Despite recording exports worth N22.8 trillion and a trade surplus of N6.69 trillion, Nigeria continues to grapple with a puzzling gap in its aviation sector, where cargo aircraft depart with limited loads.
According to nigerianflightdeck.com, the disconnect highlights structural challenges within the country’s air freight ecosystem, raising concerns over missed opportunities to fully leverage its growing export strength and position itself as a leading cargo hub in Africa.
Instead, it ranks fifth behind Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa and, more strikingly, Ghana. That contradiction formed the backbone of a keynote delivered by Director of Cargo Development & Services at FAAN, Lekan Thomas, who laid bare what he described as a deeply entrenched structural failure.
He opened with an image that has become all too familiar across Nigeria’s major international gateways:
“Every night, cargo aircraft depart from London Heathrow, Amsterdam Schiphol, and Dubai International, full. They arrive in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt… And then, too often, they depart back to Europe, half empty.” That imbalance, he stressed, is not incidental. “This is not just an airline problem. It is a Nigerian paradox.”
At the heart of that paradox is a disconnect between production and logistics within the country’s air cargo ecosystem. Nigeria produces, trades, and even attracts global demand, yet its cargo struggles to move goods efficiently from farm gates and factory floors to aircraft holds. Thomas was unequivocal in his diagnosis of Nigeria’s air cargo limitations:
“We have the demand, the products, and the trade agreements. What we lack is a system that moves Nigerian exports from farm to foreign market with the speed, quality, scale, and reliability that international buyers demand.”
The consequences are visible not only in empty outbound capacity, but in lost revenue, missed trade opportunities, and a persistent imbalance in trade corridors particularly with key partners like the United Kingdom. This imbalance continues to define the inefficiencies in Nigeria’s air cargo performance.
The numbers, as he outlined, are compelling. Total UK-Nigeria trade reached £8.1 billion, with UK imports from Nigeria at £2.4 billion. At the same time, the UK remains Nigeria’s largest source of capital inflows, contributing nearly half of total capital imported in a single quarter- $2.94 billion in Q3 2025 alone. Yet export growth through Nigeria’s air cargo into that same market remains incremental, despite clear headroom.
Thomas quoted the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Jumoke Oduwole, who noted that a modest 1-5% increase in exports to the UK could generate an additional $25-125 million in export revenue for Nigeria’s air cargo value chain. He stated that the calculation is not a dream but immediately challenged the modesty of that ambition: “Why only 1-5%? Why not 20% or 25%?” For Nigeria’s air cargo, the opportunity is clearly far greater.
The question becomes even more pressing given that the UK has already lowered the barrier to entry. Under its Developing Countries Trading Scheme, more than 3,000 Nigerian products from cocoa and cashew to textiles now enjoy duty-free or reduced tariff access. Demand, in other words, is not the constraint. Readiness is.
And readiness, as Thomas made clear, is where Nigeria’s air cargo falters.
Despite its economic scale, Nigeria’s air cargo ecosystem remains weighed down by structural inefficiencies that have persisted for years. The FAAN Aviacargo Committee’s findings reveal a system constrained by inadequate infrastructure, cumbersome manual processes, fragmented regulatory oversight, and a lack of standardisation that continues to erode export value across Nigeria’s air cargo chain.
“Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy… Yet in air cargo, we rank fifth on the continent… Let that sink in,” he said, underscoring the underperformance of Nigeria’s air cargo sector.
The comparison with Ghana, a country with a fraction of Nigeria’s population, underscores the scale of inefficiency within Nigeria’s air cargo system. Clearance processes that take minutes in competing markets stretch into hours or even days in Nigeria. Exporters navigating Nigeria’s air cargo environment face multiple agencies, overlapping inspections, and a cost structure riddled with irregularities.
“Approximately 24 separate charges [were] identified, of which only 6 are legal,” Thomas revealed, highlighting a major constraint in Nigeria’s air cargo operations.
