Lasusotjournalvol 1 No4 2019

LASU JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT
An International Journal of the School of Transport

Lagos State University, Ojo
Vol. 1, Issue 4, September 2019
ISSN: 2504–8783
ISSN: 2504–8783
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Dr. Charles O. Asenime Managing Editor
Dr. Samuul G. Odewumi Editor
Dr. O. Ugboma Marketing Editor
Dr. Tunde Anifowoshe Member
Prof. Ayo Omotayo Member
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

Prof. D. Badejo Department of Geography,
Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye
Prof. S. I. Oni Department of Geography,
University of Lagos, Akoka, Lagos
Dr. D. Mobereola Lagos Bus Service Ltd.
Engr. G. Dairo Ogun State Ministry of Transport
Dr. Adewale Simon Oladele Faculty of Engineering and Technology,
University of Bostwana, Gaborone
Contents
1 Public Transport Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in Lagos Metropolis

—Ugboma, Ogochukwu............................................................................................................................ 1
2 Developing Optimal Rail Freight Transport Corridors between Hub Seaports and Inland
Container Depots in Nigeria—Ndikom, O. / Nwokedi, T.C.............................................................. 14
3 Wreck Removal and the Nairobi Convention—Legal Issues and Challenges from the Nigerian
Perspective—Nwagbara, O.E................................................................................................................... 28
4 Assessment of Infrastructure Capacity to Handle Cargo Traffic At Terminals of Kotoka

International Airport, Ghana—Adedotun, J.A.................................................................................... 43
5 Estimating the Coefficients of Freight Elasticity of Demand for Bulk Carriers in the Wet and Dry
Bulk Ship Chartering Market—Nwokedi, T.C..................................................................................... 55
6 An Assessment of Urban Dwellers Satisfaction with Road Transportation System in Kogi State,
Nigeria—Olorunfemi, S.O. / Okoko, E.E. / Gbadamosi, K.T............................................................. 68
7 Comparative Analysis of Tourism Patronage in Southwest Nigeria: The Underlying Role of

Transportation Determinants—Oyesiku, O.K. / Solanke, M.O. / Olabosinde, S.T. ...................... 83
8 Intermediate Means of Transportation (IMT) in Rural Areas of Nigeria

—Aworemi, J.R. / Ajayi, J.O. / Odewumi, S.G...................................................................................... 94
9 Impact of Management Decision on Vehicle Operating Costs in Haulage Companies in Lagos,

Nigeria—Sonde, D.R. / Somuyiwa, A.O. ............................................................................................103
10 Analysis of Factors Affecting Tricycle Operations in Metropolitan Lagos

—Abdul-Azeez, I.F. / Ajiboye, O.A.......................................................................................................114
11 The Role of Intermediate Means of Transportation in Informal Cross-Border Trade between

Proximate Communities —Asenime, C.O..........................................................................................127
12 An Assessment of Effect of Incentives Payment on Haulage Drivers’ Productivity in Nigeria

—Sonde, D.R. / Gbadegesin, A.E. / Adeyemi, S.T..............................................................................137
1
Public Transport Accessibility for Persons with
Disabilities in Lagos Metropolis
Ugboma, O.
School of Transport, Lagos State University
ogochukwuugboma@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Persons with disability make up an estimated 10% of the world’s population of which 20% of global popu-
lation living in poverty is associated with disability. Despite the commitment of the United Nations to the
rights of persons with disability and the recognition by the 2005 World Summit Outcome of the immedi-
ate need for persons with disabilities to be able to exercise their rights without discrimination, disability is
largely invisible in the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the millennium development goals
(MDGs). People living with disabilities, tend to be vulnerable, most deprived and fall outside the reach of
social services provided by the government. Faced with a growing population of people living with disabili-
ties and a gradually developing transport system, the Lagos State government in Nigeria has an enormous
task in ensuring that the public transportation system is accessible to everyone, especially to people living
with disability. This study is an examination of the work in progress in the public transportation sector in
Lagos. In analyzing the interviews from some disabled commuters and evaluating the existing public trans-
port infrastructures on ground, this study elaborates on areas that will help transport policymakers in pro-
viding adequate urban mobility and accessible transportation for people living with disabilities.
Keywords: accessibility, disability, urban mobility, public transport
INTRODUCTION
A
ccessibility to public transport is very vital to people living with disability (PWD). Ac-
cessible transport enables disabled people to live independently to a certain extent,
which means having available transport services at their disposal to move to wherev-
er and whenever they want to. Estimates from the United Nations puts disabled persons from
developing countries between 6-10%, making about 400 million worldwide. Challenges faced
by this group of people vary considerably, but shortage of data makes it difficult to get a clear-
er picture of the magnitude and scale of their needs.
Disability here is not just restricted to people with physical impairment. It extends to people
with sight impairment, ranging from low vision to total blindness; hearing impairment rang-
public transport accessibility for persons with disabilities in lagos metropolis
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ing from slight hearing loss to total deafness; those with cognitive impairment, that is, learning
disability; and mental-health issues.
Accessibility, on the other hand, is not just limited to physical access to vehicles and systems
but should include information usable by everyone, training of transport staff to understand
the needs of the disabled people, therefore design urban areas to enable people move around
safely and with confidence. The idea of the concept of transport chain is vital because the jour-
ney for a disabled person is facilitated if all the links in the chain that make up that journey
from door to door are accessible.
According to Fitzgerald (2012), public transport is the means by which large population of ur-
ban dwellers gain physical access to their basic needs and socio-economic activities like schools,
workplaces, health centers, markets, leisure and so on. Public transport therefore plays a vital
role in the sustainable livelihood of persons with disability as with the rest of the population
be it in developed or developing countries.
For disabled people in developing countries in Africa and Nigeria specifically, their liveli-
hoods and economic opportunities are not as good because they are oftentimes excluded from
services like transport, social contact and community activities. This exclusion will further re-
duce economic, social, cultural and educational opportunities, which increases the risk of peo-
ple living with disability to fall deeper into poverty. According to the Center for Disability and
Development Innovations (CeDDI, 2016), approximately 25 million people are living with one
form of disability in Nigeria. Metropolitan Lagos, which is made up of 16 local government ar-
eas and a population estimated to be about 20 million, has about 10% of this population living
with disability.
Nigeria, like many other developing countries, faces enormous challenges of poorly planned
and constructed cities with underdeveloped infrastructure. This means that in the first in-
stance, the physical environment is poorly planned, inaccessible and lacks adequate infrastruc-
ture for the citizenry, including PWDs.
Over the years there has been a growing number of people living with disabilities (PWDs) who
daily face mobility challenges in pursuance of sustainable livelihood. Inability to access basic
facilities, inadequate and unreliable transport infrastructure and services are major hindrances
of majority of disabled persons in Lagos State. Some of these challenges include, but not limit-
ed to, the following: infrastructural access as most health facilities are high rise buildings and
often do not consider PWDs during construction, information access such as lack of Braille
public building elevators and transport tickets in the state, inability to access healthcare in or-
der to avoid being a burden, lack of designated parking spaces closer to the facility for PWDs,
inaccessibility to banking halls specifically for the physically challenged who use metal crutch-
es, unconducive boarding facilities in hotels, facilities where ramps for wheelchairs they are
steep and awkward such that an attempt to roll a wheelchair on them may cause serious falls
and so on. Despite the ongoing challenges for PWDs in Nigeria, the federal, state and some
nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have made significant advances in developing initia-
tives that will mitigate the challenges of PWDs.
In 1993, the federal government passed the Nigerian Disability Decree which emphasized un-
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der sections 8 and 9 the need to give priority to disabled people or groups. The decree also stat-
ed that “it shall be the responsibility of all organs in the Federal Republic of Nigeria to provide
for the disabled, access and adequate mobility within its facilities and suitable exits for the dis-
abled.” In addition, it also stipulates that
a disabled person shall be entitled to free transportation by bus, rail or any other convey-
ance (other than air travel) that serves the general public needs; all public transport systems
shall take steps to adapt required fittings for needs of the disabled and, finally, priority shall
be given to the disabled in all public-supported transport systems. Accordingly, reasonable
number of seats shall be reserved solely for the use of the disabled.
Further to the pursuance of the course for PWDs, the federal government signed into law the
Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act 2018 following nine years of
relentless advocacy by disability rights groups and activists. The law prohibits discrimination
and human rights abuses which this group face daily like stigma, discrimination, violence, lack
of access to healthcare, education, housing, transportation and so on. The law imposes sanc-
tions including fines and prison sentences on those who contravene it. It further stipulates a
five-year transitional period for modifying public buildings, structures, and transport infra-
structure to make them accessible and usable for persons with disability.
In 2011, Lagos State passed the Lagos State Special People’s Law which established the Lagos
State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA). The law seeks to uphold rights of all persons liv-
ing with any form of disability in Lagos, by safeguarding them against all forms of discrim-
ination and giving them equal rights and opportunities. In addition, the state put up a N500
million Disability Trust Fund managed by LASODA to help PWDs live more comfortable lives
(Lagos State Government, 2017).
From the foregoing, both the Nigerian government and other stakeholders have passed de-
crees, promulgated laws and proposed innovations that sought to promote mobility priority,
accessibility rights and needs of PWDs but unfortunately, most of the efforts are only on paper.
However, there is room for improvement in effectively implementing policy statements, rec-
ognizing travel challenges of PWDs and making concerted effort in sustainable mobility inclu-
sion and equity. The outcome of this research will improve our understanding of these travel
challenges and hence support the implementation of measures that effectively address them.
The objectives of this study are to:
 Examine the travel characteristics of PWDs in Lagos metropolis.

 Assess public transport infrastructure for PWDs in Lagos metropolis.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Studies indicate that in low-income countries, about 40–50% of the disabled population have
sensory disabilities (low vision, deafness, blindness, impaired speech, etc.), while about 20–
50% have physical disabilities, and 7–15% have cognitive disabilities (Venter et al., 2002). In
some of these countries, studies also show that these disabled people are more likely to be
poorer than the rest of the population. They are also more likely to be associated with higher
lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 3

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unemployment rates, higher illiteracy, malnutrition, lower occupational mobility etc. (Elwan,
1999). According to Burnett (1996) and Sands (2006), the quality of life of people living with
disability is comparatively lower than the rest of the population. This is so because the qual-
ity of life, according to MacFarlane (1985) is measured by the difference between what peo-
ple achieve and their unmet needs and desires, therefore, the wider this margin the poorer
their quality of life. It becomes pertinent that efficiently and effectively improving the mobility
needs of persons with disability offers them an opportunity to access basic needs, socio-eco-
nomic facilities such as schools, health centers, markets, jobs and so on which are critical to im-
proving quality of life.
This need by urban dwellers to improve quality of life by getting to places of work or other ac-
tivities in order to access opportunities that are not available at their trip origin explains the
concept of travel demand. This demand to travel according to Rodrigue, Comtois and Slack
(2008), is generated by the economy and composed of persons, institutions and industries
which motivates movements of people and freight. In order to predict the travel demand of
PWDs, a considerable level of evaluation of their socioeconomic characteristics is required. Ac-
cording to Ortuzar & Williumsen (2011), the socioeconomic characteristics of public transport
users are major determinants of public transport demand. Therefore, using these characteris-
tics like trip purpose, modes of transport, income levels, age, marital status, gender, occupa-
tional groups and so on, play a major role in transport policy formulation, planning, engineer-
ing and evaluating the conditions of access to public transport systems for PWDs.
Some studies (DPTAC, 2002) show that about 41% of PWDs in Wales and England experience
difficulty while traveling, about 25% experience difficulty while going to and from seeing the
doctor at the hospital, another 23% experience challenges visiting friends or relatives, the oth-
er 18% while visiting leisure facilities. About 23% of them have had to turn down job offers
while actively seeking employment, another 23% turn down job interviews because of inac-
cessible transport. Other works like that of Odufuwa (2007), investigate the mobility situations
and livelihoods of PWDs in Nigeria with focus on the tendency of the disabled to be restricted
to certain areas, travel in company of relatives for assistance and exposed to travel difficulties.
The study suggests the need for a review and retool of the operational pattern of public trans-
port services and the planning as well as implementation of friendly travel environmental pol-
icy. Ipingbemi (2015) suggests that PWDs face challenges exacerbated by poor and inadequate
transport, assessing the mobility challenges and transport safety of PWDs in Ibadan metrop-
olis. Road environment and vehicle design pose the main mobility challenges experienced by
this group.
MOBILITY CHALLENGES, EQUITY ISSUES AND SOCIAL

EXCLUSION
Laying emphasis on equity in transportation means that the public sector is required to pro-
vide equal opportunity to different groups to use transportation networks in the community.
Mobility inequality in transport is not a new concept in transport parlance. Wachs and Kum-
agai (1973) identify physical mobility as a major contributor to social and economic inequality
in the US context.

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It is however, important to note from the study of Currie and Delbosc (2010) that transport dis-
advantage and transport related social exclusion are not necessarily synonymous with each
other. In other words, it is possible to be socially excluded but still have good access to trans-
port or to be transport disadvantaged but highly socially included. On the other hand, it would
rather be that transport disadvantage and social disadvantage interact directly and indirect-
ly to cause transport poverty which most of the time leads to inaccessibility to essential goods
and services resulting in social exclusion out comes and further social and transport inequali-
ties. Lucas (2012) observe that from most transport surveys, it is usually the poorest and most
socially disadvantaged within society who also experience transport disadvantage.
Jones and Lucas (2012), assert that social impacts of transport can be significant, especially
for already vulnerable population groups but these effects are currently poorly accounted for
within transport policy appraisals. Furthermore, some of these social groups are more ad-
versely affected than others, especially children and young people, older people, lone parents,
disabled people and ethnic minority populations. There is strong evidence that these uneven
outcomes reduce the ability of these groups of people’s participation to fully participate in so-
ciety and can lead to their social exclusion. However, this is oftentimes difficult to measure and
quantify.
Nigeria with a population of circa 200 million people (World Bank, 2018), has an estimated 25
million persons with disabilities, according to World Health Organization, while Lagos State,
with about 21 million people, has about 3 million persons with disabilities. This implies that
14.2 percent of the population of Lagos and about 12.5 percent of Nigerians are in this catego-
ry. Undoubtedly, this population needs to be effectively integrated in the planning and policy
decisions that affect their livelihood, particularly accessible transportation. It is also important
to note that women in this group suffer first as women, secondly as women with disabilities
and thirdly, discrimination from fellow women in society.
Currently, the National Bureau of Statistics does not have data on persons with disabilities in
Nigeria and across sectors such as education, health, transport, poverty and other areas. Most
available statistics are outdated or based on estimates informed by population studies in other
countries. This poses a big challenge to planning, policy and decision making issues that affect
their livelihood. Therefore, there is a dire need for data on persons with disabilities in Nigeria.
METHODOLOGY
This study utilized the multistage sampling technique. In order to get a sample representing
the population, the local governments areas in Lagos metropolis were stratified into the four
cardinal points and two local governments areas were randomly picked from each cardinal
point. In the North are Kosofe and Alimosho, to the South, Apapa and Surulere, to the East,
Eti-Osa and Lagos Island and finally Ojo and Amuwo-Odofin in the West.
Using the purposive sampling procedure, primary data were obtained through a personally
administered questionnaire technique (in order to clarify any doubt at that particular point),
using both structured and unstructured questions directed towards disabled commuters at
major motor parks, bus stops, private and gov-

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ernment-owned homes for the disabled in the study area, who depend on public transport for
mobility. It is worth mentioning that for the motor parks and bus stops only the physically dis-
abled and the blind were interviewed because these are the disabilities one can easily recog-
nize. The language of the paper based questionnaire was English though field assistance of-
fered interpretation and assistance where necessary or communicated in vernacular when
absolutely needed. The questionnaire was designed to collect data on the socioeconomic char-
acteristics which include age, gender, marital status, level of education, employment status,
travel patterns, travel modes and travel difficulties. The data was analyzed using percentage
distribution to highlight the socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of respondents.
FINDINGS
The data collected through the questionnaire administered to the 1000 respondents were ana-
lyzed in frequency tables, graphs and simple percentages.
Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents

The demographic and socio-economic characteristics shown in Table 1 indicates that 35.5% of
the respondents were within the age range of between 30–39 years of age, 28.5% were 20–29
years, while 15% were between 40–49 years. The respondents above 50 years accounted for
only 5%, while the least with 3.5% are those in the age range of below 9 years. These were chil-
dren accompanied by their mothers who presented disabilities which include impaired vision,
physical disability, cerebral palsy and some other congenital disabilities. In terms of percent-
age distribution of respondents by gender, the number of men with disabilities were signifi-
cantly higher than that of the women. This could be because the women with disabilities may
be quite limited with options of assistance with mobility.
The income distribution of the respondents in Fig. 1 indicated that about 25% of the respon-
dents make an average of N1,000 or less monthly, about 14% make between N11,000–N20,000
monthly while the highest earners with 31% are those in the group of N1,000 or less monthly.
The respondents in the income group of N31,000–N40,000 who were about 8.3% were most-
ly traders and those skilled workers who owned small businesses. A few of the respondents,
about 2% of them, were not eager to reveal their income.
Table 1: Demographic and socio-economic distribution of respondents

Variables Freq. %
Age
0-9 35 3.5
9-19 125 12.5
20-29 285 28.5
30- 39 355 35.5
40-49 150 15
> 50 50 5
Gender
Male 678 67.8
Female 322 32.2
Income

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Variables Freq. % Variables Freq. %

< 1000 252 25.2 Educational background
1,000 - 10,000 318 31 No formal 326 32.6
11,000 - 20,000 137 13.7 education
21,000 -30,000 112 11.2 Primary 310 31
31,000 - 40,000 83 8.3 Secondary 180 18
> 41,000 78 7.8 Tertiary 101 10.1
No response 20 2 Vocational 83 8.3
Marital status Types of disability
Single 317 31.7 Visual impairment 321 32.1
Married 416 41.6 (blindness)
Widowed 107 10.7 Physical disability 629 62.9
Divorced 35 3.5 Others 50 5.0
Separated 125 12.5
Source: Field Research, 2020
Work status
Unemployed 443 44.3 Furthermore, the marital status shown in Fig.
Student 342 34.2 2
Trading 62 6.2
ex-
Apprentice 105 12
Civil service 20 2
Farming 28 2.8
Family size
1 26 2.6
2-5 476 47.6
6-10 314 31.4
> 10 184 18.4
Fig. 2: Distribution by marital status
plains that about 42% of the respondents were married, which explains why men were more
dominant as they sought daily livelihood for their families. On the other hand, about 32% were
single, while the widowed, the divorced and the separated accounted for 10.7%, 3.5% and
12.5% respectively. Work status characteristics (Fig. 3) indicates that 44.3% were unemployed,
which explains why many of them engage in begging for sustenance. Students were about
34.2% while the apprentice group accounted for about 12%. About 2% were gainfully em-
ployed in the civil service, while 2.8% were engaged in farming.
The family size of respondents varied, about 48% had a family size of between 2-5 children,
31.4% had between 6-10 children and about 18.4% had up to 10 children. Some of these chil-
dren had no formal education and were seen as escorts for their parents or formed groups for
begging in the study area. As shown in Fig. 4, about 31% had primary school education, 18%,
secondary, 10.1% tertiary and 8.3% had vocational
training. Of the respondents, 32.1% had visual im-
pairments, 62.9% had physical disabilities from
Fig. 2: Distribution by marital status

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accidents, especially the respondents in the spinal cord injury home visited, and polio which
was more prevalent among children.
TRAVEL CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS

Accessibility to public transport is critical in assuring the mobility of a larger population of
households in a fast growing megacity like Lagos. The fact that most of the public transport
still lack in terms of good design and facilities among disabled commuters is a cause for con-
cern. Without accessible transportation PWDs are more likely to be excluded from indepen-
dent access to employment, education, healthcare, social contact and recreational facilities. The
travel characteristics of the respondents were investigated and shown in Table 2.0.
Overall, the number of trips made, an indicator of the level of mobility, shows that about 62.8%
of the respondents reported making between 2-4 trips per day which were mainly home based
trips to work, shops, markets, hospitals and so on. The 10.4% respondents who made between
5-7 trips per day were majorly those in white-collar jobs whose trips were non-home based.
The other 26.8% respondents who made more than 8 trips comprised mostly of street beggars
and a few hawkers who move from one zone to another.
Table 2: Travel characteristics of respondents

Travel characteristics
Number of trips Freq. % Trip purpose Freq. %
2-4 628 62.8 leisure 85 8.5
5-7 104 10.4 work 235 23.5
More than 8 268 26.8 hospital 351 35.1
Mode of travel market 200 20
Bus (danfo) 68 6.8 street begging 129 12.9
BRT/LBSL 180 18 Type of assistive equipment needed to travel
motorbike (okada) 263 26.3 wheelchair 436 51.1
tricycle (keke) 207 20.7 crutches/walking stick 134 15.7
boat 50 5 white cane 102 11.9
walking/wheelchair 200 20 people-assisted 182 21.3
others 32 3.2
Source: Field Research, 2020
When considering trips made, about 6.8% made their trips with the yellow bus also known as
danfo. It is not surprising that the number is low compared to other road modes when it ordi-
narily should provide better physical access (except for wheelchair) than larger buses because
of their smaller size and ubiquitous presence. However, the attitude of these danfo drivers
with their conductors as well as overcrowding pose major barriers to persons with disability.
Furthermore, about 18% of the respondents report that they patronized the Bus Rapid Transit
(BRT) and the Lagos Bus Service Limited (LBSL) buses, though the bus of preference tilted to
the latter because the buses were newer and more equipped with facilities that accommodate
wheelchair users, also, the respondents report being treated better though regrettably with 150
buses currently in operation, the routes covered were not extensive. A significant number of
respondents which stood at 26.3% patronized the services of the motorcycle or okada because

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they were easier to use. It is a one-on-one and door-to-door service so the commuter gets full
attention.
Part of the reason to travel reported by 35.1% of the respondents was majorly to visit the hospi-
tal, which could be as a result of routine checkups or from underlying ailments from their dis-
ability. 23.5% traveled to workplaces, while about 8.5% reported traveling for leisure purposes
and these were respondents in the age range of 30-39 years.
The difficulties persons with disabilities encounter in transit indicates that they mostly need
some form of assistance. About 51% of the respondents needed wheelchairs to travel to the bus
stops or terminals as they could not walk the distance or the capacity to wait at the stops for the
buses. About 15.7% indicated that crutches or walking sticks could assist them in mobility, 12%
of the blind respondents asserted that the use of white cane could reduce overdependence on
people to guide them while 21.3% were those respondents who would need human assistance
all the time like those with severe disabilities.
Accessible public transport infrastructure for the disabled

Lagos Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (LAMATA), the body empowered by law
of Lagos State with the responsibility of reforming the transport system in Lagos with the aim
of creating a world-class intermodal integrated transport system for the emerging megacity
(LAMATA, 2014). Despite the numerous achievements of LAMATA in urban planning, im-
plementation of policies and implementation of infrastructure, the entire public transport sys-
tem efficiency and effectiveness is yet to meet the modern design and alternatives especially
in terms of rebuilding and remodeling transport infrastructure and cities to enhance inclusion
and accessibility for persons with disability.
In many parts of the study area, the inner roads have inaccessible rough terrain with open
drainages which makes it difficult as well as dangerous for wheelchair users and the visually
impaired. Pedestrian access in some areas were nonexistent or had poorly maintained pave-
ments, while some were taken over by parked container trucks with filth littered all over the
walkways. In other areas, there were crowded unpaved sidewalks in the vicinity of bus stops
which limit pedestrian mobility. Other accessibility issues reported include lack of ramps at
some of the bus stops for those using wheelchairs, pushing buggies or trolleys and people us-
ing walking frames, traffic congestion, lack of designated parking for the disabled, physical
lack of traffic control, lack of aids at street crossings for people with sensory impairments and
unsafe local traffic behaviors.
Furthermore, the bus drivers especially the danfo drivers neither had patience nor allowed suf-
ficient time for people to board/alight in safety and ease. Apart from the new Lagos Bus Service
Limited buses, many of the public transport vehicles and infrastructure create barriers to all
types of disability due to inaccessibility. There are gaps between the bus floor and the ground
at bus stops with limited number of accessible vehicles on key routes. More so, information on
accessible routes and timings for buses is not sustainable, accessibility focused only on new
lines and the distance to accessible bus routes is far.

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DISCUSSION, POLICY IMPLICATION AND CONCLUSION

So far, the study reveals that many of the respondents earned N10,000 or less which, if using
the current exchange rate is about $22 monthly or $0.79 daily as against the $35 daily poverty
threshold for an individual. This is a clear indication of the relationship between disability and
poverty. The study also reveals that majority of the respondents were married with large fam-
ily size hence the need to travel in search of daily needs but the inaccessibility of public trans-
port coupled with transit difficulties are major barriers to frequent trip making. Some who
struggle against all odds to make these trips are confronted with unfriendly environmental
and infrastructural conditions with heightened risk of being in an accident or even kidnapped.
Lagos State government has made significant efforts to improve the transportation system by
putting in place the necessary machinery to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of pub-
lic transportation by responding to specific challenges previously identified in the transport
sector. One of these efforts was the enactment of the first and most comprehensive state-level
disability law; “The Lagos State Special People’s Law” in 2012, which was to be implemented
by the Lagos State Office for Disability Affairs (LASODA). The creation of this framework her-
alded what is popularly known as “Inclusive Lagos.” In the same vein, it should be noted that
beyond the enactment of a disability law and the implementing agency, there is need to advo-
cate a review of the Lagos State Development Plan and Transport Policy in which should be
entrenched a disability-inclusive and accessible urban development master plan.
When the United Nations Statistical Division released in 2016 the report of the Inter-agency
and Expert Group on SDG Indicators (IAED-SDGS), which defined the global indicators in-
tended to measure the implementation of the SDGs, the reported includes nine indicators with
explicit reference to persons with disabilities and a core principle to be the disaggregation of
data by disability. It reads thus:
SDG indicators should be disaggregated where relevant by income, sex, age, race, ethnicity,
migratory status, disability and geographic location, or other characteristics, in accordance
with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics (UN, 2016).
In the Nigerian context, this suggests that data should be collected by the National Bureau of
Statistics and made available by a UN-managed data series for international access.
To achieve the required inclusive and accessible transport for persons with disability in La-
gos State, it is pertinent that the public transport is sustainable. Evidently, there is an increas-
ing universal design being adopted in bus and rail transit operations to address transport in-
frastructure business for persons with disability. The most important of this innovation is the
low-floor transit vehicle, adopted for heavy rail, light rail, trams and buses providing almost
level access from kerbs and short-ramp access from street level. There is also a growing global
trend for the introduction of low floor buses into Bus Rapid Transit systems, the use of Braille
and tactile signages, audio information for the visual impaired, visual information at stations
and interchanges delivered in real time for the deaf or hard of hearing, ease of ticketing, ade-
quate color contrast on doors, steps and handrails, installation of CCTV to enhance the feeling
of safety and security, improved driver courtesy and communication, customer care in terms

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of staff assistance and so on. The use of this universal design improves access to infrastructure
and creates an enabling environment which benefits all, including people with reduced mobil-
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2
Developing Optimal Rail Freight Transport Corridors
between Hub Seaports and Inland Container Depots in
Nigeria
Ndikom, O. / Nwokedi, T.C.

Dept. of Maritime Management Tech., Federal University of Tech., Owerri
Corresponding author: nwokeditc@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Poor and inadequate investment in railway infrastructure is a major factor for the declining fortunes of
railway transportation system in Nigeria. The establishment of five inland container depots (ICDs) and
two container freight stations (CFSs) in 2006 in seven states in different trade zones, as a way of decongest-
ing the seaports and opening up the hinterlands to boost export and import trade has failed in implemen-
tation as there is still no functional ICDs-seaports rail links (infrastructure) to get the ICDs and CFSs op-
erational. The aim of the study is to empirical determine using the major seaports in Lagos, Port Harcourt,
Calabar and Warri, as well as the seven ICDs and CFSs, optimal the ICD-seaport rail-link pattern. The ob-
jective being to pattern the ICD’s-seaport rail route connection such that each ICD and CFS is optimally
linked by rail only to that seaport that offers the optimal cost of freight haulage by rail to and fro. Using the
linear programming method of transportation problem, the optimal ICD-seaport rail links is determined by
employing cost, demand requirements and capacity data gathered through survey. The benefit to the nation
and the profitability potentials of each optimal ICD-seaport rail link is appraised for investment purpos-
es using the benefit/cost analysis (BCA) and net present value (NPV) methods. Recommendations follow.
Keywords: rail freight, transport-corridors, hub-seaports, inland-container-depots
INTRODUCTION
A
debayo (2005) and Adesanya (1998) note that railway infrastructure development
could essentially be seen as the provision of facilities and tools that are needed for
growth, expansion, progressive development and eventual transformation of the ac-
tivities and services of any organized concern, including other modes of transport at the end.
The idea and concept of developing an optimal and functional railway infrastructures in Ni-
geria entails the building-up and provision of new rail-track infrastructure, modern functional
gauges and railway equipment in a bid to establish rail link routes that are cost effective and
offer best costs of rail service provision and prices of rail service consumption to both service
developing optimal rail freight transport corridors between hub seaports and inland container
depots in nigeria | ndikom, o. / nwokedi, t.c.
providers and consumers across the country. Since the inland container depots (ICDs) and
container freight stations (CFSs) located in various regional blocks in the hinterlands of Ni-
geria represents points for husbandry of laden and empty containers as they are moved from
hub seaports to the hinterland trade centers, customs clearance of the import containers can
thus occur at the ICDs for onward delivery to consignee’s warehouse and markets. Developing
optimal ICD/CFS-rail freight corridors to link the hub seaports of Lagos, Warri, Port Harcourt
and Calabar will ensure that the costs of rail-freight service production and service consump-
tion in the hub ports is minimized. This will improve efficiency and productivity of multi mod-
al transport system in Nigeria (Badejo, 2009).
Prior independence in 1960, key sectors of the Nigerian economy were in the efficient and
prudent hands of skilled colonial managers, who ran the entire gamut of the economic land-
scape with every articulate managerial zeal, agility and competence and thereafter, laid en-
during and strategic economic foundations that elicited structural growth poles and devel-
opmental strides that were second to none, thereby producing strong cash-cows that saw us
then, as growing into a formidable strong economic block of envy, within the then West and
Central African economic zones (Adesanya, 2002; Nikom, 2008). There emerged following the
sound management acumen of the colonials a holistic and well-coordinated intermodal trans-
port system within the confines of the operations of the seaports—intermodal-maritime-trans-
port interconnectivity. This, to a large extent, improved the internal mobility and reflection of
a synthesized haulage of goods from the hinterlands to the urban centres via the ports, there-
by eliciting a strong and organized logistic—chain process of both imports and exports, which
improved the revenue-based cash earnings (Ndikom, 2013).
In the views of Ndikom (2010) and Okoro, (1996), the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the
Nigerian Ports Authority where some of the agencies of national economic life that were man-
aged prudently and efficiently by these focused colonial managers. Obviously, these two trans-
port sectors had over the years, contributed immensely to the growth poles and developmental
cash cows of the Nigerian economy. The intermodalism concept that was present then with-
in the confines of the ports system reflected on the construction of rail track infrastructure,
which was obviously built to link the ports with hinterland market centers to develop rail-
port-freight transport corridors that had assisted the ever-increasing physical distribution of
imports to hinterland markets with the seaports as base hub and the transport of exports of
cargo to the ports using the rail freight stations as base hubs. The latent synergy that existed be-
tween these two cash cows of the nation then, was unimaginable with its attendant objectives
of cross-border hinterland-urban employment generation that were second to none in terms
of present reality of value-added opportunities (Ndikom, 2008; Chikere, 2013). The post-in-
dependent era saw massive growth in the population of Nigeria and springing up of more
unplanned urban and suburban centers to accommodate the rising population, which subse-
quently induced the need for more resources and freight and passenger transport infrastruc-
ture to service the emerging trade centers developed as a result of rising population demands.
The post-colonial administration has however over the years consistently failed to provide
more transport infrastructure to meet rising demand, nor has it shown capacity to efficient-
ly manage what was put in place by the colonials. Thus, the operational performance of both
the railway corporation and ports authority witnessed immediate system decay. The neglect

