By Oluyinka Onigbinde
Findings by Shipping Position Daily have revealed that Nigeria’s first trade transaction with Kenya under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), which left Apapa port in Lagos, recently, took approximately 50 days to arrive at its destination in Kenya, despite both countries belonging to the same continental free trade bloc.
This is according to Mr. Olusegun Olutayo, a senior trade expert and representative of Nigeria’s AfCFTA National Coordinator, Mr. Olusegun Awolowo, who spoke during the recent Afro-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum which held in St. Kitts and Nevis.
Olutayo, while delivering a paper on behalf of Awolowo, disclosed that the Nigerian cargo which was destined for Kenya and originally shipped from Nigeria had to navigate convoluted and costly paths through Singapore, Indonesia, and Pakistan before finally reaching Kenya, its African destination.
“We recently tracked a shipment from Nigeria to Kenya. Instead of moving through the continent, it was routed to Singapore, Indonesia, Pakistan, and eventually arrived in Mombasa. It took 50 days. This is the current reality of intra-African trade,” he said.
The disclosure lays bare the logistical dysfunction undermining the promise of AfCFTA, which was created to enable seamless trade across the continent by eliminating tariffs and dismantling trade barriers.
Rather than facilitating faster commerce, the Nigeria-Kenya case starkly reveals the infrastructure and connectivity gaps that continue to haunt Africa’s regional trade aspirations.
Awolowo emphasized that this glaring inefficiency is both a crisis and an opportunity, pointing to a dire need for investment in transport and logistics infrastructure.
He outlined that to meet the demands of a functioning AfCFTA regime, Africa requires no less than 2 million trucks, 100,000 rail wagons, 250 aircraft, and at least 100 dedicated cargo vessels.
“These aren’t just statistics; they’re open invitations for smart, long-term investors,” he said.
Checks by our correspondent revealed that despite the fact that 54 of the 55 African Union member states have signed the AfCFTA agreement, and 47 have ratified it, intra-African trade remains abysmally low, standing at just about 15% of total trade volumes, compared to 60% in Europe and 50% in Asia.
Awolowo lamented that poor infrastructure, fragmented logistics systems, and non-functional trade corridors have continued to impede trade flows, even under a unified trade policy framework. According to him, while the $3.4 trillion AfCFTA market is real and brimming with potentials, it cannot thrive without fixing the core challenge of moving goods efficiently from point A to point B within Africa.
“Infrastructure must meet aspiration, or we risk turning AfCFTA into another paper agreement”, he warned.
He further cited the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge railway, the Lekki Deep Seaport, and the ongoing development of inland dry ports in Nigeria as examples of how countries can start positioning themselves as continental logistics hubs. Nonetheless, he acknowledged that without coordinated cross-border efforts, such isolated projects may fail to yield full regional impact.
Beyond transport, Awolowo pointed to the fintech sector as a key growth pillar. He noted that over 600 million Africans remain unbanked, making digital finance, cross-border payment systems, and e-commerce the next frontier of economic integration under AfCFTA.
He highlighted three primary fintech investment areas backed by AfCFTA’s Digital Trade Protocol to include – digital payments and financial inclusion, SME financing and e-commerce development, and cybersecurity.
Commending the efforts of Afreximbank and the AfCFTA Secretariat in Ghana for launching the Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS), Awolowo said the system is already facilitating real-time transactions in local currencies—helping to reduce over-reliance on the U.S. dollar and transaction delays across borders.
Yet, he maintained that fintech alone cannot succeed without physical infrastructure. “You can pay instantly, but if the roads and ships don’t exist, the goods won’t move,” he said.
The panel session, themed “Africa-Caribbean Trade and Investment Opportunities under AfCFTA,” formed part of the larger Afro-Caribbean Trade and Investment Forum’s “Global Africa, Global Market” agenda, aimed at unlocking trade opportunities between the two regions.
According to Awolowo, the Nigeria-Kenya shipment experience is symptomatic of a larger problem—that of a continent with great ambition, but minimal logistical capability. “It is absurd that two African countries must rely on Asian trans-shipment hubs to trade with one another. That is not integration; it is fragmentation hidden beneath policy optimism,” he remarked.
The forum drew participation from high-level stakeholders across Africa and the Caribbean, all pushing for stronger South-South cooperation. However, there was broad consensus among African delegates that unless Africa fixes its broken logistics and transport chains, AfCFTA may become another well-intentioned but under-performing policy.
“The time for declarations is over,” Awolowo concluded. “What we need now are cranes, trucks, ships, payment platforms, and regional coordination. The market is ready. The people are ready. But the infrastructure isn’t. And that’s the real trade barrier we must dismantle”, he declared.
