calabar and Enugu. Airlines operating out of these airports include Arik Air, Delta Air Lines, Middle East Airlines, Virgin Nigeria, United Airlines and US Airways.
Southern Nigeria is well connected by a bus service but further north it is more typical to travel in shared taxis. Motorcycle taxis are widespread in the cities and outskirts. There are numerous car rental companies, and major hotels offer cars for hire with drivers.
Taxi companies in Nigeria include Orangecabs, Cabintech taxi cab and Diplomat Lagos Taxi Service. Car hire companies include Unity Global Ventures and Avis. A number of companies offer bus services as well as car hire and other services. Examples include Rivers Transport Company Ltd and Cross Country Ltd.
The two main forms of freight shipping are road and sea: road freight accounted for 53.9% of the total Nigerian freight market, while sea freight made up 45.9% of the market in 2009.
Key public agencies include the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority, the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the Nigerian Ports Authority. The Federal Ministry of Transport is headquartered in Abuja.
Since the establishment of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), the government gained a monopoly over the railways. In recent decades, the railways have undergone a number of modernisation projects, with the help of funding from the Ministry of Transport.
The federal, state and local governments provide road infrastructure via the Ministries of Works. Since 2005 government road has been concessioned to the private sector in public-private partnerships. The Road Maintenance Agency is responsible for the maintenance and inspection of all existing federal trunk roads.
Under the Ports Act, the federal government permits private companies to be concessionaires to operate at the ports. The Minister of Transport possesses the right to give out licences to private citizens or foreigners to use the water front for commercial purposes.
The Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) ensures that Nigeria’s airports conform to international civil aviation standards. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) supplies aviation safety and economic regulatory activities, while the Nigerian Airspace Management Agency (NAMA) is responsible for conformity to international requirements for safe and economic air navigation. The national carrier is Air Nigeria, formerly Nigerian Eagle Airlines and Virgin Nigeria Airways. It is a private foreign-majority-owned airline.
Nigerian Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) is the umbrella organisation of all commercial vehicles owners in Nigeria engaged in the movement of cargo or passengers, both within Nigeria and in the sub region of West Africa. Various international trade associations, such as the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association (WISTA), have offices in Nigeria.
Nigeria’s National Economic Empowerment and Development Strategy (NEEDS) of 2004 recognised the improvement of Nigeria’s transport system as crucial for Nigeria’s future development. Three of its aims were to strengthen the Roads Maintenance Agency (founded in 2002), to make Nigeria’s ports more efficient and competitive, and to privatise or to concession Nigerian Railways to the private sector.
In terms of intra-city public transportation, the private sector has tended to dominate. The Urban Mass Transit Program, introduced in 1988, aimed to lay the foundation for organised mass transit in the whole of Nigeria. The rapid urbanisation of Nigeria’s major cities and the needs of commuters have meant that demand for intra-city public transportation is high.