of the transport systems and infrastructure got to a bad level of eventual removal of rail track
facilities built over the years to link the hub seaports to the trade centers, thereby signaling the
very death of intermodalism concept in the ports, a situation which later reflected in the over-
crowding of Nigeria’s road by haulage trucks which gained the freight shipments lost by the
rails system and the continued traffic gridlocks in many trade centers and cities, such as Apa-
pa in Lagos (Iheanacho, 2010).
The federal government in 2013 commenced major efforts to rehabilitate the dilapidated rail-
way routes, including Kano–Kaduna–Abuja rail-line, Lagos–Ibadan, and Lagos–Kano, among
others, with a view to replacing the old tracks with modern tracks and gauges. Efforts were
also made in linking Lagos to Bénin–Cotonou axis through formidable rail lines with modern
tracks and gauge from Orile–Mile 2–Badagry axis to Cotonou ports and to create an enduring
and strong formidable trade facilitations and activities between the two countries which will
help the Lagos state economy. It is important to note that the provision of the rail-links (tracks)
is only one of the major investments in rail transport technology, as there exist more other rail
technology equipment and systems required to have a functional rail system. Generally, rail
transport operations, its attendant geographical coverage, services and management approach
specifically determine the nature and complexity of infrastructure to be provided or installed
for an effective and efficient rail transport system. That is, the vehicle, motive power, the way
and the terminal, as it is expected that the infrastructural needs of rail transport are greatly
determined by its subsystems. It is expected that, the infrastructural provision should there-
fore be tied to these needs. It is noteworthy to state that, the rail transport infrastructure may
be planned for future needs and when a need is not really responding to the facilities at hand,
there is need for adjustment to really conform to the patterns inherent to that system at the end
(Ndikom, 2008; Oyesiku, 2009; Somuyiwa 2007). It is therefore not enough to only rehabilitate
old existing rail routes as that obviously cannot meet the current yearning for rail freight ser-
vices to supplement the poor road haulage services. There is a serious need to develop new
rail routes to service the rail-freight service needs of many of the emerging market hubs, cen-
ters and sub centers, particularly those market centers that depend on the major hub seaports
of Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri, to have access to and from international markets
and which are currently underserved by the road haulage system. The need to meet the freight
transport needs of the these emerging and major trade hubs cost effectively and solve the chal-
lenges of seaport congestion and road traffic congestion caused the use of road trucks to ferry
containerized freight to the trade hubs and market centers led to the creation by policy, the in-
land container depots (ICDs) in all the trade centers of Aba, Jos, Gombe, Kano, Oyo, and Bau-
chi states, and container freight stations (CFSs) located in Katsina, Borno and Gombe states in
the six geographical regions of Nigeria (Ronen, 1983; Ronen, 1988). The functioning of these
ICDs and CFSs depends on the development of functional rail routes to link each ICD and
CFS. Government has not made any headway in linking the ICDs and CFSs to the hub ports
with rail routes as a results of which there is currently no serious activity in any of the ICD and
CFS stations. The challenge has been that of funding the development of such rail routes and
the feasibility of running profitable services at affordable service consumption prices on such
routes if developed. Thus the need to determine empirically the optimal ICD/CFS to seaport

rail-freight corridors such that the seaport ICD rail route that offers optimal rail service cost
and service freight rates are linked.
It is pertinent to state here that, an inland container dry depot and container freight stations,
as the names connote, are seen as transit facilities which offer services for containerization of
break-bulk cargo deliveries and they are, to a large extent, served by rail or road transport fa-
cilities. Agarwal (2008) and Baird (2006) observe that, according to the European Commission,
a dry port is an inland terminal directly linked by rail-line to a maritime port. Thus, the ba-
sic idea is that, a dry port is an inland terminal directly connected by rail-line to a seaport of
high-capacity transport means, where customers can pick up their standardized units of con-
tainers as if directly from the seaport. Also another basic objective is to critically decongest the
already congested ports of Lagos and Port Harcourt and reflecting a facilitation process to an
efficient and effective ports operational environment. To a large degree, ICDs are seen as tran-
sit facilities located in the hinterland and equipped with fixed and movable installations for
handling and storage of cargo, reflecting a public authority status and are operated under the
landlord port management model, such as practiced at the Onne Port Complex, in Rivers State
(Schonfeld & Frank, 2007; Fagerholt, 2001). However, for ICDs and CFSs to achieve the desired
objectives, it is expected that government must provide integrated intermodal transport facil-
ities (functioning rail tracks linked to any of these facilities) in the country (Bendall, 2009). A
major problem posed by the apparent procrastinations is that it has stalled all attempts at solv-
ing the challenges of the obvious age-long congestion of our ports and roads, with the atten-
dant high cost of imported goods, induced by high haulage costs. A more serious issue posed
by the lack of optimal hub port-ICD rail corridors is the erosion of the competitive advantage
offered by the rail system in bulk carriage of goods at cheapest costs to the hub market centers
and subcenters, signaling the total failure and end of railway transport operations for compet-
itive cargo movements (Cullinane & Khana 2002, Weille & Ray 1974). This is most unfortunate
and regrettable for a mode that was making viable contributions to the growth and develop-
ment of the nation’s economy earlier.
The current study may thus provide a better investment decision tool which will therefore re-
quire that ICD/CFS-seaport rail link that offers the most optimal rail freight services produc-
tion and freight charges to rail lines and shippers are chosen for development and linkage over
the alternative ICD/CFS-hub port routes. There is need to really develop optimal rail tracks
system to link the ICDs/CFSs to the ports, especially now that the government has started re-
invigorating the idea of developing inland container depots in the six geopolitical zones, with
a possible clear view of a rail link structure. It is thus beneficial that optimal ICD-seaport rail
freight corridors and CFS-seaport rail corridors be determined to ensure rail infrastructure is
only connected to link that ICD and CFS that offers minimum cost of haulage to shippers. The
benefit of this minimum carriage cost is that it reduces the inflation rates in the economy and
increases the purchasing power and consumption of the people, which in turn stimulates the
economy for growth. Furthermore, such optimal investment in rail infrastructure to link the
ICDs and CFSs will constitute a stimulus that will make them operational, creating employ-
ment and earning revenue for government. Appraising the benefit and profitability potentials
of the proposed investment offers benefits in that it limits the government from making invest-

ment in nonviable railway projects such that such huge cash investment which would have
constituted waste is channeled into more profitable and beneficial ventures.
AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The work is aimed at determining the optimal ICD to hub seaport rail freight corridors in order
to optimize the cost of freight transportation from the major seaports to the ICDs and CFSs so
that railway infrastructure is developed to link each ICD and seaport that only offers optimal
transportation cost as a potential stimulus to an efficient operation of ICDs/CFSs in Nigeria.
Some other objectives considered include:
i. To determine the ICD-hub-seaport rail-freight-corridor that offers the optimal cost

of freight haulage by rail to and from the each ICD and CFS for rail purposes of
infrastructural development.
ii. To estimate the existence of significant differences between rail and road transport costs
of freighting per TEU of container freight from the seaports to the ICDs/CFS regions.
iii. To determine the optimal costs of transporting per TEU of container freight by rail from
each hub seaport to the ICD and CFS regions.
Research questions
1. What ICDs to hub seaport rail freight corridors offer an optimized cost of freight
transportation by rail?
2. Is there a significant difference between rail and road transport costs of freighting per
TEU of container freight from the seaports to the ICDs/CFS regions?
3. What is the optimal cost of transporting per TEU of container freight by rail from each
hub seaport to the ICD and CFS regions?
METHODOLOGY
A mixed method is adopted in carrying out the study in which both survey design and histor-
ical design were used to gather data from both primary and secondary sources from the NRC,
the NPA and the NSC and other stakeholders. The ports covered are the four hub seaports
of Apapa, Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri. The ICDs and CFSs covered include all
5 ICDs in Kano, Oyo, Abia, Plateau, and Bauchi and the CFSs located in Katsina, Borno, and
Gombe. The survey sampled as participants members of staff and management of the below
listed public and private agencies and shippers:
• Nigeria Ports Authority,

• Nigeria Railway Corporation,
• Port Terminal Operators,
• Nigeria Shippers Council,
• Freight Forwarders and Shippers Association,
• Truckers and road carriers,
• National Inland Waterways Authority,
• Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria.

Sample size determination

The desired sample size was obtained using the Kish formula for estimating required sample
size, i.e.
Z 2 pq
n=
d2
Where z = 1.96, (level of significance of 5% (1.96),
P = 50% (number of previous study related to this research so the P assumed to be 50%))
q = 1- p = 1 - 0.50 = 0.50
d = 5% (degree of accuracy i.e. precision)
n = minimum sample size
1.96 2 x 0.50 x 0.50
n=
0.052
n = 384.16
Assuming 10% non-response rate = = 0.9
= 426.8. Therefore, the minimum sample size that was used for this study is 427.
Sampling technique
Using the survey approach, a semi-structured questionnaire divided into 6 sections labeled
A to F was used to collect the quantitative data from respondents, such that each of the 4 hub
seaports was issued 110 questionnaires and each agency had about 14 questionnaires adminis-
tered to members of staff randomly sampling to make up the sample of 427. Section A: Socio-
demographic characteristics of the respondents which include age, gender, education, years of
service/experience, etc.; B: Perception of railway infrastructural development; C: Freight cost
per TEU and per ton from seaport to ICD/CFS regions; D: Estimated cost per kilometer rail link
and distance of each seaport to ICD regions; E: Rail link revenue generation and cargo capaci-
ty of ICD zones; F: Cost of service production to serve ICD rail links. The averages of the infor-
mation collected were used in the data analysis to deduce findings. The data gathered for the
research from secondary sources include import and export capacities of ICDs and CFSs which
were represented in terms of the TEU/freight/tonnages of cargo by each ICD to and from the
seaports. The cost of haulage per TEU of container by rail from each seaport to the ICDs and
CFSs was also collected. The total cost of construction of rail infrastructure including the cost
of environmental impact, came from the NRC.
Method of data analysis

The linear programming method of transportation and assignment model was used to deter-
mine the optimal assignment of the rail routes to the ICDs and CFSs. Since cost of linking each
the ICDs and CFSs to each seaport is enormous and may be economically feasible, determining
empirically the right ICD-seaport rail-link and CFS-seaport rail link that will optimize trans-
portation cost will be achieved using the linear programming transportation model. The inde-
pendent sample t-test was used to compare the freight cost of transporting per TEU of cargo by
road haulage and by use of the rail links when developed in order to determine if the develop-
ment of the optimal rail link will lead to significant savings in freight transport cost compared
to the current use of road trucking which has many negative side effects.

The transportation model

The transportation model deals with a special class of linear programming problems in which
the objective is to transport a homogenous commodity from various origin seaports (hubs) to
different destinations (ICDs and CFSs), at a (optimum) minimum total cost. The supply avail-
able at each origin and the quantity demanded by each destination are established in the state-
ment of problem, including the cost of shipping per TEU/ton of cargo from origin to destina-
tion. Given the information regarding the total capacities of the origin, total requirement of the
destination, and the haulage cost per container TEU/ton of cargo from each ICD-Seaport rail-
route, the transportation model determines the optimal haulage program that results in opti-
mal/minimal total cost (Lomba, 1982). Thus, using either the northwest corner rule, the Vogel’s
approximation method, the modified distribution method and the stepping-stone method, the
optimal haulage programme that results in optimal haulage total cost in transporting from
each of the seaports in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Calabar and Warri ports to the ICDs and CFSs
will be determined. ICD-seaport railway infrastructure will then be constructed to link ICDs
and seaports that present an optimal haulage cost. As earlier explained, the study obtained
data on the export and import capacities of the ICDs and CFSs regions based on the number of
TEUs (containers) shipped through each of the hub ports in Lagos, Port Harcourt, Warri and
Calabar to each of the ICD regions in 2017. MATLAB software was used to carry out the linear
programming analysis. The general form of the transportation model is given below:
Table1 Calibration of the linear programming transportation model

Destination ICDs/CFSs Total import and
export capacity
of all ICDS and
CFS’s from each
hub seaport
Origin Kano Aba Oyo Katsina Plateau Gombe Borno Bauchi
seaports
Lagos X11 [C11] X12 X13 X14 [ X15 [C12] X16 [C16]
X17 [C13] X18 [C18] B1
seaport
[C12] [C13] C14]
Port Har- X21 X22 X23
X24 [C24] X25
X26 [C26] X27 [C27] X28, [C28]
B2
court port
[C21] [C22] [C23] [C25]
Warri X31 [C31] X32 [C32] X33 [C33] C34 X35 [C35] [C36] X37 [C37] X38 [C38] B3
seaport X34 X36
Calabar X41 [C41] X42 [C42] X43 [C43] [C44] X45 [C45] [C46] X47 [C47] X48 [C48] B4
X44 X46
Sum of im- D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8
port and ex-
port capac-
ity of each
ICD and
CFS.
Source: Prepared by authors

Cij = C11 - - - Cnm = cost of shipping per TEU/unit from ith origin (each seaport) to jth destination (each ICD/
CFS), Xij = X11 - - - Xnm = number of TEU/units to be shipped from ith origin to Jth destination.
Requirement; e.g. total cargo/TEU to be hauled from each hub seaport to each ICD and CFS region over time.
Xij - - - Xnm is obtainable from the port statistical reports and will be summed for a period of time 10 years
from 2005 to 2014.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
Table1: Determining the optimal ICD-hub seaports rail freight corridors in Nigeria
(all hub-seaports).
Kano Aba Oyo Katsina Plateau Gombe Bauchi Demand Total
Origin 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
seaports
Lagos 0 125691 127714 49067 41,640 1892 2445 348449 348449
Port 0 31364 0 0 0 0 0 31364 31364
Harcourt
Warri 62746 1723 0 0 0 0 0 64469 64469
Calabar 9658 0 0 0 0 0 0 9658 9658
Capacity 72404 158778 127714 49067 41640 1892 2445
Total 72404 158778 127714 49067 41640 1892 2445 453940
Total cost 367644743143.76
Source: Authors Calculation.
Table 1 above is the result of the transportation model linear programming optimization
method applied in analyzing the research data to determine the optimal ICD/CFS-hub sea-
port rail freight transport corridor. The result indicates that, developing ICD-hub seaport rail-
routes to ship freight to and from the ICD regions will optimize total annual freight cost to
N36,764,474,313.76. This represents a far cheaper total annual cost of freight transportation to
the regions when compared to annual total cost of TEU transportation using road haulage. The
effect of this huge reduction in freight transportation cost to and from the ICD and CFS regions
will be the reduction in inflation rates on prices of export and import commodities, which will
induce better price competition of export commodities and local standards of living. It is ev-
ident from the result that freight transport will be optimized by developing rail links to ship
TEUs from Lagos hub seaport to Oyo (Ibadan), Aba (Southeast), Katsina (Northwest), Gombe
(Northeast), Plateau (North central) and Bauchi (Northwest) ICD and CFS regions. This is rel-
ative to the TEU import and export capacities of the ICD and CFS regions handled through the
Lagos hub seaports. The optimized total annual freight transport cost of shipping freight from
Lagos hub seaport to the regions is summarized in the table 2 below:

Table 2: Optimized cost of transporting from Lagos hub seaports to ICDs

Lagos hub seaport/ Oyo Aba (Southeast) Katsina Plateau Gombe Bauchi
ICD/CFS Stations (Northwest) (Northeast)
Optimized total an- 7,643,044,330 3,997,786,000 1,780,269,000 1,527,459,000 871,791,976 1,000,750,725

nual freight cost by
rail based on the
TEU capacities of
the regions (N)
Source: Authors’ calculation.
The result indicates that the Ibadan ICD region, with greater TEU capacity, moved through the
Lagos hub seaports, imposes the greatest annual freight transport cost than the other ICD cen-
ters. Thus, transporting freight from Lagos by rail to each of the ICD regions will provide a far
less total annual freight transport cost than the road haulage mode. Annual freight transport
cost is also optimized by transporting by rail freight transport from the Port Harcourt, Cala-
bar and Warri hub seaports to the Kano and Aba ICD and CFS regions. The optimized annual
freight transport cost from the hub ports to the ICD CFS regions, based on the survey data col-
lected, is as summarized in the table below:
Table 3: Optimized cost of transporting from other hub seaports to ICD/CFS

Regions
Hub seaports/ ICD and Optimized freight transport cost by rail from
CFS regions hub seaports to ICD/CFS regions per annum
Kano (Northwest) N Aba (Southeast) N
Port Harcourt 612,695,740
Warri 1,906,713,000 138,908,260
Calabar 2,545,539,744
Source: Author’s calculation
While developing a rail freight transport corridor from Port Harcourt to Aba optimized freight
transport cost to N612,695,740, Warri hub port to Kano (Southwest) and Aba (Southeast) rail
freight corridors will lead to optimal freight transport cost of N1,906,713,000 and N138,908,260,
respectively. Rail freight transport corridor from Calabar hub seaport to Kano (Northwest) ICD
region will lead to an optimal freight transport cost of N2,545,539,744. These optimal costs are
relative to the gravity of trade flow between the hub seaports and the ICD/CFS regions. By im-
plication, to optimize the use of rail for freight transportation from the hub seaports in Lagos,
Port Harcourt, Warri and Calabar to the ICD/CFS regions in Nigeria and eliminate the relat-
ed inflation road haulage induces on the prices of imported and exported goods, optimal hub
seaports-ICD/CFS rail infrastructures must be developed and patterned to match the result of
this study. Based on the results of the study as afore-presented, rail infrastructure/rail freight
transport corridors should be developed and patterned in groups from A to D as shown on ta-
ble 4 below:

Table 4: Group A: Hub-seaport (Lagos)–ICD CFS rail freight corridor

Lagos hub To Oyo Aba Katsina Plateau Gombe Bauchi
seaports (Ibadan) (Southeast) (Northwest) (North-cen- (Northeast)
tral)
Estimat- 193 1656 1403 1183 1486 1320
ed distance
(km)
The implication of the evidence presented on table 4 above is that the Lagos hub seaport needs
to be linked by rail to the above ICD/CFS regions to develop rail freight transport corridors in
each region served by the ICDs/CFSs. It is however important to note that some of these rail
routes are already in existence such as the Lagos–Ibadan. Attention will thus be placed on de-
veloping rail links from Lagos to ICD/CFS region with a nonexistent rail freight transport cor-
ridor. Existing but nonfunctional rail routes to Lagos hub seaport from the regions need to
equally be revitalized.
Table 5: Group B: Hub seaport (Port Harcourt)–Aba (Southeast) ICD rail freight
corridor.
Port Harcourt hub seaport To ABA (Southeast)
Estimated distance (km) 63
Source: Authors calculation
As shown on table 5 above this optimal rail link infrastructure between Port Harcourt sea-
port and Aba ICD is already in existence, but the survey indicates that it currently does not of-
fer TEU rail freight services to and from the hub ports. It is therefore important that TEU rail
freight services from ABA to the Port Harcourt hub ports, Onne inclusive, be developed and/
or revitalized.
Table 6: Group C: Hub seaport (Calabar)–Kano (Northwest) rail freight corridor

Calabar hub seaport To Kano (Northwest)
Estimated distance (km) 850
The implication of the evidence presented in table 6 is that Calabar hub seaport needs to be
linked by rail to the Kano ICD region to develop a rail freight transport corridor on that route.
Attention will thus be placed on developing rail links from Calabar seaport to ICD/CFS regions
in Kano to optimize freight transportation cost along that route.
Table 7: Group D: Hub seaport (Warri)–Kano (Northwest) and Aba (Southeast)

ICD freight corridors
Calabar hub seaport To Kano (Northwest) region Aba (Southeast)
region
Estimated distance (km) 980 260
Table 7 above shows that following the gravity of freight flow between Warri hub seaport

and Kano (Northwest) and Aba (Southeast) regional ICDs/CFS, rail freight transport corridors
should be patterned to link those regions. The distances of the hub port to the ICD town is
equally estimated as shown in the table. Since the ICD represent centers for regional freight ca-
pacities, the freight stations can equally be replicated in other cities in the same region. For ex-
ample, a link between Onitsha in the same ICD region with Aba and Warri hub port will offer
shorter rail kilometer than Aba. The development of these rail links and freight transport cor-
ridors from the hub ports to the ICD/CFS regions will optimize cost of freight transportation
in Nigeria while also eliminating congestion in major seaports, eliminate traffic congestion on
the city road such as Apapa Lagos, reduce inflation, create numerous employment opportuni-
ties, and above all make the ICDs and CFSs optimally functional.
Table 8: Estimated costs of transporting per TEU of freight by rail from each hub
port to the ICDs and CFSs and average TEU moved to the ICDs/CFSs
region per annum
ICDs/CFSs Kano N ABA N Oyo N Katsina N Plateau N Gombe Bauchi N Demand
N TEU
Origin seaports
Lagos 350000 254575 59845 326824 366,825 460778 409305 348449
Port Harcourt 354000 19535 311940 325584 259847 353801.3 302328 31364
Warri 303878 80620 130234 316592 274731 361863 313180 64469
Calabar 263568 48683 258607 316591 190079 324963 210854 9658
Capacity 72404 158778 127714 49067 41640 1892 2445
1271446 403413 760626 1285591 1091482 1501405 1235667
Source: field survey.
As shown in table 8 above, the survey further reveals that, the estimated costs of transporting
per TEU of freight by rail from Lagos hub ports to Kano, Aba, Ibadan, Katsina, Plateau, Gombe
and Bauchi are N350,000, N254,575, N59,845, N326,824, N366,825, N460,778 and N409,305 re-
spectively. The alternative estimated cost of transporting per TEU of freight from Lagos hub
ports to each of Kano, Aba, Ibadan, Katsina, Plateau, Gombe and Bauchi ICD regions are
N900,000, N850,000, N250,000, N850,000, N900,000 and N900,000 respectively. A comparison
of these costs reveals an average road freight transport cost to rail freight transport cost ratio
of 2.56, indicating that TEU freight transport by road costs about three times higher than rail.
Similarly, the estimated costs of transporting per TEU of freight by rail from Port Harcourt to
Aba is N19,535 against a road cost along the same route of N120,000. The estimated costs of
transporting per TEU of freight by rail from Warri to Kano and Aba are N303,878 and N80,620
respectively. The alternative costs being N900,000 and N180,000 respectively. The cost of trans-
porting per TEU of freight by rail from Calabar hub port to Kano ICD region is N263,568 as
against N900,000 when road is used. A comparison of these costs using the road freight trans-
port cost to rail freight transport cost indicates that for all routes, rail transport cost per TEU is
three times cheaper than road, as rail has capacity to reduce prices of imported and exported
goods from the ICD/CFS regions by three times the current prices when road is used to freight
them. See table 9 below for comparison of the differences in the costs of rail and road transport
for significance.

The cost of transporting per TEU of freight by rail and road across to the 28 routes used in the
study from the hub seaports to the
ICD/CFS regions were compared
Cost
F
Independent samples test
Cost
and it reveals a mean difference of
N503,941.77 by which the use of
Table 9:
assumed
es not
varianc-
Equal
assumed
variances 7.970
Equal
Group
Railway
Road
road imposes far higher cost than
rail. The t-test shows a t-stat of
9.45 and t-tab of 2.34 and p-value
ICD/CFS regions
Significance of differences in costs of rail and road freight transport from hub seaports to the
Sig.
Variances
for Equality of
Levene’s Test
of 0.007. Since 9.45 is greater than
N
28
28
2.34 (t-stat > t-tab), we conclude
that a significant difference exists
.007
t
between the two. The implication
Mean
269629.6529
773571.4286
is that this significant difference
9.456 36.661
9.456 54
df
t-test for Equality of Means

represents the empirical inflation
factor, constituting the amount by
(2-tailed)
Sig.
which the use of road transport in
S-dev.
111436.19672
259061.18662
hauling freight to ICDs and from
hub ports inflate the prices of
goods and services in the ICD/
.000
.000
ence
fer-
Dif-
CFS regions and in Nigeria at Mean Std. Error
large.
S-error mean
21059.46168
48957.96244
503941.77571
503941.77571
Difference
CONCLUSION
To make the inland container de-
pots and container freight stations
53295.24381
53295.24381
Lower
the difference
95% Confidence interval of
viable and functional, rail links

(optimal rail freight corridors) and
Source: Authors calculation.
rail freight services need to be de-

veloped to connect the ICDs/CFSs
395921.63766
397091.24524
Upper
in Ibadan, Aba (Southeast), Kat-

sina (Northwest), Plateau (North
central), Gombe (Northeast) and
Bauchi to the hub seaports in La-
gos, while operations at the Lagos
611961.91377
610792.30618
ports will be upgraded to major

hub ports to service the regions.
The Warri hub seaport will be
linked by rail to offer rail freight
services to Kano (Northwest) and
Aba (Southeast) ICD regions. The Port Harcourt hub seaports will be linked by rail to offer rail
freight (TEU) services to the Aba (Southeast) ICD region. Lastly, the Calabar hub seaport will
be linked by rail to offer rail freight services to the Kano ICD region. Where there is a rail link
already in existence between the hub seaports and the regional ICDs and CFSs, it should be

revitalized to offer rail freight/TEU services. As can be seen from the cost comparison in table
9, a significant gap exists between the cost of road transport of containers and per-TEU cost of
transport by rail; an indication that developing optimal rail freight corridors between the hub
seaports and the regional ICDs will significantly reduce the prices of goods within the coun-
try and make exports originating from the ICD regions more competitive in the international
markets.
RECOMMENDATIONS
It is recommended that government should develop the railway mode of transportation of car-
gos due to the fact that it is far cheaper when compared to using of trucks to transport these
cargoes via road as it offers significant reduction in cost and consequently in the prices of mar-
ket commodities.
The government should as a matter of policy develop rail-freight-transport corridors to link

the ICDs and the hub seaports whose costs of service delivery is optimal as determined by the
study as this will ensure that the multiplier effect of the development of such optimal routes
stimulates economic growth and development. The development and construction of visible
railway lines to the ICDs will improve the needed movements of exports—agricultural pro-
duce from the hinterlands via each linked by rail ICDs to the major hub-ports at the end. This
will, to a large extent increase national revenue and the ports’ economic output at the end.
R EF E R E N C E S
Adebayo D. (2005): The role and implication of governmental policies in charting the course of the maritime industry.
Presented at the stakeholder’s summit: Fighting corruption and ship practices in the ports system, Oct. 24-26.
Adesanya, A. (1998): Railway system renewal; System structures, parameters and challenges for the future. Presented
at the centenary seminar on Nigeria Railway System in the 21st Century: Emerging issues, challenges and policy
initiatives, at the international conference Centre, Abuja, Nov. 16–18.
Adesanya, A. (2002): Declining fortunes of rail transport in Nigeria: Response and direction of Policy. NISER Monograph
No.8.
Agarwal R., Ergun O. (2008) Ship scheduling and network design for cargo routing in liner shipping. Transportation
Science 2008; 42; (Forthcoming)
Badejo, B. A. (2009): The role and implication of governmental policies in charting the course of the maritime industry. A
paper presented at the national seminar on eradication of corruption and sharp practices in our seaports.
Baird, A.J. (2006). Optimizing the container transshipment hub location in Northern Europe. Journal of Transport
Geography; 14; 195{214.
Bendall H. B., Stent AF (2001). Scheduling model for a high speed containership service: A hub and spoke short-sea
application. International Journal of Maritime Economics; 3; 262{277.
Chikere C., (2015). The absence of a commercial regulator at the Nigerian ports has created a market monopoly at
the ports instead of the competitiveness envisaged among the service providers. At a seminar organized by CILT
stakeholder meeting in Lagos
Cullinane, K. P. B. (2002). The Productivity and Efficiency of Ports and Terminals: Methods and Applications. The
Handbook of Maritime Economics and Business, Editor, C. Grammenos, London: Lloyds of London Press, 426-442.
De Weille, J. and Ray, A. (1974). The Optimum Port Capacity. Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, 8, 244-259.

Fagerholt K, Lindstad H (2000). Optimal policies for maintaining a supply service in the Norwegian Sea. Omega; 28;
269-275.
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model. Continental Journal of social sciences 6(1): 9-16
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Management; 29; 135-150.
Ndikom, O. B. (2013). An appraisal of the operational limitations of private terminal concessionaires in a landlord port
model. Continental Journal of Social Sciences Vol.6 (1) 9-16.
Ndikom, O. B. (2010): A Fundamentals of freight forwarding Management Practice in Nigerian. University of Ibadan
Press; Ibadan.
Ndikom, O. B. (2008): Fundamentals of Transport Management. Bunmico Publishers, Lagos.
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Efficiency of Mass Transit Operations in Nigeria. Ibadan: Rex Charles and Connel Publications, 110-118.
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3
Wreck Removal and the Nairobi Convention—Legal
Issues and Challenges from the Nigerian Perspective
Nwagbara, O.E.
Obisike Chambers, 33 Calcutta Crescent, Apapa, Lagos
obisikechambers@yahoo.com
INTRODUCTION
The Merchant Shipping Act 2007 – Part XXVI sections 360–385
The Merchant Shipping Act 2007, with respect to removal of wrecks, provides that subject
to the provisions of any other enactment or law relating to ports, where any vessel is sunk,
stranded or abandoned in any port, navigable river or tidal water within Nigeria or in or near
any approach to any port, navigable river or tidal water in a manner as in the opinion of the
Receiver of Wrecks, to be or to be likely to become an obstruction or danger to navigation, the
Receiver of Wrecks—
a. May take possession of and raise, remove or destroy, the whole or any part of the
vessel;
b. May light or buoy any such vessel or part of the vessel, until the raising, removal or
destruction of the vessel, etc. 1
Wreck, under section 360 (1) of the Merchant Shipping Act 2007, is defined to mean:
(a) a sunken or stranded ship, or any part thereof, including anything that is on board such
a ship or which is stranded, sunken or in danger at sea and lost at sea from a ship; or
(b) a ship that is about, or that may reasonably be expected to become a wreck by reason
of:-
(i) collision, stranding or any other incident of navigation; or
(ii) any other occurrence on board the ship or external to it, resulting in material damage,
or imminent threat of material damage, to the ship.
Section 444 of the Act, by way of further elaboration interprets wreck to include flotsam, jetsam
and derelict found in the waters or on the shores of Nigeria.
1 See section 381 (1) (a) and (b) of the Merchant Shipping Act 2007
wreck removal and the nairobi convention — legal issues and challenges from the nigerian
perspective | nwagbara, o.e.
Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act 2007

One of the functions of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency, as spelt out
under section 22 of the enabling act, is to receive and remove wrecks.2 In addition, the act pro-
vides that the agency may make such regulations with the approval of the minister and not in-
consistent with the act for such provisions as it considers appropriate in relation to:
(a) The dumping of ship and shore generated waste in Nigerian waters; and
(b) Removal of wrecks which constitute navigation risks and which is a threat to the
marine environment; and that in making such regulations, the Agency shall take into
account any international convention or agreement which Nigeria is a party, etc.3
An examination of the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) Act4 does not reveal any provision re-
lating directly to removal of wrecks from the Nigerian maritime domain. The closest of the
conservancy functions of the NPA in this regard is found in section 7(d) of the enabling Act,
which states such function to be: provide, for the approaches to all ports and the territorial wa-
ters of Nigeria such pilotage services and lights, marks and other navigational services and
aids, including cleaning, deepening and improving of all waters. There is also the general func-
tion under section 7(k) to carry out such other activities which are connected with or incidental
to its other functions under the enabling act.
The recent controversy between NIMASA and NPA as to whose function it is to remove wrecks
from the Nigerian maritime domain appears to have its root in the claim of the latter to have
responsibility for wreck removal within the ports area, based on the above-cited provisions of
its enabling act. In practice the NPA has removed and continues to remove wrecks especially
within the limits and around the approaches to the ports.5 The NPA position seems to enjoy
support in the provisions of the Nairobi International Convention on the Removal of Wrecks
2007, which is our main focus in this discourse. Yet it seems clear that NPA is working hard to
secure a legislative mandate in this arduous function which is not clearly spelt out in its extant
enabling act.6 It is important to point out at this juncture that while the Nairobi Convention
deals specifically with wrecks created by maritime casualty involving a ship in the exclusive
economic zone of a state party, which results in a hazard that threatens safe navigation and
poses danger to the marine environment, the NPA action appears to be driven by emphasis on
safe passage of vessels within the port limits and approaches to the ports. At the same time the
provisions of the NIMASA act and the provisions of the Merchant Shipping Act place empha-
sis on safety of navigation and a safe marine environment within Nigerian territorial waters.
2 See section 22 (1) (n)

3 See section 44 (1) (a) and (b) and sub-section (2) of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency Act 2007.
4 CAP.N126 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004]
5 In a recent survey on wrecks removal by the Business & Maritime West Africa Journal NPA was reported to have removed over
100 wrecks on Lagos Channel alone. See Business & Maritime West Africa Journal Vol.10. No. 69, June 2017, page.9
6 In section 84 (1) (b) of the Draft Nigerian Ports and Harbours Authority Bill now lying before the National Assembly, NPA is
proposed as the Assistant Receiver of Wrecks with powers to search for, raise, remove or destroy any sunken, stranded or aban-
doned vessel or wreck within the port limits, and recover the costs incurred in connection with such searching, raising, removal
or destruction from the owner of the vessel or any other person who had the beneficial use of the vessel at the time it sank,
became stranded or was abandoned, among other powers. 84 (1) (c ) “search for and remove any or obstruction which may
endanger the safety of any vessel entering or leaving the port, and recover the costs of such search and removal from the owner
of the wreck or obstruction, or from any person responsible for the presence of such obstruction.”

