By Godwin Oritse, Vanguard
NIGERIA currently ranks 88th position out of 141 countries in the World Bank Logistics Performance Index, LPI, indicating a minimal improvement in the global logistics ranking of 91st in 2022.
The LPI is an interactive benchmarking tool created to help countries identify the challenges and opportunities they face in trade logistics and what they can do to improve their performance.
The World Bank LPI is also used to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of a country’s logistics services industry. The index evaluates various dimensions of logistics performance, including infrastructure, customs and border management, ease of arranging shipments, quality of logistics services, tracking and tracing of consignments, and timeliness of deliveries.
The top 12 performers on the 2023 LPI are high-income nations. Singapore, with a score of 4.3, is in first place, a position it also held in 2007 and 2012.
Eight of the top 12 scorers Finland (4.2), Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland (4.1), Austria, Belgium, Germany, and Sweden (4.0) are from Europe. Canada, the United Arab Emirates, and Hong Kong SAR, China, are also present. For many years, the majority of these economies have dominated global supply chain networks.
The bottom 10 performers are spread across various continents and are primarily lower-middle-income nations. They either have fragile economies that are impacted by armed conflict, natural disasters, or political turmoil, or they are landlocked nations that face difficulties connecting to international supply chains due to geography or economies of scale. Even though the average scores of low performers have gone up, several nations’ rankings have remained the same. Those that experience severe logistics limitations are often those who perform poorly in terms of logistics.
The report released by the World Bank emphasizes the critical role that reliability and resilience play in the effectiveness of logistics. International trade is a significant driver of economic growth, and logistics is the backbone of trade.
On the Logistics Performance Score, Nigeria recorded 1.9 point out of the overall point of 5.0, while on the Customs Score it recorded 2.6.
On Infrastructure score, Nigeria recorded 2.4 as against another 2.4 recorded for International Shipping score. For Logistics competence score, it recorded 2.5 as against 2.3 in tracking and tracing score. For timeliness score, Nigeria recorded 2.7