He illustrated the experience through a relatable analogy: “While our competitors have a fast-track lane, we are still asking our exporters to run an obstacle course.” That obstacle course continues to slow down Nigeria’s air cargo competitiveness.
For perishable goods, that delay is more than an inconvenience; it is a direct loss of value within Nigeria’s air cargo chain. Fresh produce loses shelf life. Buyers lose confidence. Entire consignments risk rejection, weakening Nigeria’s air cargo export potential.
Yet beyond these visible inefficiencies lies what Thomas described as the most critical gap in Nigeria’s air cargo, “the missing middle.”
Between Nigeria’s millions of smallholder farmers and the structured demands of international markets sits a void that continues to affect Nigeria’s air cargo throughput. Farmers often lack the capacity to aggregate volumes, meet certification requirements, or navigate export documentation. Without an intermediary system to bridge that gap, products never make it into Nigeria’s air cargo pipeline in export-ready condition.
“Most farmers cannot produce the volume, afford the certification, or manage the documentation that a UK buyer requires,” he said, reinforcing the structural weakness in Nigeria’s air cargo supply chain.
The solution, he argued, lies in aggregation centres privately driven ecosystems that consolidate, process, certify, and package goods for export. These centres are critical to strengthening Nigeria’s air cargo, as they create scale out of fragmentation while ensuring traceability and compliance before products reach airport cargo terminals. Without them, Nigeria’s air cargo export pipeline remains thin, regardless of upstream production.
The implications are already evident in a rapidly evolving African cargo landscape. Countries like Kenya and Senegal are investing aggressively in integrated logistics systems, combining cold chain infrastructure, cargo terminals, and multimodal transport networks. These investments continue to outpace Nigeria’s air cargo development.
In that context, Thomas posed a pointed question: “Where will Nigerian produce go when Senegal offers a seamless cold chain?” The question directly challenges the future competitiveness of Nigeria’s air cargo.
Fixing Nigeria’s Air Cargo Paradox
For Nigeria, the answer depends on how quickly Nigeria’s air cargo can transition from diagnosis to execution. According to Thomas, FAAN has begun that shift through a comprehensive reform agenda anchored on infrastructure upgrades, digital transformation, regulatory harmonisation, and deeper private sector participation all aimed at strengthening Nigeria’s air cargo.
Cargo terminals are being expanded and modernised across major airports, with new cargo villages planned to integrate packaging, testing, and aggregation functions critical to Nigeria’s air cargo growth. Digital systems, including a cargo community platform and integration into the National Single Window, aim to compress processing times across Nigeria’s export air corridor operations.
“Goal: less than 30 minutes processing for known shippers down from the current hours or days,” he stated, setting a clear benchmark for air cargo efficiency.
At the same time, efforts are underway to attract dedicated freighter airlines through targeted incentives, while aligning stakeholders across agencies under unified standards and operating procedures to improve the country’s air cargo coordination. Perhaps most crucially, FAAN is pushing for a streamlined regulatory environment that eliminates redundant charges and reduces friction across Nigeria’s cargo value chain.
“The 24 charges… must become a transparent, predictable schedule: one inspection, one clearance, one cost,” Thomas said, emphasising the need for reform in Nigeria’s air freight system.
Still, he acknowledged that infrastructure and policy alone will not resolve the imbalance affecting Nigeria’s air cargo. Execution must extend beyond government into partnerships with the private sector, particularly in areas like aggregation, cold chain logistics, and farm-level productivity, all of which are essential to strengthening Nigeria’s air cargo.
Ultimately, the paradox facing Nigeria’s air cargo is not rooted in scarcity, but in coordination. The country has the goods, the markets, and the policy frameworks. What Nigeria’s air cargo lacks, and is now racing to build, is a system that connects them seamlessly.
Until that happens, the image Thomas painted at the start of his address will continue to define Nigeria’s air cargo story: aircraft arriving full, and leaving with space to spare.
“We have the demand… What we lack is a system.”