National Inland Waters Ways Authority Act

The above-captioned act of the National Assembly7 provides, under section 9 thereof, as
follows:
“Other functions and powers of the Authority shall be to –
9(d) survey, remove, and receive derelicts, wrecks and other obstructions from inland
waterways”
2.0 NAIROBI INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON THE REMOVAL OF

WRECKS, 2007 [INCHOATE]
An examination of the provisions of the inchoate Nairobi Convention is important for a num-
ber of reasons. When a maritime casualty of humongous proportions such as shipwreck oc-
curs at sea, the cost is counted in terms of loss of vessel, loss of cargo, loss of freight, damage
to marine environment—water, artificial islands and other economic structures, aquatic life,
and often times, the greatest of them all, loss of life. Clean-up costs, including fines and com-
pensation, could run into billions of dollars.8 Shipwrecks commonly result from ship running
aground on rocks,9 a coral reef,10 a sandbar, iceberg11 or another wreck. Somewhere in all of
these is human error.12
Since, of all the major causes, a wreck following a maritime casualty, is one, it was not diffi-
cult among the comity of maritime nations to agree on a uniform legal regime that would im-
pel conscious effort on the part of ship owners and States to timeously remove a wreck which
somehow remained relatively within human control, especially when such casualty occurs
within the maritime boundaries of a littoral state. This is the first of such uniform legal regimes
on removal of wrecks at the exclusive economic zone of the States Parties.
Issues would in the near future arise in matters founded on the provisions of the Convention
which would require judicial interpretation and pronouncement and it would be important to
add this write-up to an array of a semblance of seminal works which would serve as launch-
pad for a robust debate on some of such issues, like limitation of liability under the conven-
tion, insurance or other financial security, and maritime administration attesting certificate, etc.
Article 10 (1) of the convention provides that subject to article 11, the registered owner shall
be liable for the costs of locating, marking and removing the wreck under Articles 7,8 and 9,
respectively, unless the registered owner proves that the maritime casualty that caused the
wreck:
7 Cap.N47 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

8 Exxon spent over USD3.8 billion in clean-up costs when its vessel Exxon Valdez ran aground in 1989 and spilled over 11.2 mil-
lion gallons of crude oil into the sea. The oil travelled along the shoreline for about 750 kilometers polluting beaches, disrupting
marine business, destroying flora and fauna).
9 Super Tanker “Tory Canyon” in 1967.
10 Exxon Valdez in 1989.
11 The Titanic in 1912.
12 The Tory Canyon, according to Wikipedia.org, about the time of the incident had tried to avoid colliding with a fishing fleet
and there was some confusion between the master and the helmsman as to their exact position and there was uncertainty as to
whether the vessel was in manual or automatic steering mode and before putting all of these right the vessel struck Pollard’s rock
and grounded. For the “Titanic” the cause of the accident was said to be the steersman error. It was said he misunderstood the
command given him.

(a) Resulted from an act of war, hostilities, civil war, insurrection, or a natural phenomenon
of an exceptional, inevitable and irresistible character,
(b) Was wholly caused by an act or omission done with intent to cause damage by a third
party, or
(c) Was wholly caused by the negligence or other wrongful act of any Government or other
authority responsible for the maintenance of lights or other navigational aids in the
exercise of that function.
Section 10(2) says nothing in this convention shall affect the right of the registered owner to
limit liability under any applicable national or international regime, such as the Convention on
Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims, 1976, as amended.
In Nigeria at present, shipowners would be able to limit liability for cost of raising, removal,
destruction, or the rendering harmless of a ship which is sunk, wrecked, stranded or aban-
doned, including anything that is or has been on board such ship arising under the Nairobi
Convention by reliance on section 352(1)(g) of the Merchant Shipping Act 2007, Nigeria’s na-
tional law, which provides:
“Subject to sections 354 and 355 of this Act, the following claims, whatsoever the basis of li-
ability may be subject to limitation of liability .........
(g) Claims in respect of the raising, removal, destruction or the rendering harmless of a
ship which is sunk, wrecked, stranded or abandoned, including anything that is or has
been on board such ship.
However it appears that such ship-owners would not be able to limit liability for cost of lo-
cating and marking the wreck, as these heads of cost are not covered under the provision for
limitation of liability under our national law. Nigeria has domesticated the Convention on
Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims 1976 and the 1996 Protocol thereto, by way of in-
corporation by reference under section 335 of the Merchant Shipping Act 2007, but it is doubt-
ful if such ship-owners would be able to limit liability for the cost of locating and marking the
wreck in the Nigerian courts under any law since the limitation of liability convention does
not also cover those heads of costs. The answer to the question as to who may limit liability as
presently constituted in the event of occurrence of a maritime casualty in Nigeria’s EEZ, for
the cost of locating, and marking a wreck [like as provided under Articles 10(2) of the Nairobi
Convention), may not be difficult in arriving at. A similar question was answered by the Chi-
nese Supreme Court, which gave guidance to lower maritime courts in China on limitation of
liability in maritime cases, on 27/8/2010 and took effect in China from 15/9/2010. In interpreting
the provisions of Articles 204 and 207 of The Maritime Code of the Peoples Republic of China
(CMC) (equivalent of Nigeria’s Merchant Shipping Act) the Chinese Supreme Court held that:
1. That all international vessels of 300 grt come under the CMC,
2. It is the owner of the colliding ship that caused a wreckage that can limit, not owner of
the wrecked ship.
It should be noted that the above interpretation was based on the fact that China had at the time
not domesticated either the Nairobi Convention or the Convention on Limitation of Liability

for Maritime Claims 1976. And, more importantly, that the local Chinese law, The Maritime
Code of the PRC did not include cost of removal of wreck as an item among those on which a
ship-owner may limit liability. China has now ratified the Nairobi Convention and it entered
into force in China on February 11, 2017.13 From the Chinese interpretation, it would appear
that in Nigeria, only the owner of a third- party colliding ship causing a wreck may limit liabil-
ity for the cost of locating and marking a wreck even within and outside the territorial waters
of Nigeria, because the Merchant Shipping Act does not list locating and marking of wrecks as
part of the cost which the owner of a wrecked ship is entitled to a limitation proceeding, and
Nigeria has not domesticated the Nairobi Convention. Although the Convention on Limitation
of Liability for Maritime Claims, 1976/1996 Protocols, were domesticated in Nigeria by way of
incorporation by reference, its main provisions in Articles 1 to 9 on limitation of liability are
mutatis mutandis the provisions of sections 351 to 359 of the Merchant Shipping Act 2007. The
non-availability of the right of limitation for costs of locating and marking a wreck in these ex-
tant laws, among others, poses a challenge which calls for the urgent domestication of the Nai-
robi Convention. The face of shipping changes rapidly, so the laws and conventions do change
as rapidly to accommodate these changes. Every littoral state which aims to attain the status of
maritime power must put in place a legal system that makes it easy to adapt laws and statutes
to changing situations. The Constitutional provision in Nigeria on domestication of interna-
tional treaties and conventions makes it extremely cumbersome for our laws to meet changes
in the global arena, especially in these days that rapid developments in the global community
requires dynamism in national laws to accommodate these developments, and ready examples
abound in the maritime safety, marine environment and maritime labour spheres.
One of the implications of not domesticating the Nairobi Convention is that in an unfortunate
event of a foreign-flagged vessel involved in a maritime casualty in the Nigerian EEZ, resulting
in a wreck which the Nigerian maritime administration determines to constitute a hazard, a
Nigerian court would lack the jurisdiction to adjudicate on any claim brought against the own-
er of said ship for the cost of locating, marking and removing the wreck. This hurdle lies in the
way of any such claim brought against the insurer or other person providing financial security
for the registered owner’s liability under Article 12(10) of the Convention. This is obvious be-
cause there would be no legal basis for the claim and the provisions of the Merchant Shipping
Act (MSA) are limited to Nigerian ships, wrecks, shipping activities and foreign ships within
the Nigerian territorial waters and do not apply to wrecks in the EEZ.
Section 12 (1) of the 1999 Constitution as amended provides:
No treaty between the Federation and any other country shall have the force of law except
to the extent to which any such treaty has been enacted into law by the National Assembly.
In the case of Sani Abacha & 3 Others v. Gani Fawehinmi,14 the Supreme Court held that an in-
ternational treaty to which Nigeria is a signatory does not ipso facto become a law enforceable
as such in Nigeria. Such a treaty would have the force of law and therefore justiciable only if
the same has been enacted into law by the National Assembly.
13 See https://www.ukpandi.com > wreck-removal.

14 (2000) Federation Weekly Law Report (FWLR) Part 4,533.

This dualist posture in the implementation of international conventions in Nigeria has many
draw-backs. The National Assembly is slow when it comes to law making, including domesti-
cation of international conventions, even in the face of urgent need for such domestication. Ni-
geria should rethink its dualist approach to treaty making. This is why the provision of section
215 of the Merchant Shipping Act, which in one fell swoop domesticated 12 international con-
ventions in Nigeria, is commendable. It is advocated that in the next review of the MSA, such
provision should be retained and extended to cover all conventions on related issues, such as
maritime safety, marine pollution and maritime labour. The procedure of incorporation of in-
ternational conventions to the MSA by reference should be improved upon by providing for
simpler methods of annexing relevant international conventions to the MSA to become nation-
al law. This procedure obtains in the Bahamas at the moment. Bahamas law has very simple
procedure through which international conventions relating to shipping and maritime safety
and security as well as marine pollution issues are added to the schedule to Bahamas Merchant
Shipping Act (BMSA) and they become operative in the Bahamas as national law.
Section 255 of BMSA provides that:

where in respect of any Bahamas ship there is any contravention of a requirement of any of
the international Conventions or regulations set forth in the Schedule to this Act, an inspec-
tor may suspend the certificate of registry of the ship until the contravention is rectified.
Section 255 (2) provides “The Minister may by notice in the gazette, amend or add to the First
Schedule to this Act.” Section 289 (4) of BMSA also provides “The Minister may by notice in the
gazette, add to or amend the Second Schedule.” BMSA First Schedule contains a list of inter-
national conventions while Second Schedule contains a list of Applied Regulations, etc. Acting
under these provisions, the minister responsible for Maritime Affairs in Bahamas has added
in concise form the Nairobi Convention as Merchant Shipping (Wreck Removal Convention)
Regulations, 2015 to the Schedule to the BMSA.
The Nairobi Convention has expanded the scope of the duties of the Ship Registries in the
States Parties and there is need to draw attention to this role for purpose of implementation
and compliance by all persons concerned, as well as obvious challenges that this innovation
has thrown up for a country like Nigeria.
Article 12(1) of the Nairobi Convention requires all registered owners of ships 300grt and
above and flying the flag of a Party State to maintain insurance or other financial security, such
as a guarantee of a bank or similar institution, to cover liability under the Convention in an
amount equal to the limits of liability under the applicable national or international limitation
regime, but in all cases not exceeding an amount calculated in accordance with Article 6(1)(b)
of the Convention on Limitation of Liability for Maritime Claims (CLLMC) 1976, as amended.15
Article 12(2) of the Nairobi Convention provides that:
15 Article 6((1)(b) provides for liability for ships in circumstances envisaged in the Nairobi Convention as follows: (i) 1million
Units of Account for a ship with a tonnage not exceeding 2,000 tons; (ii) for a ship with a tonnage in excess thereof, the fol-
lowing amount in addition to that mentioned in (i): for each ton from 2,001 to 30,000 tons, 400 Units of Account; for each ton
from 30,001 to 70,000 tons, 300 Units of Account; and for each ton in excess of 70,000 tons, 200 Units of Account. This is in
pari materia with section 356 of the Merchant Shipping Act 2007. Calculation is based on Special Drawing Rights – a form of
international money, created by the IMF, and defined as a weighted average of various convertible currencies.

“a certificate attesting that insurance or other financial security is in force in accordance

with the provisions of this Convention shall be issued to each ship of 300 gross tonnage and
above by the appropriate authority of the State of the ship’s registry after determining that
the requirements of paragraph 1 have been complied with. With respect to a ship registered
in a State Party, such certificate shall be issued or certified by the appropriate authority of
the State of the ship’s registry; with respect to a ship not registered in a State Party, it may
be issued or certified by the appropriate authority of any State Party. This compulsory in-
surance certificate shall be in the form of the model set out in the annex to this Convention
and shall contain the following particulars. . . .”
It goes on to require stating normal particulars of a ship and type and duration of the security
and particulars of issuer, and period of validity.
Under Article 12 paragraph 3, a State Party may authorize a Recognized Organization to is-
sue the certificate on its behalf, but the State Party takes responsibility for all matters connect-
ed with the certificate. The Secretary General of the Convention must be notified by the State
Party of the appointment of a Recognized Organization [RO], including the ambit of RO’s au-
thority, when such authority is withdrawn and dates thereof, and the RO shall be authorized
to withdraw certificates issued if the conditions for issuing the certificate no longer exists, and
shall report such withdrawing to the authorizing State.
The certificate shall be in the official language or languages of the issuing State and if the lan-
guage is not English, French or Spanish, the text shall include a translation into one of these
languages.16 The certificate shall be carried on board the ship and a copy shall be deposited
with the authorities who keep the record of the ship’s registry or, if the ship is not registered in
a State Party, with the authorities issuing or certifying the certificate.17
An insurance or other financial security would not satisfy the requirement of Article 12 of the
Convention:
1. If it can cease for reasons other than the expiry of the period of the validity of the
insurance or other financial security specified in the certificate showing type and
duration of security
2. If it can cease before three months have elapsed from the date on which notice of its
termination is given to the authorities referred to in Article 12 paragraph 5 unless the
certificate has been surrendered to these authorities or a new certificate has been issued
within the said period.18
A State Party is entitled to rely on information obtained from other States or the Organization
or other international organizations, such as International Group of Protection & Indemnity
Association, relating to the financial standing of providers of insurance or financial security
for the purposes of this Convention, but in such cases the State Party relying on such informa-
16 Article 12 paragraph.
17 Article 12 paragraph 5.

tion is not relieved of its responsibility as a State issuing the certificate required by Article 12
paragraph 2.19
The import of Article 12 paragraph 8 should not be taken lightly. It means that a State issuing
the certificate envisaged under Article 12 paragraph 2 of the Convention has a responsibility
to ensure that:
(a) She has legal capacity to issue the certificate.

A State issuing the certificate is holding itself out to all parties with interests (economic and
marine environment) in the Convention area that it has guaranteed that security is in place in
the event of maritime casualty and ensuing hazard, to take care of the costs of locating, mark-
ing and removing the wreck subject to the limit of liability under Article 10 paragraph 2 of the
Convention and that courts of issuing authority can enforce and apply the provisions of the
Convention and call in the insurance or other financial security from the provider directly, for
the costs of locating, marking and removing the wreck. Where such a country lacks the legal
power to issue the certificate such as where a State which has not domesticated the Conven-
tion issues such a certificate, such a State exposes itself to humongous costs of locating, mark-
ing and removing the wreck without limitation.
(a) The insurance or other financial security meets the requirement of the Convention.
A State issuing the certificate is holding itself out to all parties with interests (economic and
marine environment) in the Convention area that it has diligently ascertained that the insur-
ance or other financial security meets the requirement of the Convention. Where a State goes
about this duty which demands diligent inquiry in a cavalier manner, such a State may expose
itself to legal actions by affected interests founded on damages based on negligence, where it
turns out that the insurance or other financial security certified by the said State does not meet
the requirement of the Convention as it affects the Convention area.20
Certificates issued and certified under the authority of a State Party shall be accepted by other
State Parties and shall be regarded as having the same force as certificates issued and certified
by the accepting States Parties, even if issued or certified in respect of a ship not registered in a
State Party. Where a State Party believes that the insurer or guarantor named in the certificate
is not financially capable of meeting the obligations imposed by the Convention, she may con-
sult with the issuing or certifying State.21
Any claim for costs arising under the Convention may be brought directly against the insurer
or other person providing financial security for the registered owner’s liability, and the defen-
dant is entitled to invoke all defences available to the registered owner, excluding bankruptcy
or winding up, but including limitation of liability under any applicable law. Even where the
registered owner is not entitled to limitation of liability, the defendant may limit liability to an
amount equal to the amount of the insurance or other financial security. The defence that the
maritime casualty was caused by the wilful misconduct of the registered owner is also avail-
20 Regulated activities are carried out in the EEZ, including oil exploration, fishing, production of energy from water, currents and
winds, etc.

able to the defendant and defendant is entitled to have the registered owner joined as a party
in the proceedings.22
A State Party is prohibited to permit any ship entitled to fly its flag to which Article 12 applies
to operate at any time unless a certificate has been issued under paragraphs 2 or 14 of Article
12.23
Subject to Article 12 of the Convention, each State Party shall ensure, under its national laws
that insurance or other financial security to the extent required by paragraph 1 is in force in
respect of any ship of 300 gross tonnage and above, wherever registered, entering or leaving a
port in its territory, or arriving at or leaving from an offshore facility in its territory.24
Whether Nigeria decides to domesticate this convention or not, the provision relating to se-
curing insurance or other financial security is applicable to all Nigerian-registered ships of 300
gross tonnage and above engaged in international voyage.
A State Party may on notice to the Secretary General waive the requirement that evidence of
insurance or other financial security be carried on board pursuant to Article 12 paragraph 5
of the Convention, provided that the State Party which issued certificate of such evidence has
notified the Secretary General of the availability of the records in electronic format of such ev-
idence, and such records are accessible to all States Parties.25
If insurance or other financial security is not maintained in respect of a ship owned by a State
Party, the provisions of this Article relating thereto shall not be applicable to such ship, but the
ship shall carry a certificate issued by the appropriate authority of the State of registry, stating
that it is owned by that State and that the ship’s liability is covered within the limits prescribed
in paragraph 1 of Article 12.26
Many States Parties have confirmed their willingness to issue certificates for vessels registered
in non-Convention States. These include Cook Island, Denmark, Germany, Liberia, Malta,
Marshall Islands, Palau and the United Kingdom. Upon domestication of the Nairobi Conven-
tion, Nigeria is urged to join these countries and render such services. It will not only attract
revenue to Nigeria, it will also popularize and add value to the international status and image
of the country’s ship registry. Since Nigeria has not domesticated the Convention, it lacks the
legal power to issue the maritime administration attesting certificate envisaged under Article
12(2). This means that sea-going ships of 300 grt and above registered in Nigeria shall be sub-
jected to going to States Parties which have domesticated the convention to obtain certificates
of the maritime administration provided in article 12(2). That will mean capital flight, apart
from demeaning the country’s maritime status and the status of our Ship Registry. The con-
sequences of not carrying Wreck Removal Certificate on board may be grave, depending on
which port State a ship is charged for violation, ranging from payment of up to $10,000 fine to

24 Article 12 paragraph 12. States Parties are mandated to discharge this duty through their Port State Control functions.

detention of the ship.27 This is another reason why the convention should be domesticated as
a matter of urgency.
It is submitted that insurance covers provided by protection and indemnity (P&I) clubs, inter-
national insurance companies and bank guarantees issued by banks with international repu-
tation, would meet the insurance or other financial security requirements of the convention to
cover the registered owner’s liabilities under the convention.28 The P&I groups have indicated
their willingness to issue Blue Cards [certificate of entry/cover] to membership owners to en-
able them obtain attesting certificates known as Wreck Removal Insurance Certificates from
their ships’ home registries or other countries ship registries as the case may be, as provided
by the convention.29 P&I clubs cover usually covers the costs and expenses relating to a mem-
ber’s legal liability for the raising, removal, destruction, lighting or marking of the wreck of an
entered ship or property carried on board and liabilities incidental thereto.30
The Nairobi Convention also serves to resolve conflicts of jurisdiction on removal of wrecks
between national maritime administrations and authorities in charge of ports management in
the States Parties, by delimiting the areas where the national maritime administration has ex-
clusive jurisdiction to remove wrecks. This is the Convention Area. Convention area is defined
in Article 1 paragraph 1 to mean:
the exclusive economic zone of a State Party, established in accordance with international
law or, if a State Party has not established such a zone, an area beyond and adjacent to the
territorial seas of that State determined by that State in accordance with international law
and extending not more than 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth
of its territorial seas is measured.31
The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency [NIMASA] under section 22(1) of
its enable act,32 has as part of its functions: -
(j) control and prevent marine pollution,

(m) perform port and flag state duties,
(n) receive and remove wrecks,
(q) establish the procedure for the implementation of conventions of the International
Maritime Organization and the International Maritime Labour Organization and
other international conventions to which the Federal Republic of Nigeria is a party
27 See Bahamas Maritime Authority Information Bulletin No. 157 effective March 2017, at www.bahamasmaritime.com/wp-con-
tent/uploads/2015/...
29 visit http://www.swedishclub.com/loss-prevention/ship/wreck-removal-convention....
30 See the book: Managing Risk in Shipping A Practical Guide, 1999 publication of the Nautical Institute, page 77
31 Nigeria Exclusive Economic Zone Act, CAP E.17 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004 provides in section 1 (1) “Exclusive Eco-
nomic Zone of Nigeria (hereinafter referred to as the “Exclusive Zone”) which shall be an area extending from the external limits
of the territorial waters of Nigeria up to a distance of two hundred nautical miles from the baselines from which the breadth of the
territorial waters of Nigeria is measured.’’ Nigerian has sovereign and exclusive rights in the Exclusive Zone limited to exploration
and exploitation of the natural resources of the sea bed, subsoil and superjacent waters, see section 2 thereof. So for the purpose of
exploring and exploitation, conserving and managing the natural resources and other activities for the economic exploitation and
exploration of the Exclusive Zone, Nigeria may establish, or permit the establishment, operation and use by any person subject to
such conditions as may be prescribed, in designated areas, artificial islands, installations and structures. See section 3(1) thereof].
32 See NIMASA Act 2007.

on Maritime Safety and Security, Maritime Labour, Commercial Shipping and for the
implementation codes, resolutions and circulars arising therefrom.
The objective of the Nairobi Convention is to clothe States Parties with authority to take mea-
sures in relation to removal of a wreck which poses a hazard. “Hazard” is defined to mean any
condition or threat that:
(a) Poses a danger or impediment to navigation; or

(b) May reasonably be expected to result in major harmful consequences to the marine
environment, or damage to the coastline or related interests of one or more States.33
The convention also states the proportion and extent of such measures.34 They shall be propor-
tionate to the hazard.35 Such measures shall not go beyond what is reasonably necessary to re-
move a wreck which poses a hazard and shall cease as soon as the wreck has been removed.36
The convention applies to wrecks in the convention area.37 A State Party may extend the ap-
plication of the convention to wrecks located within its territory, including the territorial sea.38
The territorial waters of Nigeria are part of Nigeria’s territory for all purposes. Section 1 of the
Territorial Waters Act provides39:
“The territorial waters of Nigeria shall for all purposes include every part of the open sea
within twelve nautical miles of the coast of Nigeria (measured from low water mark) or of
the seaward limits of inland waters.”
Some States have extended the scope of the convention to their territorial waters; these are An-
tigua & Barbuda, Bulgaria, Denmark, Liberia, Malta, Marshall Islands, and the United King-
dom. The implication of extending the convention to wrecks located within the territory, in-
cluding the territorial waters of the applicable country, is that registered owners of wrecks
located in these areas and which are determined to constitute a hazard are under obligation to
remove the wrecks and would bear the cost of locating, marking and removal of wrecks with-
in the waters of the applicable State from the port areas up to the EEZ, as provided under Ar-
ticles 7, 8 and 9 of the convention, if the removal is undertaken by the State. It also means that
registered owners of wrecks that have been determined to constitute a hazard in the extended
convention area shall provide the competent authority of the affected State evidence of insur-
ance or other financial security as required by article 12 of the Nairobi Convention. This pro-
vision appears to be a compromise between States which place premium on their marine envi-
ronment right from the coastal area up to the EEZ and those who do not yet do so. The US Oil
Pollution Act 1990 has a provision which requires vessels of more than 300 gross tons and ves-
sels of any size that transfer oil between vessels (STS transfer) or shipping oil in the EEZ to car-
ry Certificate of Financial Responsibility (COFR). COFR is a measure put in place to take care
39 See Cap, T5 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004.

of any ensuing cleanup costs from spills or leaks. The law was made following the devastating
effect the Exxon Valdez accident of 1989 had on the US marine environment.
In countries where functions of maritime agencies are properly separated, extending the con-
vention to the territorial waters would not create any tussle in discharge of functions. The same
cannot be said in countries were functions are duplicated in enabling acts of different maritime
agencies.
Up to this time, NPA has, to the subdued anger of NIMASA, exercised power to remove wrecks
within the port area and the approaches to the ports, claiming that it has power to do so, even
when the NIMASA Act expressly charges NIMASA with the function to receive and remove
wrecks. NIMASA Act does not use the word “exclusively” in donating the power to remove
wrecks to NIMASA and the area covered is not indicated expressly. Hence NPA has contin-
ued to remove wrecks in the ports areas and the approaches to the ports. What is very clear,
though, is that NIMASA is the only authority in Nigeria that can receive wrecks removed from
anywhere within the Nigerian territorial waters.40 The only excepted area is the inland water-
ways which derelicts and wrecks removal falls under the jurisdiction of the National Inland
Waterways Authority.41
The Nairobi Convention on removal of wrecks entered into force on April 14, 2015.42 It ac-
knowledges the importance of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS] 1982, and
of the customary international law of the sea, as well as the need to implement the Nairobi
Convention in accordance with the provisions of the law of the seas.43 The convention opens
on the note of definition of key terms,44 while still recognizing every part of the high seas as a
“public highway” of the international shipping community45 and at the same time mandating
States Parties to cooperate when the effect of a maritime casualty resulting in a wreck involve
a State other than the Affected State.46
The Convention does not apply to measures taken under the International Convention relat-
ing to Intervention on the High Seas in cases of Oil Pollution Casualties 1969 (as amended) or
the 1973 Protocol which covers pollution by substances other than oil.47 Under article VI of the
latter, any State Party which has taken measures in contravention of the provisions of the 1969
convention causing damage to others shall be obliged to pay compensation to the extent of the
damage caused by measures which exceed those reasonably necessary to achieve prevention,
mitigation or elimination of grave and imminent danger to their coastline or related interests.
40 See Merchant Shipping (Receiver of Wreck and Assistant Receivers of Wreck (Appointment) Notice Legal Notice No. 141 of
17/12/1964.
41 See section 9 (d) of the National Inland Waterways Authority Act Cap.N47 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004
42 As at December 2016, 31 States have ratified the Convention. These are Albania, Antigua And Barbuda, Bahamas, Bulgaria,
Republic of Congo, Cooks Islands, Cyprus, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Liberia, Malaysia, Malta,
Marshall Islands, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Niue, Palau, Panama, Romania, Saint Kitts and Nevis, South Africa, Switzer-
land, Tonga, Tuvalu, and the UK.
43 See the preamble to the Convention.
44 Article 1.
45 Article 2(4).
46 Article 2(5). The Tory Canyon spill affected the west coast of England as well as the coastlines of France, Guernsey [Channel
Islands] and Spain. It is an example of how serious a maritime casualty resulting in a wreck can be.
47 Article 4 paragraph 1, understandably so because this latter Convention is not about removal of wrecks but relates to contain-
ment measures in cases of oil pollution casualties.

The Nairobi Convention does not apply to warships or other ships owned or operated by a
State, and used for the time being only on Government noncommercial service, unless that
State decides otherwise, on certain conditions.48
A State Party is under obligation to require the master and the operator of a ship flying its flag
to report to the Affected State without delay when that ship has been involved in a maritime
casualty resulting in a wreck, but once either the master or the operator has made the report,
the obligation on both is met.49 Such report shall provide the name and principal place of busi-
ness of the registered owner of the wreck and other relevant information to enable the Affected
State determine whether the wreck poses a hazard, and this information includes
(a) The precise location of the wreck

(b) the type, size and construction of the wreck,
(c) the nature of the damage to, and the condition of, the wreck,
(d) the nature and quantity of the cargo, in particular any hazardous and noxious
substances, and
(e) the amount and types of oil, including bunker oil and lubricating oil, on board.50
When determining whether a wreck poses a hazard, many criteria are used including, among
others: the type, size and construction of the wreck, proximity of shipping routes, traffic den-
sity and frequency, nature and quantity of wreck’s cargo, vulnerability of port facilities, prox-
imity of offshore installations, pipelines, telecommunications, cables and similar structures.51
Locating wreck – Upon becoming aware of a wreck, the Affected State is mandated to use all
practicable means, including offices of States and organizations, to warn mariners and the
States concerned of the nature and location of the wreck as a matter of urgency52
If the Affected State has reason to believe that a wreck poses a hazard, it shall ensure that all
practicable steps are taken to establish the precise location of the wreck.53
Once an Affected State determines that a wreck constitutes a hazard, that State shall ensure
that all reasonable steps are taken to mark the wreck, in compliance with internationally ac-
cepted system of buoyage in use in the area where the wreck is located, and then take steps to
publicize the marking.54
Once an Affected State determines that a wreck constitutes a hazard, that State shall immedi-
ately inform the ship registry and the registered ship owner.55 The registered owner shall re-
move the said wreck and he or other interested person is under obligation to provide the Af-
fected State with evidence of insurance or other financial security56 and may contract with a
salvor or other person to remove the said wreck on behalf of the owner. However before such
48 Article 4 paragraphs 2 and 3

49 Article 5 paragraph 1
51 Article 6.
54 Article 8.
56 Article 9 paragraphs 2 and 3.

removal commences, the Affected State may lay down conditions for such removal only to the
extent necessary to ensure removal process conforms with considerations of safety and protec-
tion of the marine environment and in the process the Affected State may intervene to ensure
that this safety and environment objective for the need for conformity is achieved.57 The Affect-
ed State is under obligation to set a reasonable deadline for the registered owner to remove the
wreck and inform him accordingly, and conveying the right of the State to remove the wreck
if the deadline is not met by the registered owner at the latter’s expense, as well as the right to
intervene immediately in the event that the hazard becomes particularly severe.58
Where the registered owner fails to meet the removal deadline or cannot be contacted, the Af-
fected State may remove the wreck, however where immediate action is required the Affect-
ed State may remove the wreck after informing the ship’s registry and the registered owner.59
The registered owner shall not be liable under the Nairobi Convention for the costs mentioned
in Article 10 paragraph 1 (costs for locating, marking and removal) if, and to the extent that, li-
ability for such costs would be in conflict with any of the below mentioned Conventions that is
applicable and in force, i.e.:
(a) The International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution Damage 1969, as
amended
(b) The International Convention on Liability and Compensation for Damage in
Connection with the Carriage of Hazardous and Noxious Substances by Sea, 1996, as
amended
(c) The Convention on Third Party Liability in the field of Nuclear Energy 1960, as
amended, or the Vienna Convention on Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage, 1963, as
amended; or national law governing or prohibiting limitation of liability for nuclear
damage; or
(d) The International Convention on Civil Liability for Bunker Oil Pollution Damage, 2001,
as amended.60
To the extent that measures under the Nairobi Convention are considered to be salvage under
applicable national law or an international convention, such law or convention shall apply to
questions of the remuneration or compensation payable to salvors, to the exclusion of the rules
of the Nairobi Convention.61
Right of action to recover costs under the Nairobi Convention is limited to three years from the
date when the hazard was determined in accordance with the provisions of the convention,
but in no case shall an action be brought after six years from the date of the maritime casualty
that resulted in the wreck and where the casualty consists of series of occurrences, the six-year
period shall run from the date of the first occurrence.62
Article 15 details procedure for settlement of disputes between two or more States regarding

62 Article 13.

the interpretation or application of the convention, providing for ADR procedures, arbitration,
judicial settlement, or other Party-determined options, failing which provisions relating to set-
tlement of disputes set out in Part XV of UNCLOS 1982 shall apply mutatis mutandis, whether
or not the States Party to the dispute are also States Parties to the UNCLOS 1982, etc.
The Nairobi Convention aims to rally ship-owners and littoral states to reduce maritime casu-
alty on the high sea that may result in shipwrecks and where such shipwreck occurs produc-
ing a hazard with potential to affect navigation, pollute the marine environment, and destroy
investments and aquatic life in the marine environment, to take steps, nay proactively, to min-
imize and mitigate the effects, by locating, marking and removal of the wreck.
CONCLUSION
Nigeria should not only domesticate the convention urgently, but should create a window in
the Merchant Shipping Act through which like and future conventions in the spheres of mar-
itime safety, maritime security, marine pollution and maritime labour can be domesticated by
quick and simple legislative procedure. The convention may in one sentence be described as
safer shipping, cleaner ocean, blue economy and marine life protective convention.

