By Glory Ohagwu
The Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) has held its 2025 National Conference and Induction Ceremony in Lagos, south-west Nigeria, with the theme “Enhancing Logistics and Transport for Sustainable Blue Economy in Nigeria.”
Addressing members and the 365 new inductees, the President of CILT Nigeria, Mrs Mfon Usoro, said the Institute’s work extends beyond the blue economy to the full supply chain system.
“I’d like to start by saying that it is not just the blue economy; it is the entire supply chain, logistics, and transport system because that is the life wire of our drive towards industrialisation. That is the life wire of the Renewed Hope Agenda,” she said.
Speaking to Voice of Nigeria, she explained that CILT has produced graduates in logistics and transport since 1958 and continues to provide internationally recognised training.
We have witnessed an increased number of students that have come to take the course on logistics and transport supply chain that is provided by CILT International. Nigeria is the centre for the international advanced diploma on logistics and supply chain, and transport,” she said.
She noted that an efficient supply chain reduces costs and improves access to affordable transport.
“The cost of what you and I buy in the market will be very, very, very reduced if we do not have to spend inordinate time in clearing the machineries… If the cost of transporting them was low,” she stated.
While charging the inductees on excellence, Mrs. Usoro told them to “Go out with confidence, innovate, and keep on excelling.”
Logistics drives the economy
The Global President of CILT International, Teete Owusu-Nortey, said, “Logistics was formed during the First World War. And logistics still remains relevant. Because logistics, supply chain, and transportation are what drive every economy globally. So you can’t detach the world from these three elements. Supply chain, logistics, and transportation. That is what drives everything. Even at home, there’s logistics happening.”
On the importance of CILT and its benefits for Nigeria, he explained:
“Now we’re in a global village. That is why in CILT, we’re currently present in over 100 countries. What we do is that we do conferences, seminars, workshops, webinars from the global perspectives. And there are always themes and topics that are being discussed.
“So that is how we impart knowledge into countries and communities where we have our representatives… We just came back from our international convention in Sri Lanka, just about a few weeks ago, where we were about 50 countries that were present.”
Meanwhile, the Director-General of the Bureau of Public Procurement, Mr. Adebowale Adedokun, who was inducted as a CILT Fellow, said:
“The logistics and transport sector of any nation is critical to delivering effective service delivery to its citizens. The transportation sector and logistics sector is part of the procurement cycle. If we are going to build good rail system, if we are going to build good water sector, and blue marine, then we can no longer neglect the logistics and transportation sector of our economy.”
He added that CILT had raised the standardisation bar, “More importantly, Nigeria over the years have not had professionals running the logistics and transportation sector. CILT is now playing a prominent role in terms of professionalisation, in terms of certification, in terms of setting standards.”
Delivering a paper on “Investing in Climate Resilient Transport,” the former Commissioner for Special Duties and Ibom Deep Seaport, Akwa Ibom State, Emem Iniobong, gave an overview, saying, “My intervention is about knotted tensions which are the different complex and interrelated issues, wherein the solution to one may lead to problems in another… We need to take decisions to ensure that we can have climate-resilient transport infrastructure.”
He stated that “the economic growth of the blue economy would mean increased fisheries activities, development of sea fronts for tourism,” cautioning that “there’s also the corresponding pressure of maintaining the environment, away from degradation, from dredging, sandfilling, from altering the environment.”
Iniobong posited that because “most decisions is a push and pull between politically driven decisions, and data-driven decisions,” it would affect investment in climate-resilient transport infrastructure.
According to him, “the fact that innovation and research in the area of climate resilience infrastructure is mostly from the global North, and therefore if you bring it in its form, because it is intellectual property, you may be alienating the local expertise.”
An inductee, Irene Osobotie, sharing the impact of her membership, said:
“Right now, I have done my advanced diploma and I’m so grateful, you know, being inducted here today… It’s going to help me with my job now, how I interface with customers and with my colleagues more professionally.”
Another inductee, Mrs. Olayinka Abdulrahman, said, “…primarily I’m into data, and secondly, I’m into warehousing. So I’ll be able to better plan for the delivery and collection of my goods for the organisation, because we go around all the country. So it will better my knowledge of logistics and how to arrange it more efficiently to save time and cost.”