4
Assessment of Infrastructure Capacity to Handle Cargo
Traffic at Terminals of Kotoka International Airport, Ghana
Adedotun, J.A.
Dept. of Transport Mgt Tech., Federal University of Tech., Akure, Nigeria;
ajadenigbo@futa.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
Facilities at cargo terminals determine the level of overall airport infrastructure capacity to provide seam-
less cargo distribution services in a country. Terminal capacity for cargo handling needs to be provided and
managed with optimum capacity utilization in the face of fluctuations in cargo traffic. This study assesses
the terminal capacity for cargo handling at Accra airport with regards to the adequacy and condition of fa-
cilities. Data were collected using questionnaire administered by random sampling of 154 cargo agents and
Customs officers at Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Ghana. The study used bar chart, chi-square and
Kruskal Wallis tests to analyze data. The results show that overall capacity at the airport is adequate with
facilities in good condition. This underscores the need for critical policy decision to ensure optimal utiliza-
tion of capacity at various levels of fluctuations in cargo volume.
Keywords: cargo handling; terminal capacity; terminal infrastructure; capacity utilization
INTRODUCTION
T
he capacity of airport to handle cargo traffic in an efficient manner that is characterized
with reduced cost and time of transshipment remains a challenge to different stakehold-
ers (airport managers, airlines, handling companies, airport planners and economists)
over the years. This may be complex in West African sub region due to the poor nature of car-
go traffic documentation by types and volume, and origin and destination. This is also due to
poor airport infrastructure provision and maintenance, as well as poor organization and polit-
ical structure in West Africa (Bofinger, 2008). Airport capacity constraint as the inability of an
airport to handle maximum number of units of demand at a given period of time and condi-
tion (Senguttuvan, 2006) reflects in poor utilization, a situation which airport finds difficult to
accommodate new airlines (Bilotkach & Polk, 2011).
The rate of cargo processing for onward transshipment at airport determines the capacity to
handle traffic. Generally, terminal capacity refers to the ability of an airport to process car-
assessment of infrastructure capacity to handle cargo traffic at terminals of kotoka
international airport, ghana | adenigbo, a.j.
goes of different types and volumes without exceeding the optimum cost in terms of time and
charges. Optimum cost may mean the recommended standards for cargo handling at airports.
The optimum cost of cargo handling also requires that space, equipment and facilities, which
are infrastructure for cargo processing are well utilized. The capacity utilization level at airport
cargo terminals manifests as underutilization, overutilization and optimum utilization. Un-
derutilization results when infrastructure provided are greater than cargo flow in terms of vol-
ume and types. Overutilization of terminal capacity is a problem that arises when cargo flow
in volume and types is far higher than the capacity of infrastructure for cargo flow.
A critical responsibility lies in the hands of airport cargo terminal managers to ensure that ca-
pacity is provided to commensurate with the volume and types of cargo flow. This responsibil-
ity is critical because terminal operators have to provide optimum utilization of infrastructure
for cargo handling in the face of fluctuations that characterize cargo flow. The ability of opera-
tors to achieve optimum utilization of terminal infrastructure capacity lies in the adequacy and
condition of warehouse, handling equipment, processing shed and storage facilities. On this
ground, the objective of this study is to assess the adequacy and condition of cargo handling
infrastructure of warehouse, handling equipment, processing shed and storage facilities at ter-
minals of Kotoka international airport (KIA), Accra Ghana.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Different scholars from different countries had studied the capacity of airports from different
perspectives. Amaruchkul and Lorchirachoonkul (2011) studied air cargo capacity allocation
for multiple freight forwarders by considering single air-cargo carrier allocating cargo capacity
to multiple forwarders before booking. Discreet Markov chain model was employed to derive
the probability distribution of the actual usage of the cargo capacity allotted as well as dynam-
ic programming method to solve airline problem on allotted capacity utilization.
Polak (2014) investigated whether the capacity of Schiphol airport and expected demand
would balance in the year 2015 and if not, which measures should be necessarily taken to ac-
complish this? The study was carried out using the fast time simulation model TAAM (total
airspace and airport modeller), and showed excessive delays (on average more than one hour),
resulting from a complete mismatch of capacity and demand. Airport capacity analysis of the
study focused on the delay analysis at the airport as a result of demand.
The issue of demand uncertainty has been a major need for assessing airport capacity. This
calls for different strategic management for profit maximizing and welfare airports. The fact
that there is high air cargo demand uncertainty, forecasting traffic has become extremely chal-
lenging (Magana, Masouri & Spiegler, 2016). The high level of uncertainty in cargo flow at air-
ports has also given rise to careful efforts at avoiding over design and provision of infrastruc-
ture, which is a major factor to sustain the existence of regional airports in Europe (Nommik
& Antov, 2017). Issue about the effects of demand uncertainty on airport - airline vertical ar-
rangements for airport capacity choices was examined by Xiao, Fu and Zhang (2016). Xiao, Fu,
Oum and Yan (2017) also modelled airport capacity choice with real options in the face of high
and low demand uncertainties.

The major strategies for the management of airport demand capacity with significant variabil-
ity in traffic volume was examined by Jacquillat and Odoni (2018). Assessment of the specific-
ities and possibilities of regional airports in Estonia to optimize capacity for efficient service
provision was the focus of the study of Nommik and Antov (2017). Recently, Picard, Tampier
and Wan (2019) assessed the efficiency of slot allocation for aircrafts with limited airport ca-
pacity at peak times.
It is revealed from the literature that overall capacity at airports had been studied from the
viewpoint that demand for traffic is uncertain. Attention need to be given to capacity for cargo
handling at terminals in terms of the adequacy and condition of infrastructure. Also, studies
had been airport specific in other countries aside Ghana. Therefore, this study is an attempt to
assess the capacity of infrastructure at cargo terminals of Kotoka international airport (KIA),
Accra, Ghana.
METHODOLOGY
The Kotoka International Airport (KIA), Accra, Ghana has relevant organizations that operate
at any international airports such as Ghana Civil Aviation Authority. The management of the
airport is saddled upon the shoulder of Ghana Airport Company Limited (GACL). The GACL
has an independent department for cargo operations at the airport. This department oversees
and regulates the activities of private handling companies at the airport’s cargo terminals (also
known as cargo village). The cargo handling companies operating at the airport are Ghana
Aviance, AHS Menzies, SwissPort and Air Ghana Perishable Cargo Centre (AGPCC). Recent-
ly, the operations of AGPCC were taken over by SwissPort. The companies operate at the car-
go village for aircraft and cargo handling. It is the duty of the handling companies to provide
infrastructure for cargo operations in terms of warehousing, processing shed, handling equip-
ment and storage facilities at the airport. So, the study assesses the capacity utilization of the
airport by looking at the adequacy and condition of the infrastructure of Ghana Aviance, AHS
Menzies and SwissPort.
The study was designed to follow survey research method involving the collection of data by
means of sampling a population. The objective of the design for the study is to expand the fron-
tier of knowledge in the area of air cargo distribution at airports using survey method. A sam-
ple of the population was selected to serve as respondents for the study. The selection of the
sample was done with quantitative approach for data collection and analysis. Questionnaire
was designed for quantitative collection and analysis of data. The study successfully surveyed
a total of 154 respondents out of a population of 226, using simple random technique. This rep-
resents 68 per cent success rate. Table 1 presents the distribution of questionnaire to the catego-
ry of respondents for the study. The categories for the study population include cargo agents,
customs officers, staff of GACL in cargo operations department and airlines staff. It is noted
from Table 1 that cargo agents have the highest number of respondents (84) surveyed, which is
followed by customs officers with 51 respondents. This implies that cargo agents and customs
officers form the major respondents for the study.

Table 1: Population and return rate of questionnaire administered

Category No. of questionnaire No. of questionnaire Percent
retrieved
Cargo agents 88 84 95.5
Customs officers 105 51 48.6
Airport management 10 08 80
Airlines 23 11 47.8
Total 226 154 68
Source: Author’s Field Survey
The questions on the airports’ capacity assessment were presented in a 3-point Likert scale to
indicate level of respondents’ perception of the adequacy and condition of cargo terminals’
infrastructure. The choice of the 3-point Likert scale is to capture only the positive polar re-
sponses ranking as “fairly adequate, adequate and highly adequate” to measure the adequacy
of the airports’ terminal infrastructure. For the condition of the infrastructure, 3-point Likert
scale showing positive responses of “fairly ok, good and excellent” were used. Only positive
responses were sought because the negative polar responses of “inadequacy and “poor condi-
tion” do not exist with the airports’ terminal infrastructure for cargo handling in practical sit-
uation. The reason for this is that there are internationally established regulations, standards
and recommended practices that govern cargo handling operations at airports.
Simple descriptive statistics, Chi Square and Kruskal Wallis tests were employed to analyze
data collected for the study. The Kruskal-Wallis or one-way ANOVA on ranks is a non-para-
metric method for testing whether samples originate from the same distribution. It is used for
comparing two or more independent samples of equal or different sample sizes. The model for
Kruskal Wallis test to analyze the evenness of distribution in ranks position of different groups
without ties follows;
Where: N is the total number of observations; R is the number of ranks; and H is the value for the test
The Kruskal-Wallis model with ties is in the form;
Where: m is the total number of tied sets, N is the total number of observations, R is the number of ranks, and
H is the value for the test
The significance level (at 0.05) is based on the distribution, with degrees of freedom.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

The infrastructure requirement for air cargo operations at airports demands the adequacy and
condition of warehouse, handling equipment, processing shed and storage facilities to handle
cargo traffic. This is put in place to ensure the capacity of an airport to carry out cargo handling
services with efficiency. The measurement of airport capacity in cargo operation is premised
on the volume of cargo the airport infrastructure can process in a given time. The measure of

efficiency of cargo operations at airports is dependent upon time and cost of service delivery.
The cost for cargo handling services will increase with increased transit time. This is possible
in a situation when cargo stays longer than the required period at the airport terminal result-
ing into payment of demurrage. The demurrage paid is an additional cost to cargo transship-
ment arising from longer processing time. This makes cargo handling services inefficient. On
the other hand, cost on cargo handling services may result from the need to transship cargo in
less than the time required. This situation is said to be efficient as it is being offered on express
service. The goal of cargo operations at any airport is to ensure the transit of cargo to its final
destination through a network of guaranteed service providers. These providers include air-
lines, freight forwarders, integrators and handling companies.
Assessing the airport’s cargo-handling capacity

Efficient airport operations require that needed infrastructure are provided in the right quan-
tity and condition. Overall, these infrastructures are essential to handle aircrafts, passengers
and cargoes alike. Each of these requires specific handling facilities and equipment. For cargo
traffic, the specific infrastructure required is the warehouse provided with processing shed,
racks, handling equipment and storage facilities. The volume of cargo traffic at any airport
is supposed to commensurate with the level of infrastructure provision for optimum capaci-
ty utilization and efficient cargo handling operations. It is to be noted that efficiency in cargo
handling at airports implies optimum cost of transshipment within a short time. This efficien-
cy should also reflect in the ability of airport with cargo terminal that is capable of handling
different types of cargo. The need for handling different types of cargo arises from the fact that
different cargoes require specific handling. For example, the handling requirement for human
remains is specific and differs from that of live animals. At the same time, the specific require-
ment for handling general goods is different from that of perishable goods. As a result of this,
there is need to assess the level of capacity utilization at airports in terms of the adequacy and
condition of warehouse, processing shed and handling equipment, since infrastructure provi-
sion determines capacity.
The level of familiarity of respondents with the level of cargo traffic and the overall environ-
ment of cargo terminals at the airport were sought in order to determine the extent of the re-
liability of data collected for the study. The Table 2 provides the responses of the respondents
indicating that 99.4% of the respondents are well familiar with cargo operations at KIA. The
response in Table 2 implies that information from the respondents can be relied upon for the
purpose of the study. The 0.6% of the respondents that claimed to have no familiarity with car-
go operations at the airport happens to be a new staff of one of the cargo agents.
Table 2: Respondents’ knowledge of air cargo flow at KIA

Frequency Percent
Yes 153 99.4
No 1 .6
Total 154 100.0
Source: Authors’ Field Survey
The results on the familiarity of the respondents to air cargo operations at KIA provide a

support for the reliability of the results presented in subsequent tables. Based on this, Table
4 shows that cargo traffic at KIA is seen to be at average level. This implies from the results
showing 40.3% and 44.2% of the respondents indicating that cargo traffic at KIA is moderate
and average in relation to infrastructure capacity respectively. It therefore indicates that ma-
jority of the respondents are of the view that the level of cargo traffic at the airport commen-
surate with their expectation.
Table 3: Perception of cargo volume at KIA with chi-square statistics

Percent Observed N Expected N Residual Test statistics
Moderate 40.3 62 51.3 10.7 Chi-square 22.182a
Average 44.2 68 51.3 16.7 Df 2
Below average 15.6 24 51.3 -27.3 Asymp. sig. .000
Total 100 154
a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 51.3.
The test statistics shows that chi-square (X2) = 22.182 with 2 degrees of freedom, which is sig-
nificant at α = .000 (See Table 3) implies that the difference in the view of the respondents for
moderate, average and below average cargo volume at KIA is not by chance.
The result in Table 4 points that the respondents are not enthused with the level of cargo traffic
at the airport. This is further indicated in Table 4 that the capacity of airport is underutilized.
This implies that cargo traffic at the airport is low compared to the infrastructure provided.
The result in Table 4 shows that about 58% of respondents are of the opinion that the capacity
of the airport in cargo handling is underutilized.
Table 4: Perception of KIA capacity utilization with chi-square statistics

Percent Observed N Expected N Residual Test Statistics
Underutilized 57.8 89 51.3 37.7 Chi-Square 80.117a
Optimally 41.6 64 51.3 12.7 2
Df
utilized
Overutilized .6 1 51.3 -50.3 Asymp. Sig. .000
Total 100.0 154
a. 0 cells (0.0%) have expected frequencies less than 5. The minimum expected cell frequency is 51.3.
The chi-square (X2) test statistics equals 80.117 with 2 degrees of freedom, which is significant
at α = 0.01 (See Table 4) implies that the difference in the perception of the respondents about
the level of capacity utilization at KIA as “underutilized,” “optimally utilized” and “overuti-
lized” does not result from chance.
Adequacy of infrastructural capacity at terminals of KIA in cargo handling

In terms of the adequacy of infrastructure provided by the handling companies, Ghana Avi-
ance seems to have adequate warehouse with 103 responses representing about 67% of the re-
spondents. The handling equipment for cargo at Ghana Aviance terminal are seen to be ade-
quate by the respondents with 97 responses having 61% of the total respondents. The processing

shed and storage facilities for cargo handling at Ghana Aviance terminal were also seen to be
adequate by the respondents. This accounts for 56% (87) and 55% (85) of the total respondents
respectively (Fig. 1). Notwithstanding, the rate of respondents who viewed the adequacy of in-
frastructure at Ghana Aviance as fairly significant portends that Ghana Aviance may need to
provide more infrastructure to offer efficient cargo handling services with increased traffic in
the nearest future. This is because increased cargo traf-
fic at the Ghana Aviance terminal may results into inter-
ruption in logistics flow. This interruption will arise
when cargo is squeezed into inadequate space, or the
operation is fragmented, the risk for loss, damage or
process failure will increase. This position is inferred
from the Figure 1 having 29%, 32%, 40%, and 39% re-
Fig. 1: Adequacy of Ghana Aviance capacity
sponses for fairly adequate warehouse, handling equip-
ment, processing shed and storage facilities respective-
ly. The responses for “fairly adequate” seem to be high
for an airport with projected increase in cargo traffic.
The case at the terminal of AHS Menzies makes the

study conclude that the terminal is struggling to pro-
vide efficient handling operations for the current lev-
Fig. 2: Adequacy of AHS Menzies capacity
el of cargo traffic at the airport. The result presented in
Figure 2 shows that more of the respondents are of the
opinion that the capacity of AHS Menzies is fairly ade-
quate. 56% and 41% of the respondents view about AHS
Menzies indicate that the capacity of the terminal’s
warehouse is fairly adequate and adequate respectively.
The result for the capacity of handling equipment at

AHS Menzies shows 53% and 46% perception of re-
spondents as fairly adequate and adequate respective-
ly. That of processing shed and storage facilities also ac-
Fig. 3: Adequacy of SwissPort capacity. count for 53% and 47%, and 50% and 47% respectively
Source: Authors’ Field Survey for fairly adequate and adequate. It is clear that an in-
crease in cargo traffic at the terminal of AHS Menzies
will render the handling company inefficient to provide its services such that the customers
who are majorly forwarders (cargo agents) will be dissatisfied. This will arise because seam-
less logistics operations at the terminal will be hampered in a situation that warehouse is in-
adequate to accommodate cargo volume, handling equipment are not enough for cargo pro-
cessing while processing shed and storage facilities are not adequate to contain cargo. This
situation will lead to service failure that will manifest in congestion, delay, and increased cost
of transshipment at the airport.
The results about the adequacy of SwissPort handling company presented in Figure 3 indicate
that infrastructure provision at SwissPort handling company is highly adequate to handle the
current flow of cargo. This implied from Figure 3 showing 69% of the respondents who are of

the view that the warehouse of SwissPort is highly adequate. In the same direction, about 73%
of the respondents are of the view that the handling equipment at SwissPort is highly ade-
quate. The perception of the respondents also follows the same trend for processing shed and
storage facilities with 69% and 68% responses of the respondents respectively.
The implication of the results as presented in

Figure 3 is that SwissPort would still be able to
provide efficient cargo handling services at the
airport even with increase in cargo traffic. It im-
plies that the capacity of infrastructure provision
at SwissPort is presently underutilized. This de-
picts a situation where capacity supply is in ex-
cess of demand. It also indicates that the custom-
er base for SwissPort will be increasing because
Fig.4: Condition of Ghana Aviance infrastructure
of the desire for efficient service. The shift of cus-
tomers to patronize SwissPort will result from
possible service failure of Ghana Aviance and
AHS Menzies with increase in cargo traffic at the
airport. This may lead to monopolistic cargo han-
dling services at the airport by SwissPort, with
consequence on the customers who will have to
bear high cost of cargo processing. At the same
time, the situation may lead to over utilization of
infrastructure provided by the SwissPort in the
future. Fig. 5: Condition of AHS Menzies infrastructure
It is therefore necessary to conclude from the is-

sues on the adequacy of private terminals’ capac-
ity to handle cargo traffic at KIA, that efficien-
cy of cargo operations may fail with increasing
traffic. This is particular with the fact that Gha-
na Aviance and AHS Menzies will find it difficult
to provide operational efficiency with increased
cargo traffic; while SwissPort the only terminal
Fig. 6: Condition of SwissPort infrastructure.
with highly perceived adequate infrastructure
will be congested because of demand shift.
Condition of infrastructural capacity at terminals of KIA in cargo handling

The study further assessed the airport infrastructural capacity in the handling of cargo traf-
fic by considering the view of respondents regarding the condition of warehouse, handling
equipment, processing shed and storage facilities of the private terminals. The respondents
completed questionnaire survey by ranking the condition of the terminals’ infrastructure in
order from fairly okay, good and excellent. The condition of infrastructure at Ghana Aviance
terminal indicates that warehouse, handling equipment, processing shed and storage facilities
are in good condition. This is implied as 63%, 64%, 65%, and 58% of the respondents indicat-

ed that warehouse, handling equipment, processing shed, and storage facilities of Ghana Avi-
ance are in good condition respectively (Fig. 4). It is evident from Figure 4 that majority of the
respondents were of the opinion that the infrastructure for cargo handling at Ghana Aviance
terminal are in good condition. However, it suffices to recognize that the responses indicating
“fairly ok” imply that the majority of the respondent could not guarantee the good condition
of infrastructure at the terminal. This implies that the Ghana Aviance warehouse, handling
equipment, processing shed and storage facilities will not be able to support efficient opera-
tions with increased cargo traffic in the future without improvement.
The condition of infrastructure provision at the terminal of AHS Menzies was also revealed by
the opinion of the respondents to be “fairly ok”. This is according to Figure 5 showing more of
the respondents stated that the condition of the infrastructure in terms of warehouse, handling
equipment, processing shed and storage facilities at AHS Menzies is “fairly ok”. Also sugges-
tive is the fact that many of the respondents showed that the condition of infrastructure at AHS
Menzies is “good.” It implies that despite more of the response to “fairly ok”, the infrastruc-
ture is still functioning to handle current cargo traffic but will fail woefully with a little increase
in cargo traffic at airport.
The condition of infrastructure at the terminal of SwissPort was rated excellent. This is ac-
counted for with the results in Figure 6. The figure shows that majority of the respondents in-
dicated that the condition of warehouse, handling equipment, processing shed and storage fa-
cilities provided at SwissPort terminal are excellent. The reason for this is not far-fetched, as
physical survey at the airport found that SwissPort is a new company with modern and im-
proved technology with expansive warehouse.
To be noted is the frequency accorded to “good” condition of infrastructure at SwissPort (See

Fig. 6) by the respondents. With this, it can be concluded that infrastructure provided for cargo
handling by SwissPort at KIA are in excellent condition such that they are capable of function-
ing well with increased cargo traffic at the airport. Notwithstanding, it is important to high-
light that SwissPort is a new cargo handling company at KIA. The company started operations
at the airport in the 2015 with modern building and sophisticated equipment that make up the
company’s infrastructure.
The findings from the perception of the respondents on the adequacy and condition of infra-
structure at the terminals of cargo handling companies of KIA portends that Ghana Aviance
and AHS Menzies need to upgrade their facilities and equipment in order to increase their ca-
pacity to handle current cargo and future cargo traffic. It is important to note that the adequacy
and condition of the Ghana Aviance and AHS Menzies is as a result of the age of the company’s
equipment and facilities. Ghana Aviance which was formerly owned by African Ground Oper-
ation (AFGO) started operations at the airport in 1994; while AHS Menzies started operations
in the year 2006. On the other hand, SwissPort started cargo handling services at the airport in
October 2015. It is indicative that both Ghana Aviance and AHS Menzies acquired their facili-
ties and equipment since commencement of operations at the airport. It therefore indicates that
the infrastructure provided by these companies would have been old and become inadequate
to handle the present cargo and subsequent traffic at the airport. The implication therefore is
that Ghana Aviance and AHS Menzies need to consider the expansion of their warehouses and

acquisition of modern handling equipment and facilities. This will guarantee terminal capacity
expansion to handle future cargo traffic and competition with other handling companies. This
will require that the airport management will need to develop a policy to guide the terminal
operators on the methods to expand the terminal capacity of the airport.
INFRASTRUCTURAL CAPACITY CONSTRAIN TO CARGO

HANDLING AT KIA
The capacity of airports to handle cargo traffic is measured by the rate at which cargoes are
processed for transshipment. Generally, capacity refers to the ability of an airport to handle a
given volume and types of cargo demand within a limit with no operational penalty. Airport
capacity for cargo handling is constrained when the infrastructure and facilities provided at
terminals can no longer perform effectively to handle the demand tonnage of cargo efficiently,
that is, without incurring additional time and costs for cargo processing.
This study made effort to assess the level of capacity constraint in cargo handling at KIA from
the perspective of the respondents who were majorly cargo agents and customs officer. The re-
spondents were made to rank the level of capacity constraint for cargo demand at the airport.
The data collected were subjected to Kruskal-Walis (H-Test) analysis. The Table 5 presents
the result of the analysis showing the airport infrastructure (warehouse, handling equipment,
storage facilities, and processing shed), the rank levels (fairly constrained, constrained, highly
constrained), N, number of respondents, and mean rank.
Table 5: H-Test descriptive level of infrastructural constrain to cargo at KIA

Levels of capacity constraint N Mean rank
Warehouse Fairly constrained 129 78.04
Constrained 15 64.70
Highly constrained 10 89.70
Total 154
Handling Fairly constrained 129 78.45
equipment Constrained 15 73.90
Total 154
Storage facilities Fairly constrained 129 76.86
Total 154
Processing shed Fairly constrained 129 75.71
Total 154
Source: Authors’ SPSS computation
It implies from Table 5 that warehouse at KIA is highly constrained with a mean rank of 89.70.
The capacity of handling equipment is found to be fairly constrained with mean rank of 78.45.
The capacity of the airport’s storage facilities can be said to be fairly constrained with the high-
est mean rank of 88.50. The view of the respondents as reflected in the Kruska–Wallis mean

ranks table for the capacity of processing shed showed the mean ranks of 90.70 for highly
constrained.
The H-Test Statistics of cargo capacity constraint at KIA presented in Table 6 tests whether
there is an overall significance difference among the three groups of responses (fairly signifi-
cant, constrained, and highly constrained). Notice that the p(sig.) values for warehouse, han-
dling equipment, storage facilities, and processing shed account for 0.332, 0.803, 0.697, and
0.459 respectively. These values are greater than 0.05 which is the significant level set for the
test statistics. This implies that the airport capacity utilization in terms of warehouse, handling
equipment, storage facilities and processing shed is not significantly different in the handling
of cargo. The conclusion is that KIA terminal infrastructure is not constrained to handle the
present volume of cargo flow. The implication of the study is that KIA operates optimal capac-
ity utilization in cargo handling.
Table 6: H-test statisticsa,b of terminal infrastructure constraint at KIA

Warehouse Handling Storage facilities Processing shed
equipment
Chi-Square 2.208 .438 .721 1.555
Df 2 2 2 2
Asymp. Sig. .332 .803 .697 .459
a. Kruskal Wallis Test; b. Grouping variable: levels of airport constraint. Source: Authors’ computation
CONCLUSION AND POLICY IMPLICATION

This study successfully assessed infrastructural capacity of air cargo terminals in Ghana us-
ing Kotoka International Airport, Accra by gathering the opinions of respondents regarding
the adequacy and condition of warehouse, handling equipment, processing shed, and storage
facilities at terminals of the airport. It is reasonable to summarize that Kotoka International
Airport, Accra, Ghana has adequate capacity to handle cargo traffic at its terminals. However,
caution needs be taken to ensure optimal utilization of capacity. The adequacy of facilities at
terminals to handle cargo traffic is a critical means of ensuring operational efficiency at any air-
port. The study also showed that cargo infrastructural capacity in terms of the adequacy and
condition of warehouse, handling equipment, processing shed and storage facilities at Swis-
sPort terminal will perform better than that of Ghana Aviance and AHS Menzies.
The adequacy of airport capacity at terminals is paramount to efficient handling of cargo for
distribution in a country. Likewise, the condition of equipment provided at terminals for cargo
handling determines the extent of operational efficiency that will guarantee cargo operations
at airports. To this end, the government of Ghana under the authority of GACL need to devel-
op policy directed towards timely provision and upgrade of facilities and equipment for cargo
handling at the airport’s terminals. This should be done to maximize capacity to guide against
situations of under or over capacity utilization.
In conclusion, the assessment of the airport’s capacity to handle cargo traffic in terms of ade-
quacy and condition of infrastructure provision of warehouse, handling equipment, process-
ing shed and storage facilities was done using descriptive and Kruskal-Wallis test. The major

cargo handling companies at KIA (Aviance Ghana, SwissPort and AHS Menzies) were as-
sessed. In summary, the capacity of infrastructure provision at two of the terminals (Aviance
and AHS Menzies) was perceived to be in fair adequacy and condition. Notwithstanding, the
capacity of SwissPort terminal is adequate and in excellent condition to handle the present and
future cargo traffic of the airport. The capacity constraint assessment of the airports using Kru-
skal-Wallis showed that the airports are not capacity constrained to handle present cargo traf-
fic. Further study from this research may examine cargo terminal capacity in terms of adequa-
cy and condition of infrastructure with actual and predicted cargo traffic data.
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5
Estimating the Coefficients of Freight Elasticity of
Demand for Bulk Carriers in the Wet and Dry Bulk Ship
Chartering Market
Nwokedi, T.C.
Dept. of Maritime Management Tech., Federal University of Technology, Owerri
nwokeditc@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
It is a truism assertion by transport economists that demand for transport is a derived demand depending
majorly on tonnage and quantity of cargo needing freighting to various locations. The need to understand
the behavior of charterers (industrial shippers) with regard to changes in freight/charter rates will provide
empirical evidence of how freight rates influence shipper’s demand for bulk carrier types even with the sure
availability of tonnage needing to be transported. Based on the charterers’ responsiveness to freight fluctua-
tions, ship owner’s investment decision of what quantum of each bulk carrier type to maintain in their fleet
mix in order to maintain market stability and ensure profitability while limiting wastages that could result
from over investment (wrong fleet mix) in any given bulk carrier type in the fleet mix. The study used a sur-
vey method to obtain data from the Baltic International Maritime Council (BIMCO) and UNCTAD annu-
al maritime transport review on demand for Supramax, Handymax, Capesize and very large crude carriers
(VLCC), bulk carrier types covering the period 2011 to 2015. The result shows that Handymax, Capesize,
VLCC and Supramax bulk carrier types have respective coefficients of freight elasticity of demand of -1.8,
-1.1, -0.05, and -0.02. While the freight elasticity of demand for Handymax and Capesize are highly elastic;
the freight elasticity of demand for VLCC and Supramax bulk carrier types are inelastic. The implication of
this to ship owners is that maintaining a higher level of investment in highly inelastic bulk carrier types in
the fleet mix is most advisable as fluctuations (increase) in freight/charter rates will not easily put the ves-
sels out of contract and into idle time-induced redundancy because the charterers do not respond to such in-
creases easily following the inelastic nature. The reverse is the case for highly elastic bulk carrier types. The
negative coefficients of freight elasticity of demand suggests that like public transport; time charter freight
transportation service by bulk carriers is an inferior good as charterers regardless of decreasing hire rates
could decide to own captive (own-account) fleets as their incomes improve.
Keywords: freight, elasticity, bulk-carriers, wet-and-dry-bulk, chartering, market

estimating the coefficients of freight elasticity of demand for bulk carriers in the wet and dry
bulk ship chartering market | nwokedi, t.c.
INTRODUCTION
B
rinkmann (2008) notes that wet and dry bulk ship chartering market represent the mar-
ket center where industrial shippers of wet and dry bulk cargo of various kinds con-
nect to and are fixed into charter party contracts with bulk carrier vessels of various
types. Thus in the wet and dry bulk market, industrial shippers charter-in bulk carriers while
the ship-owners charter-out their bulkers to the charterers. The cargo finds ship to be carried
in while the ship finds cargo to carry as both the cargo and ship are fixed into trade by means
of charter-party agreements between the ship owner and the charterer (Brinkmann, 2008 &
Zhiming, 2012). Freight and/or time charter hire rates are financial rewards that stand as prices
paid by the charterers to the ship owners for the hire and use of their vessels (bulk carriers) as
agreed in the contract. Freight elasticity of demand in this context is used to express the behav-
ior of charterers as consumers’ of bulk carrier transport services to fluctuations/changes (in-
creases and/or decreases) to freight/charter rates as prices for charter, purchase and consump-
tion of bulk carrier’s services.
It is the opinion of Johnson and Linda (2015) that ship charterer’s, (shippers) demand for bulk
carriers in the wet and dry bulk ship chartering market is seen to be influenced by directions of
volumes and tonnages of seaborne dry and wet bulk cargo traded in the international market.
This is in line with the propositions of transport economists over the years who view demand
for bulk carriers in the dry and wet bulk market as derived, arising from the need to transport
seaborne trade volumes and tonnages to international destination routes and seaports, imply-
ing that the charterers will be induced to demand a corresponding quantum of ship tonnages
and volumes as the tonnages and volumes of seaborne wet and dry bulk cargo needing trans-
portation and handling to various locations around the globe. The implication to ship owners
in the wet and dry bulk market is that equivalent shipping tonnages need to be produced in
order to achieve equilibrium. Thus the direction of international trade volumes and tonnages
is taken to be the major determinant factor influencing the responses and behaviors of charter-
ers in the decision of numbers ships and shipping tonnages to charter-in, while ship owners
are induced to respond by supplying these needed tonnages in ships; being also influenced by
the directions of growth of international seaborne trade, with little attention ascribed to the be-
haviors of charterers to changes in freight/charter rates (Krishna, 2009). If the trend among ship
owners continues to remain that prices and/or charter rates do not influence the behavior of
charterers in the market as final consumers of shipping tonnages produced in bulk carriers of
various types, the implications to ship-owning companies is that as long as there is an increas-
ing trend and growth in the volume and tonnage of international trade to be carried by sea,
there should be an equally increasing trend in the investment in production and increment in
the number of ships in the fleet as well as shipping tonnage in order to equate tonnage in equi-
librium with volume and tonnage of trade to be achieved (Timur & Ismail, 2012).
The resultant effect is that ship owners have been induced to resort to increasing their fleet size
and tonnages without empirically determining an optimal fleet mix strategy and maintaining
an optimal fleet mix comprised of various bulk carrier types in proportions that will enable
the ship-owning company to sustain market stability and profitability. Thus, over the years,
many ship owners have encountered revenue and job losses resultant from some ships of a

particular type wrongly maintained in higher proportion in the fleet mix, being without con-
tract, idle and redundant for a long period of time while the same ship owners receive order/
inquiries for the charter-out to charterers, other bulk carrier types which they don’t have avail-
able in their fleet mix at the very point in time as a result of the later bulk carrier type wrong-
ly being kept in a lesser proportion in the fleet mix. The consequent effect to the ship owning
companies is losses of job and revenue. Since bulk carriers come in various forms, with the
commonest types in the wet and dry bulk chartering market being Supramax, Handymax, Ca-
pesize and very large crude carriers etc., the multiplicity of types requires that a ship owner or
owning company should empirically determine and maintain an optimum fleet mix compris-
ing of all bulk carrier types in the right proportions based on responsiveness of charterers to
fluctuations in freight/charter rates rather than basing their investment decisions in bulk car-
rier types solely on the directions of growth in volume and tonnage of international seaborne
trade. While Handymax bulk carrier types are typically small bulk carriers of length between
150m and 200m (492-656 ft.) and deadweight tonnage between 40,000, and 50,000; due to their
small sizes they are capable of operating in regions with small ports with length and draught
restrictions. Supramax are bulk carrier vessels with deadweight tonnage between 50,000 and
60,000 and can gain easy entrance through most port and harbor facilities, and used to car-
ry dry bulk cargo. Supramax vessels are usually built by Asian shipyards and have over the
years served for bulk transportation of cement, grain and iron ore to Nigeria and sub-Saharan
African ports in charter party contracts. Capesize Vessels are fairly large size and can transit
through the Panama Canal, Suez Canal, Cape of Good Hope, Cape Horn etc. Capesize vessels
usually have between 100,000DWT and 150,000DWT capacity or above and form a majority of
bulk carrier ships. Very large crude carriers (VLCC) are the largest operating cargo vessels in
the world used for conveying large quantum of crude oil in a single trip and are thus referred
to as supertankers. VLCCs have capacity between 180,000DWT and 320,000DWT with length
of 470 meters and draught of 20 meters (Hellenic shipping news, 2018). These bulk carrier
types may be engaged in charter parties in various forms depending on charterer’s and own-
er’s requirements and length and/or period of time that the charter party is expected to last.
The principal charter party types for engagement and hire of bulk carriers therefore are voyage
and time charter types. The current study is however carried out with bulk carriers engaged in
time charter type, being the most dominant form of charter party preferred by industrial ship-
pers (charterers) in the wet and dry bulk cargo market (Nwokedi, et al 2018).
The need to understand the behavior of charterers with regard to changes in freight/charter
rates will provide empirical evidence of how freight rates influence shippers demand for bulk
carrier types even with the availability of tonnages needing to be transported. Based on the
charterers’ responsiveness to freight fluctuations, ship owner’s investment decision of what
quantum of each bulk carrier type to maintain in their fleet mix in order to maintain market
stability and ensure profitability while limiting wastages that could arise from over-invest-
ment (wrong fleet mix) in any given bulk carrier type in the fleet mix. Such over-investment
could cause ships of such type to be without contract, idle and redundant.
The study is thus cast to estimate the coefficients of freight elasticity of demand for bulk car-
riers of various types with a view to understanding the responsiveness and/or behavior of in-

dustrial shippers (charterers) to changes in charter rates/freight. This is importantly needed to

guide ship-owners’ fleet mix and investment decisions in bulk carriers of various types.
AIM AND OBJECTIVES

The main aim of the study is to estimate the coefficient of freight elasticity of demand for bulk
carriers of various types in the wet and dry bulk ship chartering market. The specific objectives
of the study are:
i. To estimate the coefficient of elasticity of demand for Supramax vessels in the wet and
dry bulk market.
ii. To determine the freight elasticity of demand for Handymax bulk carrier types in the
wet and dry bulk chartering market.
iii. To measure the freight elasticity of demand for Capesize bulk carriers in the wet and
dry bulk ship chartering market.
iv. To compute the coefficient of freight elasticity of demand for very large crude carriers
(VLCC).
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
Paola et al (2014) opine that several organizations such as Clarkson Freight Index, China Ship-
building Economy Research Center, UNCTAD and Hellenic Shipping News, among others
over the years, are involved in forecasting, modeling and indexing freight and charter rates
and predetermining the periods of dips and highs as information guides for shippers and char-
terers. This gives supports the arguments that shippers and charterers decisions to ship cargo
and/ or charter-in and out of vessels are traditionally influenced by freight rates and not sole-
ly dependent on directions of growth of volume and tonnage of international seaborne trade.
The wet and dry bulk ship chartering market is composed of charterers, ship-owners as well
as ship brokers and intermediary ship agents; representing the ship owners and cargo owners
(charters) interests in the consummation of ship chartering contract and apart from the avail-
ability of trade (cargo and tonnage to be transported), freight/charter rate is believed to be the
next major component variable determining the direction of demand and supply of bulk car-
riers in the market. The demand for shipping and transport has always be explained as a de-
rived demand owning to the fact that it is derived from the need to transport goods and ser-
vices to varied geographical market locations of choice (Jie, 2001; Jussi, 2008). However, it is
this same need to move goods to varied geographical markets by sea in bulk that induces the
demand for ship chartering, hiring and usage. The demand for the charter and /or hiring of
a ship is thus a derived demand depending of the need to ship by sea. This induces a further
need for ship brokers since issues of structural holes in ship owning and cargo owning orga-
nizations may place limitations that make the employment and use of the services of profes-
sional ship brokers inevitable (Zsuzsanna, 2014; Eisenhardt, 1989). The theory of demand and
supply model provides understanding for the determination of the freight/charter rate (price)
in the market while the freight rate (price for hire of a ship) is believed to influence the quan-
tity to be shipped and shipping tonnages supplied in the market. The basic idea of the theo-
ry of demand and supply is that it is the interaction of forces of demand and supply that de-
termines commodity prices and price levels in a given market over time periods (Zsuzsanna,

2014; Evangelos, 1992). In the wet and dry bulk carrier chartering market, therefore, directions
of growth of volumes and tonnages of seaborne international trade does not only influence the
demand for bulk carriers, it also plays a major role in determining both spot and time char-
ter rates. Though the supply of shipping tonnages in the chartering market may be affected
by other factors such as economic condition, number of new buildings etc., as is met by the
ship owners; the determination of equilibrium spot rates is usually based on the interactions
between charterers shipping tonnage demand and owner shipping tonnage supply. Demand
elasticity to freight fluctuations is therefore one of the key ways to understanding the behavior
of charterers to fluctuations in charter rates (time charter and spot rates).
Most bulk carriers such as tankers (wet bulk carriers) and dry bulk vessels are traded under
spot (voyage charter) or time charter contracts. The spot freight rate is the freight rate a vessel
receives on a United States Dollar (USD) per ton of cargo basis for a single voyage while the
time charter freight is usually paid in USD per day as the ship is engaged by industrial ship-
pers in time charter contracts. For tankers, spot rates are reported in World scale. World scale
is a nominal worldwide tanker scale used to establish payment of freight services for a specif-
ic oil tanker’s cargo on a predefined contract (Iheanyi, 2016). The reference rate, also known as
the flat rate, is reported as World Scale 100 (WS100), and reflects the cost of transporting a ton
of cargo for a standard vessel on a route-specific round contracts. Port time for spot charters,
according to Iheanyi (2016), is usually set to four days, and another 12 hours is added for each
additional port used for multi-port discharges while for time charter such factors may not play
as the carrier is held in contract for fairly longer time period and may be used for several voy-
ages over the period. The fixed rate for hire is set per day in time charter relative the prevailing
economic factors of ship demand and supply cum availability of cargo which equally deter-
mines ship demand (Furset & Hordnes, 2013). By implication, port charges, route characteris-
tics, timelines of delivery and redelivery, multi or single port discharges, among other factors
also influence the spot and time charter rates in the wet and dry bulk cargo market.
Hellenic shipping news (2018) notes that charter rates for dry bulk chartering are best rep-
resented by the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) which has long become benchmark for tracing move-
ments of the dry bulk vessel charter rates in the market and the performance of the entire dry
bulk shipping market. The BDI provides an average index for 23 global shipping routes deter-
mined on a time charter contracts for various vessel types including Handymax, Supramax,
Panamax and Capesize dry bulk carriers, carrying varied commodity types in market. Accord-
ing to the Hellenic shipping reports (2018) as reviewed in Nwokedi etal (2018), the BDI peaked
in 2008 hitting 11,793 points and in November 2015 hit an all-time low of 498 points. As a re-
sult, the daily earnings rate of Supramax and Handymax bulk carrier types employed in time
charter contracts for example dropped to between $7,000 and $8,000 per day in 2015 from peak
of $70,000 per day in November 2007 for oneyear time charters (Nwokedi et al., 2018).
This was traceable to the global economic recession which limited the volume and tonnage of
global seaborne trade thus leading to over-supply of vessels by ship-owners curious about en-
gaging their vessels to contract so as to be able to meet up with loan servicing obligations. This
provides evidence that decline in volumes and tonnages of seaborne trade induce ship own-
ers to over-supply of vessels, thus the crashing of freight and charter rates. Understanding the

coefficients of elasticity of bulk carrier types could help owners to maintain an optimum fleet
mix that will ensure that the effect of such a global downward trend in demand does not result
to serious problems loss of contracts, ship idle time, redundancy, and losses of revenue. There
is however a literature gap such that the behavior of charterers’ in situation of increasing and/
or decreasing charter rates needs to be investigated. Thus the need to examine the nature of
freight elasticity of demand in the wet and dry bulk market as measures of the responsiveness
charterers to fluctuations in charter rates.
MATERIALS AND METHOD

A major postulation in transport economics is that transport demand is derived demand. De-
rived from the need to transport tons of goods and numbers of passengers across to geo spatial
locations as need arises. Being a derived demand, availability of tonnages needing transpor-
tation influences it. Like availability of tonnages to be carried; charter rates (freight) is equally
proven to influence shippers decisions on what transport option and carrier type to employ.
The study is thus cast to estimate the coefficients of the elasticity of demand for bulk carriers
(Handymax, Supramax, Capesize and VLCC) in response to fluctuations (changes) in charter
rates (freight/time charter rates) in the wet and dry bulk market. This is aimed at understand-
ing how charterers respond to changes in freight rates as prices paid for hiring the services of
ships in time charter contracts. The study was conducted by carrying out a survey of the wet
and dry bulk charter market to obtain historical data of 5 years (2011 -2015) of the number
(quantities) of each type of bulk carrier fixed in voyage charter contract and the annual average
freight rate/ charter rate (time charter rate) each year covered in the study. For the VLCC, the
average freight per ton of cargo paid in each of the years covered in the study was obtained as
the basis for the charter of VLCC bulk carriers as stated in the literature. The data was obtained
from the Baltic international maritime council and the UNCTAD review of maritime transport.
While the quantum of each class of bulker chartered represent its demand, the average freight
rate paid represent the price paid by charterers for consumption of the services of the bulkers
per day for Handymax, Capesize and Supramax bulk carrier types and per ton for VLCC. We
thus opine that the demand for each bulk carrier type is influenced or is dependent on freight/
spot rate to be paid. A linear relationship is assumed to exist such that demand for bulk carri-
er types at any given time is a function of the freight/charter rate to be paid by charterers. The
following general mathematical relationship holds:
Ybulkers = f(Xbulkers)
Where Ybulkers = Demand for bulk carriers
Xbulkers = freight/charter rate (time charter rate).
The linear relations are expressed as: Ybulkers = β0 + β1 Xbulkers +e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1)
Similarly, the following specific mathematical relationship holds for each type of bulk carrier:
For Supramax, we write: Ys = f(Xs) → Ys = β0 + β1 Xs +e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2)
For Handymax we have: Yh = f(Xh) → Yh = β0 + β1 Xh + e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3)
For Capesize: Yc = f(Xc) → Yc = β0 + β1 Xc + e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4)
And for VLCC; Yv = f(Xv). → Yv = β0 + β1 Xv + e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (5)

Recall that the freight elasticity of demand (FED) for bulk carriers is a measure of the level of
changes in quantity demanded of bulk carriers as a result of changes is hire/freight rates (time
rates). It is defined mathematical as the ratio of percentage change in quantity of bulkers de-
manded to percentage change in freight rates. Mathematically we generally represent freight
elasticity of demand as:
An Ordinary least square (OLS) regression equation as shown in equation -- (1) can be used as
basis for estimating the freight elasticity of demand for bulk carriers as the quantity represent
the coefficient of the explanatory variable.
Thus; we write that:

Where Xbulkers = mean freight paid (mean time charter rate over the period covered in the study)
Ybulkers = mean demand for bulk carriers over the period.
△Ybulkers = Change in demand for bulk carriers
△Xbulkers = change in freight/hire paid for bulk carriers
β1
= coefficient of the explanatory variable (freight)
Similarly, the coefficient of freight/hire elasticity for each bulk carrier type is determined from
the regression equation using the formulas:
Using the OLS regression output results and equations --- (8), (9), (10) and (11); we estimated
the freight elasticity of demand for Supramax, Handymax, Capesize and VLCC bulker carriers
in the dry and wet bulk cargo market.
Also note that when the coefficient of elasticity is less than 1, demand is said to be inelastic.
When it is greater than 1, demand is said to elastic; and when it is equal to 1, demand is unit
elastic.
If FED < |1|→ inelastic demand

If FED > |1|→elastic demand

If PED = |1|→unit elastic demand
Table1: Freight elasticity coefficient of demand for Supramax bulk carrier

Descriptive statistics
Mean Std. deviation N
Supramax demand (Ys) 4507.80 225.833 5
Freight/hire rate (Xs) 10010.00 1965.45 5
ANOVAa
Model Sum of squares Df Mean square F Sig.
Regression 1178.411 1 1178.411 .014 .915b
1 Residual 260624.389 4 86874.796
Total 261802.800 4
Coefficientsa
Standardized
Model Unstandardized coefficients t Sig.
coefficients
B Std. Error Beta
Constant (β0) 4595.216 762.052 6.030 .009
1
Xs (β1) -.009 .075 -.067 -.116 .915
Coefficient of elasticity
Elasticity: Xs/Ys
-0.009 2.22 -0.02
Table 1 shows that the mean annual demand for Supramax bulk carrier type over the peri-
od covered in the study between 2011 and 2015 is 4507.80 with standard deviation of 225.833
while the mean daily freight/hire rate representing the price paid by charterers is $10,010.00
per day with a standard deviation of 1965.45. The linear relationship between demand for
Supramax bulk carrier type and freight/hire is deduced from the table to be: Ys = 4595.216 -
0.009Xs + e. This implies that demand for Supramax bulk carrier type decreases when freight/
hire/charter rates increases. The coefficient of freight elasticity of demand (FED) for Supramax
bulk carrier type is -0.02. We thus infer that the demand for Supramax bulk carrier is inelastic
since 0.02˃1. This indicates that fluctuations and changes in freight/hire rates does not signifi-
cantly affect demand for Supramax bulk carrier types as charterers response in demand of Su-
pramax bulk carrier type does not change significantly with changes in freight/spot rates. The
change in demand is very negligible. The negative coefficient of freight elasticity of Supramax
bulk carriers suggest that time charter freight transport service by Supramax bulk carrier is an
inferior good. This suggests that charterers may resort to keeping captive fleet (own-account
fleet) as their incomes increase by owning vessels rather than employing vessels on time char-
ters, regardless of the directions of changes in time charter rates in the dry and wet cargo mar-
kets. The implication of this to ship owners is that maintaining a higher level of investment in
highly inelastic bulk carrier types (Supramax) is most advisable as increases in freight/charter
rates will not easily push the vessels into idle time, redundancy and out of contracts because
the charterers do not respond to such increases in freight easily following the inelastic nature.

Table 2: Freight elasticity coefficient of demand for Handymax bulk carrier type
Handymax demand(Yh) 813.800 278.3122 5
Spot/freight rate (Xh) 7770.00 2000.499 5
ANOVAa
Regression 222774.106 1 222774.106 7.677 .070b
1 Residual 87056.695 4 29018.898
Total 309830.800 4
Coefficientsa
Standardized
coefficients
B Std. error Beta
Constant(β0) 1730.411 339.479 5.097 .015
1
Freight(β1) -.188 .43 -.848 -2.771 .070
Elasticity: β1 Xh/Yh
-0.188 9.55 -1.80
The yearly average demand for Handymax bulk carrier type within the period covered in the
study as shown in Table 2 above is 813.800 with standard deviation of 278.312 while the mean
daily freight/time charter hire rate each year over the period covered in the study is $7,770.00
with standard deviation of 2000.499. The model relating the demand for Handymax bulk car-
riers to the charter rate is: Yh = 1730.411 – 0.188Xh + e.
It is equally observed that demand for Handymax bulk carriers decreases with increasing
freight rates. The coefficient of freight elasticity of demand for Handymax bulk carrier type is
-1.80, indicating that Handymax bulk carrier type has a highly elastic demand (1.8˃1) such that
a small change in freight/time charter hire rates will induce a significant change in the quanti-
ty demanded of this bulk carrier type. Similar to Supramax bulk carrier type, the negative co-
efficient of elasticity of Handymax implies that freight transport service by Handymax bulk
carrier type is an inferior good/service as charterers may choose to own captive fleet as their
income improves regardless of whether freight/hire charges for charter of Handymax is de-
creasing. The implication to ship owners is that increase in freight/charter rates for Handymax
bulk carrier types will induce charterers to respond by reducing the demand for handysize
vessels thus forcing the vessels into idle time, redundancy and out of contract over the period
of the increased freight with the resultant revenue losses to the ship owners.

Table 3: Freight elasticity coefficient of demand for Capesize

Capesize demand (Yc) 1246.200 765.823 5
Freight (Xc) 16600.000 8502.646 5
ANOVAa
Regression 2008688.919 1 2008688.91 17.868 .024b
1 Residual 337253.88 4 112417.960
Total 2345942.80 4
Coefficientsa
Standardized
coefficients
B
Std. error Beta
Constant(β0) 2629.704 360.009 7.305 .005
1
Xc (β1) -.083 .020 -.925 -4.227 .024
Elasticity: β1 Xc/Yc
-0.083 13.32 -1.11

The mean yearly demand for Capesize bulk carriers as shown in Table 3 amounts to 1246.200
vessels with a standard deviation of 765.82 while the average yearly freight/hire rate per day
is $16600.00 with standard deviation of 8502.646. The equation of the relationship between de-
mand for capesizes bulk carrier type and spot/charter is: Yc = 2629.70 – 0.083Xc + e. Similarly,
demand for Capesize bulk carrier decreases with increase in time charter hire rate/freight.
The coefficient of freight elasticity of demand for Capesize bulk carrier type is -1.11, imply-
ing that the demand for Capesize bulk carrier type is highly elastic (1.11˃1). This implies that
a small change in freight/charter rates will lead to a significant change in the quantum of de-
mand for Capesize bulk carrier type. Similarly, the coefficient of freight elasticity of demand
for Capesize bulk carrier type is negative, implying that freight transport service by time char-
ter of Capesize vessels is an inferior good as charterers may resort to employ own-account fleet
in a situation that their income increases, regardless of decreasing freight/time charter rates of
Capesize bulk carriers. The implication to ship owners is that increase in freight/charter rates
for elastic bulk carrier type (capesizes) will induce charterers to respond by reducing the de-
mand for such vessels thus forcing the vessels into idle time, redundancy and out of contract
over the period of the increased freight with the resultant revenue losses to the ship owners.
Table 4: Freight elasticity coefficient of demand for VLCC

Descriptive Statistics
VLCC demand (Yv) 1765.800 20.16680 5

Descriptive Statistics
Freight (Xv) 45.880 9.91726 5
ANOVAa
Regression 1355.761 1 1355.761 15.006 .030b
1 Residual 271.039 4 90.346
Total 1626.800 4
Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized
Model t Sig.
coefficients coefficients
B Std. error Beta
Constant(β0) 1850.971 22.394 82.656 .000
1
Xv (β1) -1.856 .479 -.913 -3.874 .030
Coefficient
Elasticity: β1 Xv/Yv of elasticity
-1.856 0.026 -0.05

Tabe 4 above shows the relationship between the demand for VLCC bulk carrier type and the
freight per ton of cargo shipped. It shows that the mean yearly demand for VLCC bulk carri-
er type between 2011 and 2015 is 1765.80 with a standard deviation of 20.166 while the mean
freight paid per ton of cargo is 45.88USD with a standard deviation of 9.92. The model equa-
tion showing the dependency relationship is given as: Yv = 1850.97 – 1.86Xv + e. Again, the rela-
tionship shows that as freight per ton to be paid for the charter of VLCC bulk carrier type in-
creases, demand for VLCC decreases.
The coefficient of freight elasticity of demand for VLCC bulk carrier type is -0.05. This indicates
that the demand for VLCC bulk carrier type is highly inelastic (0.05˂1) as changes in freight
rates (per ton) do not induce any significant change on demand for VLCC bulk carrier types.
The negative coefficient of freight elasticity of demand of VLCC shows that like other bulk
carrier types, freight transport service by VLCC is an inferior good. See figure1 below for the
ranking of the various bulk carrier types in decreasing order of freight elasticity.

Fig. 1: Ranking of various bulk carrier types in decreasing order of freight elasticity of demand. Source: Pre-
pared by author.
CONCLUSION
Charterers of bulk carriers do not respond in the same manner to changes (fluctuations) in
freight rates of all bulk carrier types as revealed by the coefficients of freight elasticity of de-
mand. Handymax, Capesize, VLCC and supramax bulk carrier types have respective coeffi-
cients of elasticity of -1.8, -1.1, -0.05, -0.02. While the freight elasticity of demand for Handymax
and Capesize are highly elastic; the freight elasticity of demand for VLCC and supramax bulk
carrier types are inelastic. The implication of this to ship owners is that maintaining a high-
er level of investment in highly inelastic bulk carrier types is most advisable as fluctuations
(increase) in freight/charter rates will not easily push the vessels into idle time, redundancy
and out of contracts because the charterers do not respond to such increases in freight easily
following the inelastic nature. Increase (fluctuations) in freight/charter rates for highly elastic
bulk carrier types will induce charterers to respond by reducing the demand for such vessels
thus causing the vessels into idle time, redundancy and out of contract over the period of the
increased freight with the resultant revenue losses to the ship owners. It is also evident from
the result of the study that bulk carrier freight transport services are inferior goods whose con-
sumers (ship charterers/industrial shippers) could regardless of decreasing freight cost, chose
to employ captive fleet (own-account vessels) by making investment in ship purchases as their
income increases.
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6
An Assessment of Urban Dwellers Satisfaction with
Road Transportation System in Kogi State, Nigeria
Olorunfemi, S.O.1 / Okoko, E.E.2 / Gbadamosi, K.T.1

1
Dept. of Transport Management Tech., Federal Univ. of Tech., Akure; 2Dept. of Urban
& Regional Planning, Federal Univ. of Tech., Akure
Corresponding author: soolorunfemi@futa.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
Transportation plays a vital role in human environment with its general support to the process of social and
economic interaction. Any form of interruption in the smooth operation of transportation system creates
an extraordinary suffering in human life, specifically where underinvestment in transportation infrastruc-
ture is capable of posing negative consequences on socioeconomic development. To this end, this research
assessed urban dwellers satisfaction with the state of road transportation system in Kogi state, Nigeria via
structured questionnaire administered to household heads. Findings indicated that majority of the urban
dwellers sampled were dissatisfied with the state of road transportation system in the study area. The study
recommends holistic improvement in road transportation system through the provision of road transport
facilities such as the construction, expansion and regular maintenance of road network that will in turn
sustain urban mobility in Kogi State.
Keywords: urban dweller, satisfaction, road transport, Kogi.
INTRODUCTION
T
ransport enables the movement of people, goods and services from one point of sup-
ply to the point of demand (Oyesiku, 2002; 2003; Aiworo, 2016). It is like a blood regu-
latory system whose effective functionality is a necessity for sustenance of human life
(Aiworo, 2016). It is important to note that any form of breakdown in the smooth operation of
transportation system usually creates extraordinary hardship in human life, especially where
there is underinvestment in transportation infrastructure which is capable of posing negative
consequences on socio-economic development of a nation (Harriet, Poku & Anin, 2013; Em-
manuel, Jonathan & Otchere, 2013; Okoko, 2018). The different modes of transportation in-
clude road, rail, air, water and pipeline. These modes are very important and in most cases
support one another for the actualization of socioeconomic development of a nation. Howev-
er, among these modes is roads transportation the most dominant due to the fact that it has the
an assessment of urban dwellers satisfaction with road transportation system in kogi state,
nigeria | olorunfemi, s.o. / okoko, e.e. / gbadamosi, k.t.
capacity of providing door-to-door services (Gbadamosi & Olorunfemi, 2016; Bala & Muham-
mad, 2018)
Road as an integrated system is made up of nodes and routes. The nodes are towns which as-
sociate themselves to the roads, while the routes are the different types of roads (Okoko, 2006).
Road networks are observed in terms of accessibility, connectivity, traffic density, level of ser-
vice, and compactness. Road, as a component of infrastructure facilitates vehicular movement
and at the same time provides strong support for urban growth and population increase (Jun-
mi, 2010). For example, concentration of population for reasons of convenience of spatial inter-
action tends particularly to the road network. Thus, road distribution and its network struc-
ture have to be adequately designed with sufficient infrastructures in order to enable it serve
its purpose of enhancing passenger mobility. However, access to major roads provides relative
advantages consequent upon which commercial users locate to enjoy the advantages. Modern
businesses, industries, trades and general activities depend on transport and transport infra-
structure, with movement of passengers, goods and services from one place to another becom-
ing vibrant and inseparable aspect of global and urban economic survival (Oni, 2007). Bala and
Muhammad (2018) also point out that adequate provision of good roads will lead to poverty
reduction by improving living conditions and facilitate employment.
In Nigeria, road transport remains the most widely used mode and it accounts for more than
90% of the country’s goods and passenger movements (Oni & Okanlawon, 2006). This is corrob-
orated by Musa (2003) and Bala and Muhammad (2018) that of all commodity movements in
Nigeria to and from the seaports, at least two-thirds are now handled by road transport, while
up to 90% of all other internal movements of goods and people take place by road. The poten-
tial importance of road improvement for investment, trade, growth and poverty alleviation
has long been recognized and not only does road transport system facilitate direct provision
of services to consumers, it also provides intermediate inputs that enter into the production of
other sectors and enhance factor productivity (Bala & Muhammad, 2018). Bala & Muhammad
(2018) further opine that the role played by roads in economic development cannot be under-
estimated, which motivates government to spend a lot on transport development with huge
amount budgeted to road transport sector. For instance, the road sub-sector accounts for 54%
of federal total public sector planned capital investment in transport right from the first na-
tional development plan till date received more than 70% of the allocation with a progressive
annual incremental allocation of resources compared to other modes (Hamza, 2016). Unfor-
tunately, the state of road transport system in Nigeria, despite the huge amount allocated to
it, becomes a subject of research because the amount spent on the sector is not commensurate
with the state of the roads in terms of good network and condition judging from the observ-
able evidence and facts derivable from road transport situation (Mayaki, 2014; Hamza, 2016).
Water and the road modes constitute the major modes of transportation in Kogi State. Areas
that are linked by rivers Niger and Benue navigate via locally fabricated canoe to the hinter-
land. Currently, the construction of dams on the two rivers has hindered the efficiency of water
transportation in the state, which has left the bulk of the movement of people within the state
to rely on road. The road network across the state is grossly inadequate, as most are charac-
terized by potholes without adequate maintenance; coupled with this, is inadequate sub-road

infrastructure such as drainage system, parking facility, bridge, street lights among others. It
is against the above that the study assesses urban dwellers’ satisfaction with the state of road
transportation system in Kogi. The objectives are to investigate urban dwellers’ satisfaction
with the state of road transportation system and assess the quality of transport service to ur-
ban dwellers in the study area.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Road transportation is the most common means of movement in Nigeria. The voluntary use
of motorcars for pleasure contributes immensely to the importance of road transport in Nige-
ria given the deteriorated state of alternative modes of transportation (rail system, inland wa-
terways) and also the psychological satisfaction offered by the possession of a car (Adetola,
2014). This has led to overdependence on road transport mode, which consequently results in
certain problems such as traffic congestion, accident, among others. Oni & Okanlawon, (2006)
report that the current national network of roads is estimated at about 196,000 kilometers (in-
cluding 1,194km of expressways) with the federal roads network carrying about 70% of freight
in Nigeria.
According to Adetola (2014), the early road network development resulted from the first post-
World War effort. However, the history of road development in Nigeria dates back to 1925,
when the Road Board was established by the colonial administration, to evolve blueprints for
trunk road network, connecting major administrative centres (Federal Government of Nigeria,
2010). These early transport systems were designed and planned, as characterized by substan-
dard road and rail alignments and a sub base, which later proved inadequate to accommodate
heavy vehicles, thereby posing threat to mobility (Adetola, 2014).
Gbadamosi and Olorunfemi (2016) argue that adequate provision of road transport infra-
structures aid accessibility and safety. In connection with the above, road safety needs to be in-
creased through improvement to infrastructure, human behavior and vehicles. Road transport
infrastructure is a significant factor for improving road safety, most especially in reducing fatal
accidents. The European Union (2013) observes that inadequate provisions of road transport
infrastructure poses serious challenges to accessibility and mobility of people in urban areas.
For instance, congestion and the accompanying issues of road safety and environmental pollu-
tion present major challenges in planning for improved accessibility and reducing the environ-
mental impact of transport. The priority is to form urban transport systems that meet individ-
ual needs for mobility and the economic and social demands for rapid and efficient movement
of goods and people, safely and cost-effectively.
According to Bar, Przemyslaw, and Barbara, (2012), the key problems of poor connectivity in
many countries that has made road users dissatisfied with the state of road transport system
include: non-provision (or inadequate standard) of the infrastructure for local links; poor road
design, maintenance or operation of modal interchange points; inefficient procedures for in-
terchange (e.g. delays while waiting for luggage); inadequate provision of local transport ser-
vices; local transport services exist but do not serve the needs of connecting long distance trav-
ellers (e.g. time tables are uncoordinated, nearest bus stop requires a long walk); inadequate
provision of information and unavailability of integrated tickets (covering the local as well as

the long distance parts of the journey). According to Bar et al. (2012), to improve interconnec-
tivity in order to aid passenger mobility across the world, there must be adequate provision of
infrastructure such as bus stop, street light, park and ride facilities, motorway link, guided bus
link, maintenance and early replacement of public transport infrastructure, vehicle or service
upgrade for increased comfort and convenience of passengers.
Margareta and Markus (2009) emphasize that in many countries, major investments in trans-
port systems make them more competitive vis-à-vis other means of transport. However, an in-
crease in supply does not spontaneously lead to a consistent increase in demand and satisfac-
tion (Fujii & Kitamura, 2003). To make sure that investment really attracts both existing and
potential customers, knowledge of satisfaction and service performance should provide poli-
cymakers and operational managers in transport with valuable information (Nathanail, 2007).
Satisfaction is “a cumulative idea that is affected by market expectations and performance
perceptions in any given time, and is also affected by past satisfaction from period to period”
(Siket et al., 2012). Customer satisfaction lies in the disconfirmation of customer expectation
pattern, whereas a positive disconfirmation leads to customer satisfaction and negative satis-
faction leads to customer dissatisfaction (Ismail et al., 2006; Sik et al., 2012).
Several authors have studied road transport system and how it affects people movement with-
in their area. For instance, Umoren et al (2011) carried out an analysis of the road quality di-
mension in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria using factor analysis. In doing that, the author classifies
road quality into two main areas: paved and unpaved. The paved road quality accounted for
23.2% in the study area while the unpaved road quality accounted for 76.8%. Meanwhile, the
authors fail to give detailed account of the state of all available road infrastructures in the study
area and how it has satisfied passenger mobility. Austin (2011) studied the economic valuation
of poor road infrastructure in Lagos with emphasis on urban household and reveals that urban
roads in Lagos are in a deplorable condition and households suffer consequential damage aris-
ing from it, which invariably lowers their satisfaction level of the state of road transport system
in Lagos. Meanwhile, the author fails to provide the level of damage to the road infrastructure
and how it has affected the mobility of urban household in Lagos.
Adetunji (2014) investigated maintenance of urban road transport in Lokoja. The author used
descriptive method of analysis in the study and results show that many of the urban routes in
the city do not have pedestrian walkways or road medians which compounded mobility crises
in the city. Pedestrians, motorcyclists and motorists and other road users compete on urban
routes for their day-to-day transactions. It also reveals that more than 60% of urban routes in
Lokoja had no drainage system. Those roads that have drainage facility have been filled up by
sand from the erosion activity and many roads in the city have no traffic lights. However, the
author fails to provide information on the agency managing the road infrastructure in Lokoja
and the people’s satisfaction with the state of roads in the area.
From the above, it is clearly indicated that none of these studies examine the means of trans-
portation available to users within their study locale nor reveal satisfaction level with the state
of road transport system, nor information about quality of transport service. This represents
the research gap that the study covers in Kogi.

STUDY AREA
Kogi state, Nigeria was carved out of Kwara and Benue in 1991 and is one of the major states
in the central region, with a population of 3,314,043. It is known as Confluence State because
the convergence of River Niger and River Benue at its capital, Lokoja the first administrative
capital of modern-day Nigeria. Kogi is located between latitudes 7°301N – 7o521N and longi-
tudes 6°381E – 6°421E.
The modes of transportation in the state include road and water. Kogi also connects the Fed-
eral Capital Territory with Southwest and Southeast states. The state has 21 local governments
which span three (3) senatorial districts. To ensure equitable justification of the urban centres
selected for the study, three urban centres which are the local government headquarters were
chosen from each of the senatorial districts. The urban centres are Adavi, Ajaokuta, Okenne,
Lokoja, Kabba-Bunu, Mopa-Muro, Ankpa, Bassa and Dekinna. The reason for choosing these
locations is because they are principal and major urban centres in the state.
Fig. 1.1: Nigeria, showing Kogi state. Source: Kogi State Ministry of Works, Land and Housing, Lokoja (2018)
Fig. 1.2: Map of Kogi state showing selected urban centres for the study. Source: Kogi State Ministry of
Works, Land & Housing, Lokoja (2018)

RESEARCH METHOD
Primary and secondary data sources were used for the study. The primary data sources used
consist of personal observation and questionnaire administration. The secondary data sources
involved the use of relevant texts and journals. To determine the sample size for the research,
the population census results of 2006 of the selected urban centres in the study area was de-
termined and put at 1,717,087 (NPC, 2006). This was projected to 2017 at growth rate of 2.8%
amounting to 2,321,140 from which 1,658 of the household heads were sampled. This implies
that the 1,658-sample size for the study is based on the population of selected urban centres in
the state (Table 1). The details of the population figures for the selected urban centres and their
sample size for the study is reveals in Table 1 below.
Table1: Projected population of Kogi urban centres, 2006-2017

S/n Settlements X1 2006 popula- X2 2017 pro- X3 House- X4 2% of X5 Number of
tion figure jected popula- hold heads household questionnaire
tion figure to be heads (sample received
sampled size)
1 Adavi 217,219 294,332 10,512 210 150
2. Okenne 325,623 434707 15,525 311 205
3 Ankpa 266,176 360,668 12,881 258 200
4 Dekinna 260968 353,612 12,629 253 195
5 Mopa-Amuro 43,760 59,295 2,117 42 35
6 Kabba/Bunu 144,579 195,905 6,997 140 80
7 Lokoja 196,643 266,451 9,516 190 150
8 Ajaokuta 122,432 165,895 5,925 119 100
9 Bassa 139,687 189,276 6,761 135 100
Total 1,717,087 2,321,140 82,863 1,658 1, 215
Sources: X1 – National Population Commission 2006; X2, X3, X4 and X5 – Author’s Computation, 2018
Table 1 above notes that 1215 questionnaires were retrieved from the respondents. This implies
that a total of 1,215 household heads were sampled for the study using systematic sampling
method. The data were presented using descriptive statistics. The variables were measured on
5-point Likert scale and weighted mean was also used as a decision rule to justify urban dwell-
ers’ satisfaction level with the state of road transportation system. The weighted mean values
used for the parameters by the study was adopted from the study of Olorunfemi (2013; Fadare
and Adeniran 2018) where the level of satisfaction of respondents ranked is between intervals
and reflected as 4.20 – 5.00 = (highly satisfied); 3.40 – 4.19 = (satisfied); 2.60 – 3.39 = (averagely
satisfied); 1.80 – 2.59 = (fairly satisfied); and 1.00 – 1.79 = (dissatisfied).
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION

Socioeconomic characteristics of the urban dwellers
This is an attempt to describe the socio-economic characteristics of the inhabitants of the se-
lected urban centres for the study. The socio-economic characteristic examines include the sex,
marital status, educational status, occupation, among others. The reason for this is to be able to
establish whether the respondents have a prerequisite knowledge of the subject matter. From
Table 4.4, it is noted that 55.7% of respondents were male and 44.3% were female. However,

the study reveals that the area is dominated by males. This is in agreement with the Popula-
tion Census results of 2006 which confirms that males outnumber females in Kogi, (Olorun-
femi 2013). The marital status of the respondents reveals that 32.0% were single, 45.7% were
married, 14.6% were divorced and 7.7% were widows. This result indicates that majority of the
urban dwellers were married. The age of the respondents indicate that 16.7% fall within the
age of 20-30 years, 28.4% within 31-40 years, 34.6% within 41-50 years, 11.7% within 51-60 years
and 8.6% above 60 years. It is clearly shown from the above that majority of the respondents
falls within the age of 41-50 years.
Investigation into the educational status of respondents reveals that 9.5% had no formal edu-
cation, 11.9% possessed primary school education, 37.0% had secondary education, and 41.6%
acquired tertiary education. This implies that majority of respondents had tertiary education.
Occupational status shows that 14.7% were into farming, 24.8% were students, 37.0% were
traders/artisans/professionals, and 23.5% were civil servants. The occupation status reveals
that traders/artisans/professionals dominate the study area and this could be as a result of
complementary nature of their work, which has increased commercial activities in the study
area. Monthly income of respondents indicate that 12.3% earned between N20,000 – N29,000,
23.0% between N30,000 – N39,000, 28.0% N40,000 – N49,000, and 36.6% earned N50,000 and
above. It is revealed from the above that majority of the urban dwellers in the study area
earned N50,000 and above.
The information about the length of stay in their respective urban centres indicated that 8.4%
of them have stayed for less than five years, 14.4% stayed for 5-10 years, 17.4% 11-15 years,
22.0% have stayed for 15 years and above and 37.9% were indigenes of their respective urban
centers. This signifies that the people sampled for the research have adequate knowledge of
the state of roads in the study area.
Table 4.4 Socioeconomic characteristics of the urban dwellers.

Variable Frequency Percentage
1. Sex
Male 677 55.7
Female 538 43.3
Total 1215 100.0
2. Marital status
Single 389 42.0
Married 555 45.7
Divorced 177 14.6
Widowed 94 7.7
Total 1215 100.0
3. Age
20-30 years 203 16.7
31-40 years 345 28.4
41-50 years 420 34.6


51-60 years 142 11.7
Above 60 years 105 8.6
Total 1215 100.0
4. Educational status
No former education 115 9.5
Primary school 145 11.9
Secondary school 450 37.0
Tertiary 505 41.6
Total 1215 100.0
5. Occupational status
Farming 179 14.7
Student 301 24.8
Trading/artisan/ 450 37.0
professional
Civil servant 285 23.5
Total 1215 100.0
5. Monthly income status
N 20,000- n29,000 150 12.3
N 30,000- n 39,000 280 23.0
N 40,000- n 49,000 340 28.0
N 50,000 and Above 445 36.6
Total 1215 100.0
6. Length of Stay in the
Town
Less than 5 years 102 8.4
5-10 years 175 14.4
11-15 years 211 17.4
15 Year and Above 267 22.0
Indigene 460 39.9
Total 1215 100.0
Source: Author’s Fieldwork, 2018
Urban dwellers satisfaction with state of road transportation

The road transportation mode remains the dominant mode of transportation in the study as
such urban dwellers have no other adequate means of mobility rather than road. In order
to determine the level of satisfaction with state of road transportation, four parameters were
used. These are: road network condition, timely response to maintenance of road and sub-road
infrastructure such as bridge, drainage, road/traffic signs among others; provision of public
transport scheme and communication link between the agency in charge of road transport and
people in the study area; These parameters were measured on a 5-point Likert scale of “Dissat-
isfied”, “Fairly satisfied”, “Averagely satisfied”, “Satisfied”, and “Highly satisfied” as shown
in the Table 2. The weighted mean values used for the parameter are adopted from the study

of Olorunfemi (2013) & Fadare and Adeniran, (2018) where the level of satisfaction of respon-
dents ranked is between the intervals and reflected as 4.20 – 5.00 = (highly satisfied); 3.40 – 4.19
= (satisfied); 2.60 – 3.39 = (averagely satisfied); 1.80 – 2.59 = (fairly satisfied); and 1.00 – 1.79 =
(dissatisfied)
According to Table 2, 81.3% of the urban dwellers were not satisfied with the state of road
transportation system (the road network condition), 9.4% fairly satisfied, 4.9% averagely sat-
isfied, 2.5% satisfied and 2.0% of the sampled respondents were satisfied. From the analysis,
it is evident that considerable number of urban dwellers were not satisfied with the road net-
work status. The weighted mean value for the road network status is given as 1.3440 and this
implies that the urban dwellers were not satisfied with the state of road condition. From the
field survey, majority of roads (intraurban and interurban) in the study area were character-
ized with deep and sharp potholes, with some sections damaged beyond minor repair. This is
also corroborated with the findings of Maina (2015) that the condition of roads in Kogi is seen
to be part of the issues contributing to road traffic accidents in state.
In terms of timely response to maintenance of road and sub-road infrastructure, 77.9% of the
respondents were not satisfied with the maintenance culture of government and its agencies,
11.9% were fairly satisfied, 4.3% averagely satisfied, 3.4% satisfied and 2.5% were highly sat-
isfied. The weighted mean value for the parameter is 1.4049, which implies the urban dwell-
ers were not satisfied with government disposition to maintenance. This shows that there is no
concrete maintenance that is usually carried out whenever a section of road or sub road infra-
structure wear-out in the study area. Many of the road infrastructures in the study area were in
state of disrepair. For instance, the entire drainage/culvert channel in most of the urban centres
under study had been blocked due to lack of proper maintenance. This situation has worsened
the condition of the roads as most passengers and drivers struggle to ply the roads, particu-
larly during the rainy season. To corroborate the above, Adetunji (2014) notes that the design-
ing of urban transport routes in Nigeria did not consider the pedestrian walkways, and other
road infrastructures such as street lights, flyovers, parking spaces, bus stops, kerb, traffic sign,
drainage or culvert and many others which are germane to easing the movement of people,
goods and information during intracity movement and where the facilities are provided lack
of proper maintenance culture has rendered it useless.
Provision of adequate transport scheme is a key element for improving mobility in an urban
centre. The urban dwellers satisfaction about the provision of transport scheme such as inter-
urban and intracity transit reveals that 83.1% were dissatisfied with the provision of transport
scheme, 9.1% fairly satisfied, 4.1% averagely satisfied, 2.1% satisfied and 1.6% were highly sat-
isfied. The mean value for the parameter was 1.2996. This shows that the respondents were not
satisfied with the status of transport scheme available for both intracity and interurban move-
ment in the study area. According to Kogi State Ministry of Works and Urban Development
(2018), intraurban and interurban movement in the state is majorly anchored by private indi-
viduals under the control of National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW). It was con-
firmed by the Ministry of Works and Urban Development that inadequate transport scheme
for intra towns and interurban movement is one of the major challenges facing mobility in
Kogi State.

Proper information or communication is a key tool of good governance. Communication link

between the agencies in charge of road transport in the study area indicates that 10.9% of the
urban dwellers were not satisfied with the communication link and this implies no communi-
cation link between the agencies in charge of road transport and the people in the study area;
17.3% were fairly satisfied, 37.3% averagely satisfied, 24.7% satisfied, and 9.8% highly satisfied.
The mean value for the parameter reveals 3.0510. This implies that the urban dwellers were av-
eragely satisfied with the communication link between the agencies in charge of road transpor-
tation and people in the study area. This may be due to the level of information made available
for urban dwellers or passengers on routes or traffic situation in the state.
From the above information, it is obvious that the urban dwellers were averagely satisfied
with the communication links between them and the agency in charge of road transportation
management. This shows that there is certain level of communication between the govern-
ment agencies in charge of road transportation with the people in Kogi State. Corroborating
the above, Kogi State Ministry of Works and Urban Development (2018) opines that whenever
the ministry is informed about any sudden incident such as collapsed bridge or road blockage
as a result of heavy rainfall, the ministry informs the necessary department or agency to carry
out the repair and if it is the one that will require days before it can be done, the ministry will
provide adequate method to inform the public and road safety officials about the incident and
provide alternative routes and ways to solve the problem.
Table 2: Satisfaction level of Kogi urban dwellers with state of road transportation
S/n Parameters Dissatis- Fairly Averagely Satisfied Highly Weighted Remark
fied satisfied satisfied satisfied mean
1. Road network status 988 144 59 (4.9%) 30 24 (2.0%) 1.3440 D
(road condition and (81.3%) (9.4%) (2.5%)
road width
2. Timely response to the 947 145 52 (4.3%) 41 30 (2.5%) 1.4049 D
maintenance of the (77.9%) (11.9%) (3.4%)
road and sub road in-
frastructure such as
bridge, drainage, road/
traffic signs etc.
3. Provision of transport 1010 110 50 (4.1%) 26 19 (1.6%) 1.2996 D
scheme (83.1%) (9.1%) (2.1%)
4. Communication link 133 210 453 (37.3%) 300 119 3.0510 AS
between the agency in (10.9%) (17.3%) 24.7%) (9.8%)
charge of road trans-
port and the people in
the study area
Note *1.00-1.79= D (Dissatisfied); 1.80-2.59=FS (Fairly Satisfied); 2.60-3.39= AS (Averagely Satisfied); 3.40-4.19 = S
(Satisfied); and 4.20-5.0= HS (Highly Satisfied). Source: Author’s Field Work, 2019.
Quality of road transport service

The quality of transport service can be measured with the following indicators: travel time,
frequency of service, comfort, reliability, safety and security, among others. In this study the
following indicators (i.e. safety/security, comfortability, availability of seat, time delay at park,
overloading and over speeding, and condition of vehicle, compliance with road safety road

rules, and orders and cost charge per trip) were used to measure satisfaction with quality of
transport service. The urban dwellers’ satisfaction with safety/security measure put in place
shows that 21.2% of the respondents were dissatisfied with safety/security, 42.9% fairly satis-
fied, 17.1% averagely satisfied, 10.8% satisfied and 8.0% highly satisfied. The weighted mean
value for the safety/security measure was 2.4140. This implies that the urban dwellers were
fairly satisfied with the state of road transportation safety/security measures in place. Obasanjo
and Francis (2015) report that a “safe transport system” means that all reasonable standards
are set and actions taken to prevent accidents, minimize the number of potential victims and
the avoid destruction of property. In line with the above, Kogi State Ministry of Works and Ur-
ban Development (2018) notes that the ministry in conjunction with the Federal Road Safety
Commission (FRSC) in the state usually sensitizes the NURTW and the general public on the
safety tips necessary for hitch-free vehicular movement.
Urban dwellers comfortability with the quality of road transport service was examined and
75.7% were dissatisfied, 12.6% fairly satisfied, 4.7% averagely satisfied, 4.0% were satisfied and
3.0% highly satisfied. The weighted mean value for comfortability level was given as 1.4493.
This implies that the urban dwellers were dissatisfied or not comfortable with the quality of
transport service in the area. This may be due to the poor condition of roads coupled with
overloading habit of most public transport in the area.
Time delay at the park occurs most especially in a situation where the transport scheme avail-
able is not taking off at the scheduled time. In most cases, passenger had to wait at bus sta-
tion until the vehicles fill up to capacity. The respondents’ opinion about the delay depicts
that 14.1% were dissatisfied with the delay, 49.1% fairly satisfied, 20.9% averagely satisfied,
8.9% satisfied, and 7.1% highly satisfied. The weighted mean value for the time delay at park
was 2.4584. This shows that the sampled respondents were fairly satisfied with layover expe-
rience at park. In most cases delay occurred as a result of NURTW bureaucracy. The issue of
comfortability and layover made many passengers resolve to travel in and out of their station
with their private vehicles, contributing to traffic congestion prevalent in many urban centres
in Nigeria.
Urban dwellers satisfaction with level of drivers’ compliance with safety rules reveals that
12.7% were dissatisfied with motorists’ compliance with road safety rules and orders, 26.4%
fairly satisfied, 19.9% averagely satisfied, 33.3% satisfied, and 7.7% highly satisfied. The weight-
ed mean value was given as 2.9687 and this indicates that the urban dwellers were averagely
satisfied with the level of drivers’ compliance with road safety rules and orders in the study
area. This may be attributed to the constant sensitization of drivers on road safety measures,
regular coordination of traffic flow on highway and sanctions meted out to traffic offenders by
FRSC officials in the study area.
Urban dwellers satisfaction with the condition of vehicle in the study area shows that 81.1%
of the sampled respondents were dissatisfied with the conditions of vehicles used for public
transportation in the study area, 9.6% fairly satisfied, 4.9% averagely satisfied, 2.5% satisfied,
and 2.0% highly satisfied. The weighted mean value recorded for the condition of vehicles was
0.84222. This indicated that the urban dwellers were dissatisfied with the condition of vehicle
used for transportation. From the field survey, most of these vehicles were substandard and
not aesthetically pleasing to the eye, old and not in good shape for a long distance journey.
This is consonance with the findings of Basorun and Rotowa, (2012) that most of the vehicles
used for public transport in Nigeria are already used imported cars/buses which quickly be-
come old and rickety with propensity to smoke and break down regularly.
Cost of movement of goods and services is been an important factor considered in transport.
Urban dwellers level of satisfaction with the cost of transportation per trip shows that 81.1%
were not satisfied with the cost of transportation, 9.6% were fairly satisfied, 4.9% were aver-
agely satisfied,2.5% were satisfied and 2.0% were highly satisfied. The weighted mean value
for cost of transportation per trip was 1.3465. This signifies that the urban dwellers were dis-
satisfied with cost of transportation per trip in the area. Cost of transport has been a challenge
in Nigeria and this is because there is no price regulating body/agency for road transportation
(Olorunfemi & Adenigbo, 2018). The cost charged per trip is usually determined by the trans-
port unions and there has not been a measure to control such.
In general, the analysis depicts that urban dwellers were dissatisfied with comfortability level,
condition of vehicle and cost charged per trip. They were fairly satisfied with safety/security
and time delay at park and compliance with road safety rules and order. This implies that road
transport services need to be improved upon to ensure sustainable urban mobility in Kogi.
Table 4.7: Urban dwellers satisfaction with the state of road transport service in the
study area
State of transport Dissatisfied Fairly Aver- Satisfied Highly Weight- Remark
service satisfied agely satisfied ed mean
satisfied
Safety/security 258 521 (42. 208 131 97 2.4140 FS
(21.2%) 9%) (17.1%) (10.8) (8.0%)
Comfortability 920 153 57 49 36 1.4493 D
(75.7%) (12.6%) (4.7%) (4.0%) (3.0%)
Time delayed at 171 596 254 108 86 2.4584 FS
park (14.1%) (49.1%) (20.9%) (8.9%) (7.1%)
Condition of 985 117 (9.6) 59 30 24 1.3465 D
Vehicle (81.1%) (4.9%) (2.5%) (2.0%)
Compliance with 154 (12.7) 321 242 405 93 2.9687 AS
road safety rules (26.4%) (19.9%) (33.3% (7.7%)
and orders
Cost charged per 985 (81.1) 117 (9.6% 59 30 24 1.3465 D
trip (4.9%) (2.5%) (2.0%)
Note *1.00-1.79= D (Dissatisfied); 1.80-2.59=FS (Fairly Satisfied); 2.60-3.39= AS (Averagely Satisfied); 3.40-4.19 = S
(Satisfied); and 4.20-5.0= HS (Highly Satisfied). Source: Author’s Field Work, 2018.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

The study assessed urban dwellers satisfaction with road transportation system in Kogi State,
Nigeria and findings indicate they were not satisfied, with respect to road network condition,
timely response to the maintenance of the road and sub road infrastructure; provision of trans-
port scheme.

To ameliorate the above, Kogi State government through mutual partnership with private
sectors must appropriate sufficient funds to revamp road transportation system in the State
through the Ministry of Works and Urban Development and other agencies such as Feder-
al Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA) for the construction and maintenance of roads for the
purpose of ensuring sustainable urban mobility.
To ensure maximum satisfaction with respect to quality of road transport service in the study
area, Kogi State Ministry of Works through its Department of Road Transportation should
partner with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and educational institutions that are major
in transport management and planning to conduct periodic training, workshop and seminars
for NURTW and other transport unions in the state to enhance their performance and in turn
improve transport service delivery.
In line with the above, FRSC should regulate and check the conditions of vehicles before they
are allowed to be used for public transport, most especially for the movement of passengers.
This will reduce unnecessary delay to passengers in the event of breakdown in transit. On the
issue of cost charged per trip, government and stakeholders in transport sector should come
together and device a scientific method through which transport cost per trip can be charged.
This will end the fluctuation and frequently inflation of transport cost commonly introduced
by transport unions in the country.
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7
Comparative Analysis of Tourism Patronage
in Southwest Nigeria: The Underlying Role of
Transportation Determinants
Oyesiku, O.K.1 / Solanke, M.O.2 / Olabosinde, S.T.3

Centre for Transport Studies, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye;
1
2
Dept. of Transport Mgt, Olabisi Onabanjo Univ., Ago-Iwoye; 3Dept. of Business
Admin., Federal University, Wukari
Corresponding author: olabosinde@yahoo.com
ABSTRACT
This paper was a comparative assessment of tourism patronage in Southwest Nigeria, considering the pre-
dictive role of transportation determinants. Nigeria has not been able to tap from tourism benefits, with
it contributing less than 2% to GDP. Specifically, tourism patronage is very low in the Southwest, and it
has not really invoked the desired passion and attraction expected. The study adopted survey design for the
study. The population included all tourists in the six states in the Southwest. The study finds variations
in the patronage of tourist centres in the region, and the variations have significant effect on tourism de-
velopment in the region. Based on the findings, the study recommends more effort focused on the planning
and redesigning of the transport sector in the region, among others, to reduce the variations of patronage.
Keywords: transport, determinants, tourism, development, southwest Nigeria
INTRODUCTION
T
ourism development encompasses actions that involve making amenities available for
vacationers visiting sites and undertakings such as talent advancement, employment,
advertisement as well as capital formation (Ateljevic & Page, 2009). Eruotor (2014) states
that the vacation industry development constitutes fiscal improvement. In measuring tourism
development, Kolb (2006) states that it includes the number of visits to tourist sites (patron-
age), destination attractiveness, growing entrepreneurial base in tourist sites (Pike, 2002), and
wealth creation throughout the given society.
There are certain elements of the vacation industry that distinguished it from other industries.
The vacationers by themselves travel to the location to enjoy the facilities. This is where trans-
port becomes valuable as it is the means through which tourism is sustained and effectively
comparative analysis of tourism patronage in southwest nigeria: the underlying role of
transportation determinants | oyesiku, o.k. / solanke, m.o. / olabosinde, s.t.
promoted (Nana, 2017). Consequently, it is imperatively challenging for the vacation industry
to expand without conveyance. Transportation provides a medium through which tourists are
conveyed to vacation spots (Eden, 2005).
Tourism development of any kind is virtually impossible without transport; where transport
is available many forms of development may become possible and some may be encouraged
(Salau & Baba, 1989). It is also viewed as an indicator for development as it plays an import-
ant role in advancing cities globally (Adeniji, 2000; Oyesiku, 2002). It is observed that transpor-
tation is a contributory factor to socio-economic development of any given nation. Meaning-
ful development is not conceivable without improvement in transportation system (Hassan &
Olabosinde 2017). Without transport, exchange of commodities, people and ideas cannot take
place and the economy cannot grow.
The pivotal function of transport in the socioeconomic and political advancement of nations
is well-recognized and documented. Governments commit huge sums of money to the devel-
opment of the transport industry partly in recognition of the pivotal role it plays in the overall
wellbeing and development of their respective nations. Transport facilities have been identi-
fied as visible social service, which aim towards meeting needs, rather than a revenue generat-
ing venture (Olabosinde, 2010). Furthermore, it is the interconnecting means to an end to other
sectors of the economy, as it provides a means for conveying value from one sector to another.
Transportation modes offer users the luxury of selecting whichever suits their needs and de-
mands. However, the choice of transport mode is changing as recent technological innova-
tions that have developed in succession in the transport industry has helped influence and
restructure the various transport modes and travelling behaviour, thereby enhancing trans-
portation mode choice (Postorino & Russo, 2001). According to Van der Duim, (2005) travelling
behaviour is not only influenced by the existing transport modes, there exist certain element
determining selection of conveyance method. These are what are referred to as transportation
determinants. The determinants are evolving and must be taken into cognizance for proper
transport planning and development (Chin, 2002, Olebogeng 2014).
A number of factors affect the demand for a transport mode; however, it is worthy to state that
these factors vary thereby making it difficult to conclude on generally acceptable determinants
(Bloomberg, LeMay & Hanna, 2002).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Numerous researchers emphasize the significance of conveyance systems as well as structure
in tourism development (Khadaroo & Seetenah, 2008). Also, transportation constitutes an im-
portant element of the vacation industry as well as contribute to the feel vacationers have en-
gaging the activities (Musa & Ndawayo, 2011). Lamb and Davidson (1996) opine that the num-
ber of conveyance system available determine the selection of destination, and that quality in
addition to operational conveyance system promote progress and advancement of the desti-
nation. Moreover, thriving vacation locations encourage funding in conveyance systems (For-
syth, 2006). Equally, insufficient conveyance systems discourage vacationers from going to see

vacation spots, leading to undesirable impact on progress as well as attractiveness (Prideaux,

2000).
Conveyance connects diverse locations, individuals as well as products. The vacation industry
encompasses movement from one location to another, hence the importance of conveyance.
The growth of the vacation industry can be linked to the effectiveness of conveyance system.
The growth of air transport and motor vehicles has increased peoples’ accessibility to virtually
anywhere in the world. This, including varying job design with advanced promotion are forc-
es behind global mass tourism over the years (Sorupia, 2005). Tourism as an activity increases
the need and use of transportation facilities by directly fulfilling need for mobility by moving
people, freight, and information from one physical location to another.
Having various means of transport available for visitors is very essential and some tourists
prefer hiking, biking, and other modes of transport to driving (Dickinson & Robbins, 2008).
The provision of transport facilities means the provision of mobility at a tourist’s destination,
thus, the nature and quality of this transport service, which sums up to the tourist experience
with public transport service, may influence their satisfaction with the destination (Thompson
& Schofield, 2007).
Prideaux (2000) notes that the modern modes of transport play an important role in the total
infrastructure for tourism and are a major contributing factor in attracting tourists, making
them comfortable and ensuring that they again return to the spot (Robinson, 1992). As such,
appropriate transport facilities are one of the initiators of economic development of tourist
centres, thus explaining why transport is considered as one infrastructure of the tourist indus-
try, thus transport and tourism are inseparable (Musa & Ndawayo, 2011). As the transport sys-
tem becomes more efficient, the intensity of tourism is likely to increase because of the fact that
the very fast means of communication and transportation have generated the strong desire to
travel (Prideaux, 2000).
Modern system of conveyance has transformed the vacation industry by enhancing dis-
tance-travel capabilities, travel speed, travel time, as well as ease. The introduction of railway
formed the basis for contemporary tourism, followed by the revolution of the automobile that
transformed mode of local as well as interregional tourism. Availability of appropriate convey-
ance successfully converted formerly inactive locations into operational as well as flourishing
spots enticing crowds of vacationers (Khadaroo & Seetanah, 2008).
Lamb and Davidson (1996) ascertain connections between conveyance and the vacation indus-
try. They also explain necessities for constituents to focus on quality conveyance network for
vacationers, hence, there is need to design as well as coordinate an all-inclusive conveyance
network for vacationers so that comfort of vacationers is assured through bridging loopholes
and creating links between entrance and vacation spots (Palhares, 2003). Therefore, airports
should be integrated to major vacation locations to ensure easy handover of vacationers from
one system of conveyance to another so as to ensure their comfort. Focusing on integration as
related to the vacation industry is capable of leading to priceless commercial gains (e.g. ad-
vancement in airport shuttle businesses) resulting in auxiliary conveyance firms establishing
comfortable one-on-one services for vacationers.

Road and highway networks have an important bearing on tourism. According to Lamb and
Davidson (1996), regional highways used by tourists are more rural in character. Improving
ease of access and upgrading tourism infrastructure in the gateway cities are vital to increase
the length of stay for such visitors. Coach tours also utilize the road network, and this segment
of the transport market has seen growing popularity with the senior market. Coach operators
are licensed to provide services on nontourist routes that are less profitable in return for oper-
ating profitable routes. In this sense, tourism is used to cross-subsidize nontourist routes and
is likely to increase in importance as rail travel is progressively phased out.
Eja, Joseph and Ojong, (2012) investigated success elements controlling tourist arrivals in Ni-
geria. They utilized 15 states for the study, and one thousand five hundred questionnaires
were administered for the study. Tourism Bureau from these states provided records, more-
over, information was gathered from dwellers living close to the vacation spots through inqui-
ry form provided. The study adopted panel data and the ordinary least square analysis were
utilized in analyzing information gotten from the location. Results show that internal and ex-
ternal elements control advent of tourist, though there could be additional reasons like tourist
experience in addition to the state of substructures not captured in the study. From this is de-
duced that the political authority in Nigeria needs to regulate its national economy and make
adequate facilities available to revitalize the vacation industry and thus experience associated
gains.
Ibimilua (2009) evaluated the prospects of the vacation industry in Ekiti state in relation to
rate of support in addition to limitations associated with its advancement, revealing a pletho-
ra of artificial and nonartificial prospects for the vacation industry as well as leisure centers in
the state. Despite its positive outlook, there exist poor advancement and involvement in that
sector.
Edith and Agbonifoh (2017) carried out a study on the determinants of observed impression
about Nigerian vacation sector among locals as well as international vacationers, in addition to
demographic factors affecting impression people have about the sector, with outcomes reveal-
ing the mean index obtained for the impression of the vacation industry as fairly positive. NTI
was highly regarded in terms of friendliness under culture and heritage dimension and weak-
est in political stability under infrastructure dimension. Respondents’ demographic character-
istics were not significant in explaining the overall perception of NTI.
Ibrahim and Buba (2011) examined the connection between conveyance and advancement of
the vacation industry in Nigeria, revealing the country has eight parks scattered across the na-
tion. The investigation comprises two stages namely aggregate and disaggregate. At the for-
mer stage, indexes of road connectivity are linked to stages of the vacation industry advance-
ment (calculated using locations of national parks). Multiple linear regression was utilized in
explaining connection between improvement of the vacation industry in addition to indexes
of road development at the disaggregate level. Results show that conveyance is an important
factor of tourism advancement in Nigeria.

METHODOLOGY
The study area
The southwest region of Nigeria is one of the major regions that make up the country. It has
a common language known as Yoruba, with varying dialects. The region is blessed with an ar-
ray of tourist sites and with a wide range of sights and experiences. The region is divided into
six states which are: Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Ondo, Osun and Oyo. The region accounts for a rich
natural resources deposit that ranges from cocoa, oil, palm oil etc.
Fig. 1: Southwest states of Nigeria. Source: Omole, Owoeye & Ogundiran (2012)

Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents
The gender population as shown in table 1 implies that both males and females that visited
the tourist centers in equal percentage. The result shows a good spread of the gender. Further-
more, about 80.3% are within the age bracket of between 21 and 49 years, which are highly pro-
ductive and this set of people has appetite for patronizing tourist sites with the attendant of
high personal expenses on consumption. However, as shown in table 1 almost 60% of the sam-
pled tourists are single, the reason for the low patronage by married people may be due to the
fact that they are preoccupied with domestic work and caring for their children. It is therefore
necessary to find out to what extent marital status influences tourism development. The same
table 1 indicates that 94% of the tourists are well enlightened because of the educational qual-
ifications they possessed. Their exposures are likely to have impact on interaction with people
and socialization activities which is one of the objectives of tourism development. From anoth-
er perspective as shown in table 1 socio-economic variable of respondents determine the level
of tourism development is the current employment status of the tourists, 96% of the respon-
dents are fully engaged. This shows positive impact on economic growth and development.
The respondent’s income level determines the amount of money they can afford for tourism
activities, as shown in table 1 that 91% of the respondents earn income and 9% earn no income

at all. This means that there will be positive movement in the circular flow of income which is
better for the economic growth and development.
Table 1: Socio-demographic characteristics of respondents

Gender Male 378 49.7
Female 383 50.3
Total 761 100.0
Age Below 20 years 120 15.8
21-29 years 340 44.7
30-39 years 188 24.7
40-49years 83 10.9
50 years and above 30 3.9
Total 761 100.0
Marital status Single 441 58
Married 320 42
Total 761 100.0
Educational WASSCE/GCE 166 21.8
qualification
ND/NCE 112 14.7
HND/BSC 342 45.0
MBA/MSC/PHD 97 12.7
No formal education/artisan 44 5.8
Total 761 100.0
Employment status Self employed 237 31.1
Civil servant 178 23.4
Private employment 122 16
Student 193 25.4
Unemployed 31 4.1
Total 761 100.0
Monthly income 18,000–42,000 299 39.3
43,000–91,000 190 25
92,000–105,000 67 8.8
106,000–144,000 74 9.7
145,000 and above 65 8.5
No income 66 8.7
Total 761 100.0
Source: Fieldwork, 2019
Trip information
The trip information of respondents was collected in the survey; the trip covers the point of or-
igin to the tourist destination. The following figures indicate the requisite information on the
trip of respondents.

Fig. 2: Frequency of visit to the tourist site. Source: Fieldwork, 2019.
The number of times the tourist sites have been visited is shown in Fig. 2 that 98.7% visited the
tourist centers below 20 times while 1.3% of the respondents visited the tourist sites above 21
times. This implies that the level of patronage is high which were used to measure develop-
ment of tourism and at the end of the day lead to economic development.
Fig. 3: Length of stay. Source: Fieldwork, 2019
Fig. 3 shows that 92% spent less than 8 hours there while 8% stayed either for 12 hours or 24
hours. The higher percentage recorded in the short-stay period of visitors corroborate the fact
that tourist centers are meant for short stays.

Fig. 4: Means of transport to tourist site. Source: Fieldwork, 2019
The means of transport as shown in figure 4 that 58% came to the centers by car, while 42% ei-
ther came by bus or motorcycle or tricycle. The higher percentage noticeable in the means of
transport using car can be deduced from the fact that people believe in safety, convenience,
comfort and social status.
Fig. 5: Transport availability. Source: Fieldwork, 2019
Transport availability is a determinant of their visit, as shown in Fig. 5 that 65% agreed with
the statement while 35% stated that the availability is not a determinant of their visit. The
higher percentage displayed by the transport availability as a determinant factor for their visit
means that relevancy of transport availability is very germane in tourism development.
Fig. 6: Satisfaction of tourist by transport. Source: Field Work, 2019.
Satisfaction of the respondents with transport to the place as shown in figure 6 that 85% are
either highly satisfied or satisfied, while 15% are either very unsatisfied or unsatisfied with

transport to the place. The overall satisfaction by transport to the centers is very high which
implies that the tourists are satisfied with the mode and means of transport.
Fig. 7: Overall satisfaction of the tourist site. Source: Fieldwork, 2019.
Overall satisfaction of the tourist centers as shown in figure 7 that 85% either stated that they
are highly satisfied or satisfied with the tourist centers, while 15% either stated that they are
very unsatisfied or unsatisfied with the tourist centers. The higher percentage displayed in the
level of satisfaction shows the level of infrastructural facilities development at the tourist sites.
Test of hypotheses
Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the significant variation in tourism patronage
arising from the state of transportation in the region based on an initial hypothetical premise
as summarized by the null-hypotheses stated below.
Ho: There is no significant variation in tourism patronage arising from the state of
transportation in the region.
H1: There is significant variation in tourism patronage arising from the state of transportation
in the region.
Table 2: ANOVA on differences in tourism patronage among the Southwest states

Patronage of tourist sites
Sum of Squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
Between Groups 458.135 5 91.627 7.775 .000
Within Groups 8897.415 755 11.785
Total 9355.551 760
Source: Fieldwork, 2019
The analysis carried out was aimed at ascertaining whether there are significant differences in
tourism patronage between sample variance of six states (Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and
Ondo) in the Southwest, given a sample within group of 756. One-way ANOVA was carried
out with the aid of SPSS and the ANOVA result is presented in table 2. The result indicates a
significant difference in patronage among the six states (Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and
Ondo), given the F-value (7.775) and p < 0.05. Thus, the alternate hypothesis is accepted, indi-
cating a significant difference in tourism patronage among the Southwest states and the null
rejected. It is therefore concluded that the significant difference in tourism patronage in the six
south west states (in patronage among the six states (Ekiti, Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Oyo and Ondo)
has effect on tourism development in the region.

CONCLUSION
This study was on transport determinants and tourism development in Southwest, Nigeria.
The study has achieved several milestones and has revealed several critical issues that relate
to the transport and tourism sectors in the region. Based on the result from the field, the study
generally concludes that transportation determinants have significant effect on tourism devel-
opment in the region. The repositioning of the transport sector in the region would have direct
influence on tourism patronage, as the major determinants of transport have shown that it is a
good predictor of increased number of visits of tourist to a tourist centre.
In addition, the study concludes that there are variations in the patronage of tourist centres in
the region and the result provides evidence to this conclusion, as it shows the difference in the
various states, and the extent of the differences and its effect as small. The study concludes that
the significant difference makes a small effect on tourism development in the region. The study
concludes that the variations are high in some and lower in some states, and the differences are
reflective of the extent of tourism development in the region.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The study has far-reaching effects as enumerated in the findings of the research. Therefore, the
study recommends the following:
1. There should rather be more effort focused in the planning and re-designing of the transport sector in the
region to drive increased tourism patronage.
2. There is need to ensure those tourists that visit tourist sites are satisfied, as it has direct effect on patron-
age. The managers of tourist sites in the region should ensure that efforts are made to attend to visitors
promptly and provide them the right support needed for their visiting pleasure, as this will result in in-
creased and repeat visit to the tourist sites and will invariably lead to tourism development.
3. There should be efforts at ensuring that other tourist centres in the states are developed so as to reduce
the variations of patronage, as some states experience high volume, while others have limited visits, the
states with limited number of tourist visits are encouraged to develop their transport system, increase ac-
cess and safety as a measure drive increased tourism patronage in their states.
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8
Intermediate Means of Transportation (IMT) in Rural
Areas of Nigeria
Aworemi, J.R.1 / Ajayi, J.O.1 / Odewumi, S.G.2

1
Dept. of Transport Mgt, Ladoke Akintola Univ. of Tech., Ogbomoso;
2
School of Transport, Lagos State University, Ojo:
Corresponding author: jraworemi@lautech.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
Intermediate means of transportation (IMT) has become a very important part of rural transportation be-
cause of poor physical accessibility to basic services due to poor roads and inadequate transport in terms of cost and
reliability. IMTs are mostly used in developing countries to improve the efficiency of productive tasks and to serve as a
bridge between rural villages and nearby road networks or market towns. The potential of IMTs to help address the im-
perative of increased agricultural productivity and improved food security in sub-Saharan Africa has been recognized
and can make an enormous contribution to meeting agricultural transport needs in the contexts where demand is of-
ten heaviest. IMTs pose significant benefits which include increased agricultural productivity and reduced cost of
transportation, improvement in health of rural dwellers, and reduced rate of deaths. Availability, positive attitude by
potential users, and affordability of procurement are some strategies that can ensure that the potentials of IMTs can be
harnessed. These can be achieved through strategic formulation of policies to enhance the use of IMTs in rural Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION
T
ransportation is a very essential part of rural living and an important requirement for
the economic sustainability of rural dwellers. This is because most rural communities in
sub-Saharan Africa are agrarian in nature and are dependent on a reliable transport sys-
tem for internal movement and for linking rural communities to the markets to sell their farm
produce and buy industrial goods. Therefore, rural transport is essential for sustaining agri-
cultural development.
Apart from sustaining agricultural development in rural areas, transportation also serves the
function of enabling rural dwellers access markets and shops, health centres, education, em-
ployment opportunities, social gatherings and other subsistence activities such as fetching wa-
ter and collection of firewood.
According to Riverson and Carapetis (1991), two major rural transport gaps face most
intermediate means of transportation (imt) in rural areas of nigeria
| aworemi, j.r. / ajayi, j.o. / odewumi, s.g.
sub-Saharan African countries. First, the feeder roads in rural areas connecting villages to
farming areas and to market centers are usually inadequate, poorly maintained and cost-
ly to use; and secondly, poor and inadequate rural transport services has ensured that the
carrying of goods between and within villages and markets is dependent almost entire-
ly on walking and shoulder or head-carrying. The World Bank and other donor agencies
have provided financial support to African countries to improve their rural road infrastruc-
ture. However, the efforts of government and donors to improve access of rural dwell-
ers to transportation focus on expanding road networks, while little attention is given to
the development of transport means and services to suit the needs of the rural poor. Con-
sequently, despite massive spending on road construction, the interventions have not met
the transport needs of rural dwellers for subsistence, social, and economic activities to opti-
mize their livelihoods. Moreover, there are limited transport services to areas with low de-
mand and to the poorest and least mobile segments of the community. Many rural people, es-
pecially women, walk long distances every day carrying heavy loads of water, firewood, and
grains, as well as agricultural produce and goods for marketing (Starkey, 2001).
In another sense, chronic scarcity of foreign exchange, scarcity of spare parts, and low vehi-
cle imports have also hampered the development of motorized rural transport services. More-
over, the rural poor usually cannot afford these services. These factors call for alternative and
affordable means of transport. Therefore, there is the need to explore the potential of other in-
termediate and low-cost means of transport for improving rural access and personal mobility.
In recent years, however, recognition has been growing that without an integrated approach
to transport infrastructure and services, investment in transport is unlikely to bring commen-
surate economic and social benefits. As a result, countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America
pay more attention to smaller roads, paths, and tracks and to the use of intermediate means of
transport.
Intermediate means of transportation can be described as “local transport solutions that in-
crease transport capacity and reduce drudgery at a relatively low cost without the high cost
associated with bigger motor vehicles” (Starkey, 2001). They are called “intermediate” in the
sense of filling the gap between human walking, head-loading and large-scale transport. They
include single-wheel technologies like wheelbarrows, bicycles and tricycles, two-wheel hand-
carts, motorcycles, low-cost boats and animal-powered transport (Starkey, 2001).
IMTs have become a very important part of rural transportation because of poor physical ac-
cessibility to basic services due to poor roads and inadequate transport in terms of cost and re-
liability (Porter, 2007). IMTs have been far more widely adopted in some Asian countries than
they are in most rural sub-Saharan Africa, where uptake, to date, has generally been low. This
is the so-called “missing middle” of the rural transport system (SSATP, 1997) and may be relat-
ed to such factors as lower population densities, longer distances to markets, low agricultural
incomes, and limited access to non-agricultural income sources, as well to cultural and insti-
tutional factors (Ellis, 1997).
IMTs are closely related to non-motorized transport (NMT). However, the difference is that
NMTs, also known as “active transportation” or “human powered transportation,” includes

walking and biking as well as other small-wheeled transport such as handcarts or wheelbar-
rows (Litman, 2014). In fact, as Guitinik, Holste and Lebo (1994) conclude, the definition of
NMT includes “any form of transportation that provides personal or goods mobility by meth-
ods other than the combustion motor.” However, as regards IMT, the traditional mode of walk-
ing is excluded and it covers only those means that are intermediate between walking and any
form of conventional motorized vehicle (cars, trucks or buses), such as wheelbarrows, motor-
cycles or bicycles (Barwell, 1996,). As Barwell (2002) points out, IMTs are particularly different
from other modes with regard to investment costs, transport capacity such as “speed, payload
and range of travel, infrastructure requirements, complexity of maintenance and skills, facili-
ties, materials and investment needed for manufacture”. NMTs are the main form of transport
among low-income households and thus contribute significantly to income generating activi-
ties or enable access to fundamental services in many countries.
IMTs are mostly used in developing countries to improve the efficiency of productive tasks,
and to serve as a bridge between rural villages and nearby road networks or market towns.
Non-motorized transport ranges from bicycles with or without attachments, to animal-drawn
carts. These animal-powered vehicles provide low-cost and affordable means of transport.
Their capacity and speed are limited compared to motorized transport but is far beyond that
of head or back-loading.
A lot of literature on transport and rural development focus on agriculture as the major eco-
nomic indicator or activity, which may explain why little attention is given to IMTs, especially
for other rural and communal living activities. There is therefore a need for a holistic approach
in considering what IMT portends to the socioeconomic development of rural dwellers espe-
cially as applies to Nigeria.
THEORETICAL REVIEW
Accessibility as a key transportation element is a direct expression of mobility either in terms
of people, freight or information (Rodrique, 2004). An efficient transportation system offers
a high level of accessibility, provided the impacts of transport externalities are excluded. For
instance, a few studies like Focas (2000) and Shucksmith (2000) argue that inability to access
transportation can lead to people missing out on their jobs, education and other social oppor-
tunities. From this understanding, accessibility is the measure of the capacity of a location to be
reached by, or to reach different locations. The capacity and structure of transport infrastruc-
ture are important elements in the determination of accessibility (Rodrique, 2004 and Venter
et al., 2002).
Accessibility as a concept has been part of planning process in developed countries for many
years. This stems from the fact that access is a key element in providing the opportunity for
both social and economic development. It also forms one of the characteristics of poverty.
Poor access to basic facilities–health services, water, education, housing, etc., has a resultant
effect on the quality of life of the rural dwellers. Thus, the concept of accessibility relies on
location and distance. The former is the relativity of places estimated in relation to transport
infrastructure. The later however, is derived from the connectivity between locations (Rodrique,
2004).

Based on this and compared with advancement from developed world, equity transport plan-
ning, emphasized the consideration of the needs and capability of various groups of people in
mobility process (Litman, 2006 & Carruthers, 2006).
CONCEPT OF EQUITY
Equity is a complex concept, which bears several meanings. It is however different from equal-
ity that connotes or represents, mere equalization of a right (Vasconcellos, 2000). Equity re-
fers to justice and fairness, Litman (2006) and means the distribution of impacts (benefits and
costs), and the degree to which that distribution is considered fair and appropriate. In other
words, equity requires the consideration of the peculiar characteristics of people when decid-
ing how they should use available public resources. Equity in transportation planning and
management, and in the provision of public transport services entails the provision of reason-
able transportation services that is more accessible for transit-dependent population.
Basically by tradition, equity planning is concerned with reducing inequality. Thus, Krumholz
(1982) defines equity planning as an effort to provide more choices to those residents or indi-
viduals who have few or no choices”. This implies that, the physical capability and a host of
other factors that constraint the mobility of certain groups needs to be considered and given
necessary attention.
Transportation equity, according to Litman (2006), can be categorized into three –
i. Horizontal equity (distribution of impacts between individuals and groups considered

equal in ability and need).
ii. Vertical equity with regards to income and social class (distribution of impacts between
individuals and groups that differ in ability and need) more importantly by income
(social class).
iii. Vertical equity with regard to mobility needs and ability (distribution of impacts
between individuals and groups that differ in transportation ability and need).
Based on these categories of equity, there is need for accessible and inclusive transportation design and policy
that will facilitate or enhance the movement of rural dwellers.
TRAVEL BEHAVIOUR IN RURAL AREAS

Rurality refers to areas with low population density, small size, relative isolation, where the
major economic activity is agricultural production, and where the people are relatively ho-
mogenous in their values, attitudes and behaviour (Bealer et al., 1965). Any community with
less than 20,000 people is said to be rural, while any settlement with over 20,000 people is re-
garded as an urban area. In a more traditional sense, various parts of Nigeria had their own
conception of the rural area, referring to the farm and farming settlements, while the town re-
fers to the seat of an important chief or ruler (Ekong, 1988).
Rural dwellers, particularly women and children, spend approximately 0.3-1.5 hour daily in
acquiring basic needs like water and firewood. Poor accessibility to such services is responsible
for problems like high mortality rates, inadequate food security, and poor education (Howe
1996). Rural travel behaviour is not uniform and peculiarly gender based (Matalon, 1992). Ac-

cording to Okoko (2007), difference in travel behaviour of men and women stems from the
fact that women are vulnerable to a number of factors in their choice of travel mode and/or be-
haviour. Accordingly, in rural areas, the greater part of transport in terms of both distance and amount
carried is usually off-road and most transport activity is non-motorized. In fact, non-wheeled transport are dom-
inated by head-carrying by women and children of loads of up to 30 kg (Riverson & Carapetis, 1991).
USE OF IMT AROUND THE WORLD

The use of IMT differs from one part of the world to another based on certain social and en-
vironmental characteristics and peculiarities like culture, economic viability, technical know-
how, topography, weather, among others. Starkey (2001) avers that:
Motorized IMTs are common in Asia but are yet to be widely adopted in Africa. While
there is a steady increase in motorcycles for personal transport, the present use affects only
a small proportion of the population (with the notable exception of parts of Burkina Faso
and neighboring countries). Trends from Asia suggest this technology may first be adopted
in areas of irrigated rice production with high population densities, close to towns where
motorized vehicles are widely used and maintained. The conditions for adoption of other
motorized IMTs (motor tricycles, auto rickshaws) are most likely to be met in peri-urban
areas, where there is economic demand and supporting infrastructure. Lessons from Asia
and Africa suggest that a wide range of complementary IMTs can coexist. Conditions in ur-
ban areas and around markets often favour their production, adaptation and use. The var-
ious IMTs complement motorized transport systems, fulfilling needs for collecting and dis-
tributing goods and people over relatively short distances.
Porter (2007) notes substantial literature charting how IMT ownership and use is widely
male-dominated as a result of economic and/or socio-cultural factors. These may include wom-
en’s more limited resources to purchase transport equipment, their restricted access to equip-
ment belonging to male household members when the latter views IMTs as symbols of social
status and prestige (Leyland 1996), women’s perceived lack of physical strength to handle
draught animals or push heavy carts (Flanary 2004), cultural prohibitions on women handling
animals, and perceived gynecological dangers in riding astride transport equipment (Porter &
Blaufuss 2002). The low acceptance of bicycles by girls and women provides a good example as
being observed in many parts of rural Africa where male cyclists are common (Flanary 2004).
Riverson and Carapetis (1991) note that the design and application of existing IMTs tend to be
specific to a country or region. The extensive use of the motorcycle with sidecar, in the Philip-
pines, for example, is one case where local needs appear to be adequately served through a lo-
cally developed and accepted solution. Animal-drawn carts have been adopted in parts of Af-
rica as a result of programs to promote the use of draft animals.
Reports on India describe extensive use of non-motorized transport, particularly animal-drawn

vehicles using bullocks, buffaloes, camels (in desert areas of Rajasthan), horses and mules (in
urban areas). The type of transport used is closely associated with the nature and type of farm-
ing undertaken. Hence, where bullock plows are used, bullock-carts are predominant, where-
as tractors with trailers are associated with tractor-related farming. A great deal of IMT know-

how is available; information needs to be widely disseminated within and between countries
to ensure more widespread use. However, in each local situation, needs must be clearly iden-
tified so that suitable interventions can be made (Riverson & Carapetis, 1991).
PROSPECTS/POTENTIALS OF IMT IN RURAL NIGERIA

Intermediate means of transportation are used mostly in the developing world, to improve the
efficiency of productive tasks and to serve as a bridge between villages and nearby road towns
(Riverson & Carapetis, 1991). Intermediate means of transport, including bicycles and motor-
cycles, may have an important role to play in filling the transport gap where conventional mo-
torized services are poor, a fact increasingly recognized by international donors (Porter, 2007).
The potential of IMTs to help address the imperative of increased agricultural productivity
and improved food security in sub-Saharan Africa has been recognized by a growing number
of donor agencies and NGOs since the late 1980s. IMTs can make an enormous contribution to
meeting agricultural transport needs in the contexts where demand (production and harvest-
ing) is often heaviest (Porter, 2002).These human and animal-powered vehicles provide low-
cost and widely affordable means of transport, and their capacity and speed, though limited
compared to motorized transport, it is far beyond that of head or back-loading (Riverson &
Carapetis, 1991).
Health improvement achieved through reallocation of head loads to IMTs have not been re-
corded, but a number of studies refer to the damaging impact of head loading particularly
on women’s health (Carr, 1983). A recent study in Rushinga district, Zimbabwe, for instance,
notes a relatively higher incidence of backache, head and chest pain among women than men,
attributed in large part to head loading (Mudzamba & ILO, 1998). Miscarriage may be anoth-
er potential impact. An ILO study in Ethiopia found women fuel wood porters with an aver-
age 16% incidence of miscarriage (Doran, 1996). Indirect health improvements may also result
from introduction of IMTs if these improve access to and increase consumption of safe water
supplies (Porter, 2002).
Beyond agriculture, IMTs contribute significantly to rural livelihood diversification, not least
by improving the potential for labour mobility from agricultural settlements with poor access.
There is a growing literature which emphasizes the crucial significance of off-farm employ-
ment and income diversification for household security in Africa (Bryceson & Jamal, 1991).
Other advantages of IMT availability may relate to their facilitating personal travel. Many
men buy cycles precisely for this reason, but women and children can also benefit, for
instance through improved access to school, clinics, banks and other facilities which promote
their exposure to outside ideas and information and through this may lead to improved
confidence and empowerment within their own communities (Leyland, 1996).
Advantages of specific IMTs vary but may include their relatively low purchase cost,
compared to conventional motor vehicles, potential for small-scale/decentralized manufac-
ture, generally lower maintenance requirements (compared to motor vehicles),suitability for
small to medium size loads and ability to operate on poor/narrow tracks (Porter, 2002).

HARNESSING THE POTENTIALS OF IMT

Availability of IMT should be enhanced
IMT programmes should, as much as possible, offer technological choices to potential users
through the wide range of possible technological innovations. There are advantages in concen-
trating on the provision and/or improvement of one technology, as this may provide econo-
mies of scale for the support systems, accelerating the achievement of mass production. How-
ever, working with a range of technologies may lead to greater understanding of the issues
and more appropriate technologies being adopted. As transport needs are many and diverse,
overall adoption may be higher if several technologies are promoted. In other words, pro-
grammes should be planned to support a range of IMT options (Starkey, 2001).
Positive attitude of potential users should be encouraged

Riverson and Carapetis (1991) posit that reaction of rural populations to IMT initiatives will do
much to determine the interest that rural families show in the potential of IMTs to save their
time, energy and to raise productivity. It will also highlight their willingness to undertake the
investments needed to acquire such devices, and to provide and maintain the usually rudi-
mentary infrastructure needed to operate them efficiently. It will also depend on the willing-
ness of men and women to learn new skills such as bicycle riding for the performance of their
duties. In all cases, the transition must be gradual, and will depend a combination of education
and experience which would determine their attitudes.
Cost of procurement should be made affordable to users using various strategies.

The government and donors are encouraged to channel investments to provide subsidies that
would make ownership of IMT easier for rural dwellers. Accessible loans should also be pro-
vided through rural credit schemes. Group/community ownership, hire-and-own systems are
also credible means of making procurement easier. Income-generation activities or employ-
ment creation through IMTs should also be encouraged.
Again, while taxes for the import of IMTs like bicycle should be reduced, local capacity for
manufacture and/or maintenance of IMT should be encouraged because small manufacturers
from the rural areas know the needs of the community. Indigenous or grassroots knowledge
of people can be developed assist them to develop innovations. Then the quality will improve
and the cost ofthe product goes down.
CONCLUSION
The role of rural transportation in providing accessibility cannot be overemphasized. A shift of
focus from unprofitable means of rural transport is desirable because it reduces waste and the
drudgery involved in transporting freight via human porterage. It also enhances accessibility
and transport equity by ensuring that the rural demography have access to what is needed for
transportation without unnecessary competition with urban areas.
IMTs pose significant benefits which include increased agricultural productivity and reduced
cost of transportation, improvement in health of rural dwellers and reduced rate of deaths.
Therefore, the government should ensure availability of IMTs to rural dwellers, positive atti-

tude of potential users should be encouraged through proper sensitization, cost of procurement
should be made affordable to users using various strategies. These can be achieved through
strategic formulation of policies to enhance the use of IMTs in rural Nigeria
R E F E R E N C E S
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9
Impact of Management Decision on Vehicle Operating
Costs in Haulage Companies in Lagos, Nigeria
Sonde, D.R. / Somuyiwa, A.O.

Dept. of Transport Management, Ladoke Akintola University of Tech., Ogbomoso
Corresponding author: sondedimeji5@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Cost incurred by transport operators determines the freight charge on goods and also determines its sur-
vival as a result of free entry. This research investigates the impact of management decision on vehicle
operating costs as well as vehicular cost elements. The study adopted multistage sampling that include;
Judgmental sampling that was used in the selection of 12 registered haulage companies in Southwestern
Nigeria. Thereafter, stratified sampling was used to divide the operators under NARTO into flatbed trailer,
fuel tanker and specialized trailer, and random sampling technique was used to administer questionnaire
(which covered management decision, environmental factor, and government policy among others) to indi-
viduals that formed the sample size. This goes to confirm that management had impact on cost of provision
of services, since the combination of vehicular cost element lies within the purview of management decision.
It is therefore recommended that quality service should be rendered as it will determine customer patronage
and management should involve staff in the decision making in order to achieve desired results.
Keyword: vehicle operating cost, management decision and quality of services
INTRODUCTION
R
oad transportation mode has played a huge role in distributing goods to the public in
a timely, efficient and effective way. One of the components that affect the cost of an
item is the cost of transportation. Pricing has been a major challenge in haulage trans-
port industry, since price has to be determined by the forces of demand and supply or market
forces. Costing has been the basis for price determination by transport haulage providers and
cost helps transport managers to take proper decisions, such as route to take, fleet size, type of
maintenance and so on (Bokor, 2009).
Haulage freight is the movement of goods from one region to another, which might be rail or
road. It is not because of flexibility of road freight transport mode (door-to-door) service but
the death of rail transport in Nigeria makes road mode of transport predominantly in use.
impact of management decision on vehicle operating costs in haulage companies in lagos, nigeria
| sonde, d.r / somuyiwa, a.o.
Hotelling (1938) observes that there is currently no price control for haulage transport service
and no restrictions on entry other than compliance with basic health and safety regulations.
This free entry makes it easy for an individual to join haulage business or to increase their fleet
without any problem which makes it more competitive, since the cost of entry is low.
Haulage companies in Nigeria have incurred costs that depend upon a number of factors which
include road condition, government policy, weather, types of commodities hauled, mileage of
hauls, and the types of equipment used, empty running and the proportion of truck load (TL)
or less than truck load (LTL). Daniels (1974) divides vehicle operating cost into two, running
cost or variable cost (include diesel consumption, engine oil consumption cost, maintenance
cost) and standing or fixed cost (license, insurance, interest charges).
Road freight transport operating cost is a major challenge to transport operators, despite its
role in developing economies. The full responsibility in calculating vehicle operating costs had
solely rested on transport operators, since third-party service was eliminated (Karen & Lance,
2007). Lack of restriction on entry for haulage operators in developing countries induce com-
petition. Despite this, it is inevitable for haulage operators to evaluate all vehicle operating
costs components and factors in order for haulage operators to remain in the business. Littlel
(2008) says that transportation route is part of distinct development pattern or road network
and mostly described by regular street patterns as an indispensable factor of human existence,
development and civilization. The route network coupled with increased transport investment
result in changed levels of accessibility reflected through cost benefit analysis, savings in travel
time, and other benefits.
Costs incurred by transport operators determined the freight charge on goods and also de-
termined its survival in transport industry due to free entry (Creightney, 1993). Competition
causes most operators to reduce their operating costs in the short-run.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Movable goods and products should provide timely and regional effectiveness to promote val-
ue-added under the least-cost principle through transport system. Transport influences pro-
duction and sales, as it affects the outcome of logistics activities. Transportation cost in the lo-
gistics system could be regarded as a restriction of the objective market. Cost of transportation
differs within different industries.
Truck operating cost issues is a major challenge which every haulage company seeks to min-
imize. Daniels, (1974) sees speed as the most important factor in fuel consumption and finds
maintenance costs rise with increasing speed and conclude that if fuel consumption and main-
tenance cost change, operating cost will change as well.
Vehicle operating cost is defined as the cost of all the factors associated with the operation of
the vehicle under normal conditions for a particular journey (Rahman, 2012). The profitability
of transport companies is determined by the level of its operating costs, therefore, the operat-
ing efficiency is a factor of profitability.
Vehicle carrying capacity is another factor impacting fuel consumption, which also influenc-

es vehicle operating costs. Watanatada et al. (1987) group the variables into truck characteris-
tics (vehicle weight, engine power, maintenance), local factors (speed limit, fuel price, drivers
cost, drivers attitude), and road characteristics (condition of road, road width). Operating cost
is considered to be a function of road conditions and thus is policy-sensitive. Barnes (2003) cal-
culates operating cost for commercial trucks based on fuel, repair, maintenance, tires and de-
preciation costs.
Despite many characteristics that segment the transport industry into a sub-industry, yet truck-
ing is still seen as a competitive homogeneous industry. The trucking industry is classified
as either intracity (local carrier) or intercity (line haul) with large differences between these
two segments. Local carriers include intracity delivery services such as dump trucks, garbage
trucks, and other services (Titus, 1996). Intercity trucking is classified between less-than-truck-
load (trucks hauling less than 10,000 pounds) and the truckload sectors. Many small truck load
(TL) firms operate in the motor carrier industry. An estimated 590,000 trucking companies op-
erate in the United States (Coyle, Bardi, & Novak, 1994). Of the regulated carriers in the truck-
ing industry, it is estimated that more than 95 percent are companies with less than $1million
in gross revenue (Coyle, et al., 1994). Many of these smaller companies are owner/operators or
small firms with a few trucks.
The most fundamental elements in trucking are the understanding and control of its costs. Un-
derstanding vehicle operating costs provides possibilities of efficiency gains that may lead to
increase in profit or decrease costs (Casavant, 1993). Efficiency gains may increase turnover
and establish a negative relationship between the shipper or carrier and the owner/operator.
Increasing turnover may provide poor customer service through poor quality deliveries. Qual-
ity deliveries are not on-time deliveries with high product damage.
The size of operating costs depends on so many factors, such as the type of transport service
provided, as well as load type, weight and other characteristics. In addition to that, govern-
ment regulations or restrictions and many other factors partially influence these costs. How-
ever, the size of a trucking business (number of truckloads and kilometers per truckload),
trucking business strategy (compensations for late deliveries) and type of trucking compa-
nies (owner or operator) play a role in operating costs as well. Levinson, Corbett and Hashami
(2005) use these factors to estimate the operating costs of commercial vehicles and the study
unravels that the average and marginal costs also vary according to the type of goods trans-
ported. For instance, transport of combined goods incurs much lower operating costs than one
of agricultural produce (Levinson et al., 2005).
According to Burhamtoro (2013), the achievement of the transportation system can be deter-
mined based on four things—travel time reliability, energy and fuel efficiency, environmental
impact and safety. Efficiency of energy and fuel is always stated as part of vehicle operating
costs (Sugiyanto, 2012). Variables influencing fuel consumption can be categorized into: Un-
controllable factors, factors affected by a company’s operational decisions and, factors directly
or indirectly influenced by the driver depending on his skills, concentration and patience, etc.
Among the unmanageable factors that influence fuel consumption are state of traffic situa-
tion on the roads, which may lead to stop-start driving, policies affecting route restrictions

and traffic flow (maximum weights, lengths, speeds, constructions) and road characteristics
(pavement quality and width) (Levinson et al., 2005). When a company makes a decision se-
lecting the most appropriate truck for the business, the choices depend not only on the type
of transport but on the owner’s preferences as well. Sivak and Schoettle (2012) note that fuel
consumption and working life of trucks largely depend on timely and regular maintenance.
This prolongs the life of trucks and improves their functioning and fuel economy as a conse-
quence. An unsafe and uneconomical driving habit can cause upsurge in running costs (fuel,
repairs, maintenance, tires), increase downtime due to repair work and maintenance, miti-
gate positive environmental impacts, and worsen road safety. Therefore, fuel costs might be
increased by poor driving style of drivers, and through bad maintenance practices. Similarly,
poorly-maintained buses that are not properly tuned and adjusted tend to be dirty, unsafe and
consume high fuel than well maintained vehicles (UNEP 2009). Adeyewa, Balogun and Mor-
akinyo (2011), opine that psychological factors, such as age, years of experience, educational
and marital status etc., had different effects on driving attitude and reveals that different driv-
ers would achieve different consumption of diesel for a particular journey.
In most developing countries vehicle maintenance culture is really poor; therefore, less atten-
tion is given to maintenance due to insufficient/ minimal knowledge about the concept (Obam-
wonyi, 2009). Developing countries culture has a significant influence maintenance perception
and practice, which according to the world of maintenance embraces culture (i.e. symbiosis
of inherited ideas, skills and knowledge etc.), some appear quite simple and others compli-
cated. Bamgboye (2006) proffers that proper functioning of equipment is a result of effective
maintenance so as to continue fulfilling the purpose it was designed for when required. Re-
pairs and maintenance constitute a large portion of the costs involved in operating a vehicle.
Fleet replacement options are most affected by the age of a vehicle and it should be taken into
consideration in truck operating costs. Maintenance costs include any routine costs that help
to prevent breakdowns and failures (such as oil changes, services and inspections and wheel
rotations).
Deardeen, Lilien and Yoon (1999) reveal that firms try to attract new customers, satisfy and re-
tain them by assuring timely delivery, which in turn depends on adequate production capacity
with a minimum of disturbances and with high quality products. In line to that, external fac-
tors such as weather, crashes, road condition, and the frequency of usage have to be taken into
consideration in calculating the maintenance cost of trucks. It is an important factor in oper-
ating costs due to poor quality roads that can possibly reduce tire life, thereby improving fuel
consumption and also increase maintenance costs.
Olaogbebikan, Ikpechukwu, Akinsulire and Enosko (2013) find that traffic congestion caus-
ative factors are as follows: over-dependence on small occupancy vehicles, narrow road, on-
street parking, loading and offloading of goods and passengers along the road, on-street trad-
ing, and inability of traffic management agencies to implement right traffic control measure.
Osoba (2012) also shows that parking situation and traffic management which leads to increase
in travel time and traffic congestion are as a result of inadequate parking space availability,
traffic signs/signals, uncultured road users and development of illegal stalls at car parks. In-
creasing levels of congestion lead to longer travel times, vehicle operating costs, lower average

speeds, and increased vehicle speed variability and these affect engine/motor operating loads
and operating duration, which in turn affect fuel efficiency. Traffic congestion affects vehicle
fuel consumption through lower average travel speed and increased vehicle speed variability
(accelerations and decelerations). These influence engine motor operating loads and operating
duration, which in turn impact fuel consumption per mile of travel (Nam & Giannelli, 2005).
Fancher, Mathew, Campbell, Blower and Winkler (1989) report that the number of fatal truck
crashes related to rearward amplification per kilometer travelled significantly increased as
rearward amplification increased. This reveals that, for other things been constant, significant
decrease in gross vehicle weight (GVW) would decrease the chances of the vehicle being in-
volved in a fatal rearward amplification crash. But fatal involvement rates in rollover and
ramp-related crashes also increased with increased GVWs. Since the braking system of any
truck is designed for the maximum allowable weight indicated on the vehicle documents. In-
creased truck axle load would lead to greater speed reductions on upgrades and greater dif-
ficulties for trucks to merge, weave and change lanes on freeways, without modifications of
engines and drivetrain. Other things being equal, increased grossweight may also increase the
chances of brake overheating on long, steep downhill runs. Any one of these situations can
have adverse traffic (delays and congestion) and accident implications (Transportation Re-
search Board, 1990). The breaking capacity not only depends on the brakes themselves, but
also on tire and suspension performances designed for the maximum allowable weight of the
truck. Any weight in excess reduces braking capacity and may even lead to brake failure (Ja-
cob & La Beaumelle, 2010).
Government policy on restricting heavy road freight transport in cities has been one of the
welcome measures in developing countries due to road-carrying capacity. Heavy road freight
transports are perceived as slow-moving and hindering the free-flow movement of traffic, par-
ticularly during peak hours (Castro & Kuse, 2005). To abide by the restrictions without reduc-
ing their payload, industries that rely on utilizing highway networks to transport goods may
need to increase the number of trips along the stricter routes or to follow alternate, potential-
ly longer routes. Both solutions generate additional costs for haulers (Goodings, Van Deusen,
Kestler & O’Connor, 2000).
Road pricing consists in charging users a fee, either for travelling in or entering congested
roadways or areas. Only users who are prepared to pay will be able to take to the road, with
all others forced to either use alternative modes of transport or undertake the car journey in
periods when there is no charge. One interesting feature is that, in principle, the use of public
roads is regulated by a market instrument and not by government-imposed regulations. The
optimum charge is equal to the additional costs that each vehicle in the flow imposes on oth-
er vehicles. Charges can be set according to the distance travelled, time spent in the charging
area, or may be levied simply for entering the area.
The empty kilometers are a critical performance indicator for the internal efficiency of the
transportation function. An empty kilometer is any driven kilometer when the truck is com-
pletely empty. In short, the reduction of the empty kilometer is of high importance for trans-
portation companies and is directly related to profitability. On the other hand, for the distri-

bution companies, the empty kilometers appear not to be that significant as the overall scale of
the company and the average distance between two stops (Donselaar, Kokke & Allessie, 1998).
Many factors affect vehicle running costs, including, back-haul possibilities, empty running and
idle time, restrictions on working hours, road conditions such as deteriorated pavement and
traffic congestion, law enforcement procedures along the road and at border posts, standard
of trucks, fuel consumption, labour prices, vehicles and spare parts, availability of freight-for-
warding services, policies and other quality management services. When transporters cannot
arrange for a return shipment, the empty truck move doesn’t generate revenue but accumu-
lates costs in labor, equipment wear, and fuel.
Fare structure, therefore, is the system set up to determine how much is to be paid by various
passengers of a transit vehicle at any given time (Wikipedia, 2013). In other words, fare struc-
ture refers to the categorization of fares charged by the operator of a transport service. Fare
structure has been classified in a variety of ways. For instance, fare structure has been classified
based on a relationship between the amount of fare and distance traveled. According to this
criterion, fare structures are flat or differentiated. The differentiated fare can be further subdi-
vided into the zonal fare, distance-based fare, sectional fare, and time-based fare (Feng-Ming,
2012). On the other hand, other scholars classify fare into five, namely: kilometer/mile-gradu-
ated fare, kilometer with taper fare, flat fare, zonal fare and time-dependent fare (Iles, 2005).
METHODOLOGY
Study area
Lagos is one of the African megacities. It is located in Southwestern Nigeria on the west coast
of Africa, within latitudes 6°23’N and 6°41’N and longitudes 2°42’E and 4°00’E. Lagos State is
flanked to the north and east by Ogun State, in the west by the Republic of Benin and to the
south by the Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Guinea. The total land mass of the state is about 3,475.1
km2, which is just about 0.4% of the total land area of Nigeria. It is the physically smallest but
second most populated state in the country with an estimated population of about 9 million
inhabitants which is about 6.5% of the total population of Nigeria (Census, 2006). The impetus
behind massive industrialization in Lagos is not far-fetched. Lagos seaport not only supports
the Southwest’s economy but Nigeria’s economy as a whole and most of the imported and ex-
ported goods in and out of the Southwest take place in Lagos state.
Population
There are 1,836 haulage services in Lagos but 41 were registered as haulage companies (Nige-
ria Haulage Business list, 2017). The population obtained from registered haulage companies
in Lagos state is 2,345.
Sampling techniques
In this study, the multi-stage sampling technique was adopted, whereby registered haulage
companies were stratified into large, medium and small and eight haulage companies were
judgmental selected across categories of different fleet size.

Sample size determination

The sample size is determined by using Slovin‘s formula, given as follows:
Where: N = Population
e = Desired margin of error (percentage allowance for non-precision because of the use of the sample instead
of the population); n = The sample size.
METHOD OF COLLECTION AND DATA ANALYSIS

Data collection methods considered for this study include participatory observation and a
well-structured questionnaire. In this study, mixtures of descriptive and quantitative tech-
niques were used. The descriptive analysis was also used to present demographical data and
quantitative or inferential techniques. The analytical techniques employed were basically
three: descriptive analysis, multiple regressions, and panel data.
Multiple regression analysis

In this study, the vehicle operating costs in the study area was expressed along a set of vehi-
cle components (fuel, maintenance, and repair), road factors and economic factors. This was to
determine the relationship between the combined explanatory variables and truck operating
costs. The truck operating cost, in this case, is the dependent variable (Y) and vehicle compo-
nents, road condition, government policy and economic factors are the independent variables,
represented by X1, X2, X3, X4,..., Xn.
The general form for the model in the work is given as:
VOC = f (X1….Xn)…
Where: VOC = dependent variable; f = a function to be specified; X = a vector of explanatory variables of vehi-
cle operating costs that pertain to road haulage operation.
In a specific form,
VOC = a + b1X1 + b2X2 + b3X3 +………, + bnXn + e Eq 3

a = constant
x1, x2, x3,…,…,x,…,xn are independent variables
X1: Fuel
X2: Maintenance and repair
X3: Remuneration
X4: Tracking
X5: Technological change
X6: Restriction on the road

X7: Customer value

X8: Quality services
X9: Empty running
X10: Management decision
X11: Accident-free allowance
X12: Cargo Insurance

This work presents the results based on the study objective and discusses its interpretation.
Out of 341 questionnaires administered to management and drivers of haulage operators in
Lagos state, 381 (88.3%) were returned and analyzed.
Management decision has no impact on vehicle operating costs.

Table 4.9, presents the coefficient of determination R2 to be = 73%. This is the extent of variance
independent variable that was explained by the independent variables. But because of mul-
ticollinearity that existed, when the additional variable(s) were added reduced the adjusted
R-square to 73%. Since the P-value (0.000) in the ANOVA table is less than 0.05, there is a sta-
tistically significant relationship between the variable at 95.0% confidence level. This implies
that the null-hypothesis is rejected, meaning that there is a statistically significant relationship
between management decision and vehicle operating costs among haulage operators.
Table 4.9: Model summaryb

Model R R-square Adjusted Std. error of
R-square estimate
1 .853a .728 .723 .45455
ANOVAb
1 Regression 206.685 7 29.526 112.266 .000a
Residual 77.068 293 .263
Total 283.753 300
a. Predictors: (Constant), Management decision. Source: Author’s analysis (2019)
Mileage has no significant effect on vehicle operating cost.

Hausman test on the effect of fuel cost, maintenance cost, remuneration, trip allowance, and
journey management officers on mileage
To decide between fixed or random effects, the Hausman test was conducted where the null
hypothesis is that the preferred model is random effects vs. the alternative fixed effects (Green,
2008). It basically tests whether the unique errors (ui) are correlated with the regressors, the
null hypothesis is they are not. If Chi2< 0 is less than 0.05 (i.e. significant) use fixed effects,
therefore the null hypothesis is rejected, the alternative hypothesis is accepted. This indicates
that the variation in VOC among haulage operators was due to management decision of each
haulage company but not the cost attribute to each cost drivers.

Table 4: Hausman test on the effect of fuel cost, maintenance cost, remuneration,
trip allowance, and journey management officers on mileage.
Dependent Independent Sqrt (diag (v-b-v-B))
Coefficient (b) Coefficient (B) (b-B) Difference
variables variables S.E
Mileage Fuelcost .0047187 .0037451 .0009736 .0000886
Maint -.0067688 -.0022073 -.0045615 .0006985
Remune .0013668 .013325 -.0119581 -
Tripall .029465 .0323028 -.0028378 -
Jourmgt .0048198 .0156437 -.0108239 -
b = consistent under Ho and Ha; B = inconsistent under Ha, efficient under Ho Test: Ho: difference in coefficients not
systematic Chi2 (3) = (b-B)’ [ (v-b-v-B)^ (-1)] (b-B) = 227.34 Chi2< 0.0000. Source: Researcher’s Computation (2019).
CONCLUSION
The variation in VOC among haulage operators was not as a result of vehicular elements them-
selves but as a result of management decision on each element trade-off.
In conclusion, to have efficient cost minimization by haulage operators all vehicular elements
(i.e. vehicle components and vehicle factors) should be considered in a holistic manner and
there should be economic reason for any trade-off. Management decision should not be seen
as fixed cost but rather semi-variable cost, since mode of remuneration and cost of provision of
service on quality of service lies within the purview of management decision.
RECOMMENDATIONS
 Remuneration package that will enhance good driving attitude should be embraced by all haulage oper-
ators such as accident-free allowance, hospital bill allowance for drivers.
 Tracking device should be embraced by haulage operators and journey management officer should be
seen as assistant driver from base. Journey management officer should be given privilege to choose those
drivers they want to work with and if possible they should be part of recruitment team to recruit driver(s).
 Driver should be compensated for the unusual delay during loading and off-loading cargoes as this will
have positive impact on driver attitude.
 There should be standing order that, driver should rest at nearby town after the stipulated driving hours
by government for a driver and this should be monitored by journey management officer. This will re-
duce the unnecessary fatigue among drivers which result in accidents.
 Preventive maintenance should be embraced by all haulage operators as it will increase customer patron-
age and reduce VOC long-term.
 Overloading should be discouraged by management and government, since its effect is not only on acci-
dent but rather damage to the road, which reduces travel time reliability.
 Seizure of overage truck should be enforceable as this will reduce the rate of truck breakdown which
cause traffic jam along the routes.
 Driver’s license of traffic offenders should be revoked for some period so as to instill discipline in them.
 Management in collaboration with law enforcement should ban diesel vendors along the routes.

 Management should carry all staff along in decision making, which will bring the best out of them.
 Drivers should be mandated to participate in workshops at least once in a year, so as to know that danger
in vehicle accident goes beyond economic loss.
 Quality of service should be rendered as it will determine the level of patronage by their respective
customers.
 Pre-assessment and post-assessment on trucks should be carried out for every trip made.
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10
Analysis of Factors Affecting Tricycle Operations in
Metropolitan Lagos
Abdul-Azeez, I.F.1 / Ajiboye, O.A.2

1
School of Transport, Lagos State University, Ojo; 2Federal Univ. of Tech., Minna
Corresponding author: ibraheem.abdul-azeez@lasu.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
This research investigates the factors affecting the performance of tricycles as a paratransit mode of trans-
port in Lagos metropolis, aiming for the designing of appropriate management techniques and policy frame-
work that would enhance their performance, so as to continue to be relevant in public transport system in
the metropolis. The research used purposive sampling technique for the selection of 250 passengers with
response rate of 85.3% and 150 operators with 84.8% response rate. The research discovered that there is
significant positive correlation between the performance and the useful age of tricycle, cost of maintenance,
weather condition, income trend and fare charged. It therefore recommended that realistic pricing and fare
policies as well as adequate and sustainable financing mechanism for tricycle operations should be put in
place. Local fabrication of tricycles should be encouraged and the mode should be incorporated into the pub-
lic transport network, bearing in mind their level of safety and carrying capacity.
Keywords: performance, tricycle, para-transit, transport
INTRODUCTION
P
ublic transport is regarded as all modes available to the public irrespective of ownership
(Hutchinson, 2000). The importance of public transport services in a successful trans-
port system is widely recognized (Murray et al., 1998). It provides mobility for those
who cannot drive their own car, helps in creating and maintaining livable communities, re-
lieves highway congestion, and assures long term sustainability in terms of resource consump-
tion and the environment (Paul, 2001). It can also provide a very efficient means of moving
large numbers of people with considerable flexibility, in order to meet demand throughout the
city (Armstrong-Wright et al., 1987).
Motorcycles (popularly called okada) are a form of public transport readily available in the
Lagos metropolis to augment the services of buses. They constitute major mobility mode es-
pecially where buses do not operate as a result of bad terrain or poor connection to motorable
analysis of factors affecting tricycle operations in metropolitan lagos
| abdul-azeez, ibraheem forson / ajiboye, o.a.
roads. Some city dwellers argue that their services are quite expensive, vulnerable to weath-
er attack, prone to accidents and most of the operators are not trained, are very reckless. But
whatever negative impression people have of “okada” the fact remains that it largely supple-
ments the existing transport services in the metropolis, acting as feeders to the major traffic col-
lecting centres. Areas where bus services are not provided would have been rendered almost
immobile but for the “okada”.
Consequent upon the general perception of people about “okada” and the worsening mobil-
ity situation in Lagos, the then-Gen. Buba Marwa administration in Lagos State introduced
the “three wheeler autoricksha” in 1998 as a simple transport mode which is less expensive
and has lower accident rate than the Motorcycle (Okada). The government’s plan for it was to
serve as alternative mode of public transport and also to provide origin-to-destination purpose
within the metropolis. It also serves as a poverty-alleviation gesture from the government by
providing employment for the youths. This qualifies its presence on the feeder roads in the
metropolis.
A lot of researches have been done on performance of public and private transport companies
in Nigeria (Aworemi, 2006); Performance assessment of public transport in Nigeria (Kotun,
1985); public transport and paratransit efficiency in developing countries (Costa & Markellos,
1997); prospects and problems of tricycle in Lagos metropolis (Emmanuel, 1998); but few re-
search works have analyzed the performance of tricycle as a means of transport. This study is
an attempt to contribute to the literature by evaluating the performance of this means of pub-
lic transport. In order to address these problems and fill the gap identified, this study was con-
ceived to address the following research questions:
i. What are the factors influencing the performance of tricycle as a mode of public
transport in the study area?
ii. To what extent have the identified variables affected the performance of tricycle in
Lagos metropolis?
iii. Are these problems militating against the operations of tricycle and commuters’
satisfaction?
TRICYCLE: CHARACTERISTICS AND OPERATIONS IN LAGOS

METROPOLIS
Tricycle operation was introduced to Lagos metropolis to salvage the worsening mobility sit-
uation. It is largely made up of “three wheeler autoricksha” produced in India and mostly
used in Asian countries. The decision to introduce this mode of transport system into Nigeria
owes to the fact of its success in most Asian countries which have city populations comparable
to that of the metropolitan Lagos. Another reason for the introduction of tricycle is to reduce
the daily transportation problems being faced by those living in interior parts of Lagos where
roads are not well constructed. The tricycle therefore supplements the service being rendered
by motorcycles by collecting commuters from the remote parts of the metropolis where buses
are not available, to the major bus collecting centres, for subsequent destination journeys.
In many areas with regular bus services operations, the presence of the tricycle has also been
established, moving parallel with buses. Almost everywhere in metropolitan Lagos the tricycle

is seen supplementing existing paratransit modes, with a carrying capacity of three passengers
and the rider (although most operators carry up to 4 passengers). The body is covered with
light metal sheets with a fairly large seat at the back to accommodate three persons. The tricy-
cle has a rear axle with an engine capacity of 145.5cc. The roof is not padded but has a fairly
thick tarpaulin to protect it from sunshine and rainfall. The average speed of the tricycle is 35
kilometers per hour while the maximum speed limit is 75km/h. The tricycle uses normal petrol
engine for propulsion, plus some quantity of engine oil, which is mixed directly with the pet-
rol in the tank. The tank capacity is 8 litres while the fuel consumption rate is about 24km per
litre. Fuel consumption is economical, with a full tank going up to a distance of 192 kilometers,
unlike many other transit and paratransit modes. The tricycle tyres are very soft and tender, a
development which restricts movement to smooth terrain. It is therefore not advisable to ply
the tricycle on rough terrain as one stands the chance of losing the tyres. The tricycle is never-
theless rugged in some ways, and moves smoothly on very smooth terrain with appreciable
speed limit.
Going by the rule of the Lagos State Ministry of Transport, the tricycle operation should be
restricted to feeder roads serving majors roads which are not plied by mass transit buses and
omnibuses. This decision was taken considering the nature of this mode of transport, the ca-
pability and the characteristics. Early in the morning, like minibuses and the transit buses, the
tricycles are seen at different bus terminals and stops queuing behind each other waiting com-
muters. There seems to be no defined route network to be plied by the tricycles. They are found
on both secondary and feeder roads.
Plate 1: 3-wheeler autoricksha (tricycle)
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The study adopted a purposive sampling technique for the selection of the operators and the
passengers. The technique was chosen because it is not feasible, practical or theoretically sensi-
ble to do random sampling in the study area. The method is very useful for the situation where
one needs to reach a targeted sample quickly and where sampling for proportionality is not the

primary concern. Questionnaire for the passengers were administered to 250 respondents in
the study areas out of which 212 (84.8% response rate) were used in the research analysis after
collation, and correction of errors of omission and non-response.
In the case of operators, 150 respondents were purposively selected out of which 128 (85.3%
response rate) were used in the research analysis. In this approach, passengers were identified
and interviewed at the bus stops of the tricycles, which served as the sampling frame. Ques-
tionnaire and interview schedules were administered to only those passengers who consent-
ed. To evaluate the factors affecting the performance of tricycles in Lagos State, a model was
identified as relevant. The model considered the factors affecting the performance of tricycles,
measured in terms of profitability. Mathematically, it expressed as
P0 = f (Xj,)………………………….. (1)
Where: j=1, 2, 3, . . . . . ,9 for tricycle operation; P0 = Performance (measured in terms of profitability); X1= use-
ful of age of tricycle (years); X2 = cost of maintenance; X3 = government regulation on transport
inputs (Dummy: Yes=1, Otherwise=0); X4 = weather condition (Dummy: Good=1, Otherwise=0)
; X5 = state of the roads (Dummy: Good = 1, Otherwise=0) ; X6 = income trend; X7 = effect of oth-
er paratransit (Dummy: Yes=1, Otherwise=0);X8 = operator’s experience (Dummy: Yes=1, Other-
wise=0) ; X9 = fare charged
Data collected were cleaned, coded and analyzed with both descriptive and inferential statis-
tics using SPSS v.20. Among the descriptive statistical techniques used are percentages, mean
and standard deviation. Parametric statistical tool such as correlation analysis, multiple regres-
sion analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to test the strength of association
and also relationship between the dependent and independent variables.

The distribution of years of involvement in the operation of tricycles in the study area reveals
that majority of the operators (53.1%) were within the year range of 5-8 years (Table 1). The re-
maining 5.5%, 12.5%, 16.4%, 3.9% and 8.6% of the operators were found to belong to age rang-
es of less than 1, 1-2, 3-4, 9-10 and above 10 years respectively.
Table 1: Years of involvement of tricycle operators

Years No of respondents %
Less than 1 07 5.5
1-2 16 12.5
3-4 21 16.4
5-6 46 35.9
7-8 22 17.2
9-10 05 3.9
Above 10 11 8.6
Total 128 100
Source: Field survey, 2018.
Table 2 shows that 91.4% of tricycle operators repaired/maintained their vehicles using road-
side mechanics, the remaining 8.6% made use of some designated centres by the Ministry of
Transport. They abandon some as scraps depending on the extent of damage.

Table 2: Distribution of mode of tricycle maintenance

Mode of maintenance No of respondents %
Road side mechanic 117 91.4
Designated auto shop 10 7.8
Irreparable 01 0.8
Total 128 100
Source: Field survey, 2018.
The mode of record keeping and financing of transport enterprises tends to influence the per-
formance of tricycle operation and determine the sources which the transporters approach for
investible funds. Table 3 reveals that 92.2% of tricycle operators in the study area have no re-
cord as far as income/expenditure and sales /purchase accounts are concerned. This reveals
that small-scale transport operators are often reluctant to deal with the formal financial ar-
rangements such as banks. About 7.8% of tricycle operators in the study area keep records in
form of asset register, sales/purchase and income/expenditure records respectively.
Table 3: Distribution on mode of record keeping and financing by tricycle

operators
Record keeping No of respondents %
Have record 10 7.8
Have no record 118 92.2
Total 128 100
Source: Field Survey, 2018.
The sources of capital for tricycle are shown in Table 4. The table shows that just about one-
third (35.9%) of the operators got their tricycle through hire-purchase arrangement as the cost
of acquisition is quite prohibitive. Bank loan (24%) is another source that operators explore for
the acquisition of tricycles, especially microfinance banks, due to their grassroots presence and
flexible loan repayment method. Government also serves as source of acquisition of tricycle
through its poverty alleviation programs. Some of those schemes are Lagos State Rural Trans-
port Initiative and National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP). This has 16.4% share
from the respondents. Cooperative/credit societies and personal savings/relatives have 14.1%
and 9.4% respectively.
Table 4: Sources of initial capital for tricycle operators

Sources No of respondents %
Bank loan 31 24.2
Personal savings/relatives 12 9.4
Cooperative/credit societies 18 14.1
Government 21 16.4
Hire purchase 46 35.9
Total 128 100
Performance evaluation of tricycle operations

The performance of tricycle operations was measured through the computation of asset and
profitability. This implies that the performance of tricycles can be measured by the value of

fixed assets, working capital and other assets such as inventory of goods and the amount of
savings in the bank. Capital and asset level of a transport firm is an important indicator of
performance because if the asset and capital fall short of the liabilities when the two are com-
pared, then the firm is insolvent, and can no longer continue in business. The amount of the
difference between the capital and the liabilities reveals the strength and standing of the firm
and confirms its economic performance. As indicated in Table 5, majority of the tricycle oper-
ators (68%) surveyed started business with a capital base of between less than N300,000 and
N500,000. However, as of the time of this study, about 65% of tricycle operators had a capital
base above N500,000.
The average turnover and profit of the operators are also shown on Table 5. For tricycle opera-
tors in the study area, 50% of them were initially in the turnover level of between N100,000 and
N300,000 as stated in the questionnaire. However, at the period of data collection, only about
28% of them remained at that level. This implies that 22% of the operators had improvements
on their turnover. From Table 5, 55% of operators initially operated below N100,000 profit level
per annum but as of the time of this study, only 29% of them remained at this level. This means
that about 21% of them had moved from a level below N100,000. Also about 65% of operators
in the study area reported a profit levels of above N100,000, a significant profit increase. The
levels of performance are due to increase in the level of patronage of the service of tricycle in
the study area and the flexibility of service experienced among the passengers.
Table 5: distribution of assets, turnover and profit of tricycle operators

Parameters Earlier Present*
No of % No of %
respondents respondents
(i)Value of assets employed (N)
Less than 300,000 24 18.75 19 14.84
400,000 – 500,000 63 49.21 24 18.75
500,001 – 600,000 18 14.06 47 36.72
Above 600,000 23 17.97 38 29.69
Total 128 100 128 100
(ii)Annual turnover
Below 100,000 36 28.13 21 16.41
100,000 – 300,000 27 21.09 16 12.5
300,001 – 500,000 21 16.41 40 31.25
500,001 – 700,000 14 10.94 28 21.88
700,001 – 900,000 13 10.16 13 10.16
Above 900,000 17 13.28 10 7.81
Total 128 100 128 100
(iii)Annual profit (N)
10,000 – 50,000 44 34.38 20 15.63
50,001 – 100,000 27 21.09 18 14.06
100,001 – 150,000 24 18.75 43 33.59
150,001 – 200,000 19 14.84 32 25.00
Above 200,000 14 10.94 15 11.72
Total 128 100 128 100
*Present means “as at time of data collection.” Source: Field Survey, 2018.

Analysis of trip characteristics of commuters of tricycles

Each trip has two trip ends—origin and destination. While the origin of most trips is usually
the home, destinations are diverse, depending on trip purpose (Aworemi & Ajiboye, 2005). Ta-
ble 6 shows that the study identifies four major trip purposes: work trip, trip to school, shop-
ping trip, and trip for social/recreational activities. Analysis of home-generated trips reveal
that 66.98% were work-related, 16.51% school trips, and 7.55% shopping trips, while the re-
maining 8.96% were trips for social/recreational activities. At the end of such activities, the end
of most trips is the home.
Travel time was investigated during off-peak and peak periods. The travel time of the bulk of
the respondents (about 61.79%) was under 20 minutes during off-peak periods (Table 6), while
the remaining 38.21% travelled for over 20 minutes. During peak periods however, about 72%
of the respondents’ travel time was above 20 minutes for the same distance (Table 6). For most
commuters, peak-period travel time was 52% higher than the off-peak travel time for the same
distance. The differences in the travel time for the same distance at off-peak and peak periods
were due to the problem of traffic congestion, which has long been a major concern of com-
muters and the government in Lagos. Such time losses reduce the productivity of workers, be-
cause the time that could have been gainfully employed in their places of work was wasted on
the roads. Much time was also wasted by the commuters while waiting for vehicles at the bus
stations. For instance, 53.3% of the commuters often waited for up to 5 minutes, 34.91% for 5-20
minutes, 7.55% for 21-35 minutes while the remaining 4.25% often waited for over 50 minutes
before getting a vehicle to board (Table 6). Such excessive waiting time indicates shortage of
transport facilities. This situation is worrisome since it further reduces time available for pro-
ductive activity.
Table 6: Trip characteristics of commuters in the study area

No Variable Parameter Actual figure Relative frequency
(%)
(i) Trip purpose Work trip 142 66.98
Trip to school 35 16.51
Shopping trip 16 7.55
Social/recreation trip 19 8.96
Total 212 100
(ii) Distance Up to 1km 52 24.53
traveled 1-3km 88 41.51
4-6km 35 16.51
7-9km 25 11.79
More than 9km 12 5.66
Total 212 100

No Variable Parameter Actual figure Relative frequency

(%)
Travel time at
(iii) off-peak peri- Less than 5mins 31 14.62
od of traffic 6-10mins 29 13.68
11-15mins 79 37.26
16-20mins 23 10.85
21-25mins 08 3.77
26-30mins 14 6.60
31-35mins 09 4.25
36-40mins 09 4.25
41-45mins 06 2.83
More than 46mins 04 1.89
Total 212 100
(iv) Travel time at
peak period of Less than 10mins 27 12.74
traffic 11-20mins 31 14.62
21-30mins 55 25.94
31-40mins 42 19.81
41-50mins 13 6.13
51-60mins 32 15.09
More than 60mins 12 5.66
Total 212 100
(v) Waiting time
Up to 5mins 113 53.30
5-20mins 74 34.91
21-35mins 16 7.55
36-50mins 09 4.25
Over 50mins - -
Total 212 100
Source: Field Survey, 2018
Commuters’ evaluation of quality of service of tricycle mode

Passengers were asked to indicate the most important factor in their tricycle modal choice de-
cision. The predetermined factors in terms of quality of service attributes were cheap transport
fare, availability, safety, comfort and reliability. Reliability implies the certainty that a mode
would take its passengers to their destination without breaking down on the way. The ranking
in terms of relative frequency of responses for tricycle services is as follows: cheap transport
fare (32.55%), availability (22.64%), reliability (20.75%) safety, (15.09%) and comfort (8.96%) as
shown in Table 7. The result shows that cheap fares, reliability and availability were the most
important qualities of service attributes treasured by majority of commuters. The ability of a
mode to combine these important attributes enhances its patronage. On the other hand, com-
fort and safety appear to be ‘luxuries’, which are currently insignificant determinants of com-
muters’ modal choice decision. This, however, should not be interpreted to mean that these
attributes are not important. Rather, it is the result of the current transport situation in Lagos,
which forces commuters to accept any mode that comes their way, given the acute shortage of
transport facilities. The importance of low fares in this analysis can be attributed to two princi-
pal factors. The first is the rapidly rising transport fare in Nigeria due to the increase in price of

petroleum products. The second is the earlier findings (Aworemi, 2006) that cost of transport
constitutes a significant proportion of commuters’ monthly income. In light of the compet-
ing demands of other essentials of life, commuters cannot but critically monitor their monthly
transport budgets.
Table 7: Evaluation of quality of service attributes provided by tricycles

Determinant factor No of respondents Relative frequency (%)
Cheap transport fare 69 32.55
Availability 48 22.64
Reliability 44 20.75
Safety 32 15.09
Comfort 19 8.96
Total 212 100
The influence of some selected variables on the performance of tricycles in the

study area
The statistical analysis and significance of the influence of some variables on the performance
of tricycles in the study area are as shown in Appendices I and II.
Results of the correlation analysis

The matrix (Appendix I) shows the relationship between the dependent variable (the profit-
ability, Y) and each independent variable as well as the correlation among the independent
variables. The correlation between the dependent variable (Y) and each of the independent
variables shows a significant (P< 0.05) positive correlation between the performance (Y) and
the age of the tricycle (X1), cost of maintenance (X2), weather condition (X4), income trends (X6),
and fare charged (X9).This implies that as these variables X1, X2, X4, X6, X9 increase, the perfor-
mance of the tricycle operations also increases (see appendix I).
From the table, it can be observed that the cost of maintenance (X2), the weather condition (X4),
the income trend (X6), and fare charged (X9) have weak positive relationships with the perfor-
mance of the tricycle in the study area, while age of the tricycle (X1) exhibits a fairly strong re-
lationship. However, the state of the roads (X5) and the effect of other paratransit (X7) were in-
versely related to the performance of the companies. This means that the condition of roads
and the presence of other paratransit modes reduced performance of tricycles in the study area.
The age of the tricycles (X1) has a very strong, positive and significant relationship (r=0.812, P<
0.01) with the income trend (X6) of the tricycle. Similarly, the age of the tricycle (X1) has a fairly
strong positive and significant relationship with government regulations on transport inputs
(X3), and cost of maintenance (X2).
The cost of maintenance (X2) had strong, positive and significant relationship with the income
trend (X6). Government regulations on transport inputs (X3) had weak, positive and significant
relationship with the fare charged (X9). Negative and significant relationship exists between
the income trend (X6), state of the road (X5) and effect of other paratransit modes (X7).

Regression results of the factors affecting tricycle operation in Lagos

The result of the regression analysis is as shown in appendix II. The functional forms that were
considered before choosing the lead equation were linear and semi-log functions. The essence
of the multiple regression was to determine how the explanatory variables affect the depen-
dent variable (performance). From the two functional forms fitted to the data, the linear func-
tion was chosen as the lead equation. This was based on the appropriateness of the signs on
the regression coefficient as specified by a priori expectation, the value of the coefficient of mul-
tiple determination R2, the number of statistically significant variables—‘t’ and F-values—and
Durbin Watson d* tests.
The linear regression result obtained is as follows:
P = -19.274 + 3.631X1 - 2.142X2 – 2.615X3 - 0.912X4 - 2.172X5 +2.341X6 - 0.767X7

(2.30)* (1.51)** (1.67)* (1.62) (0.82)* (2.12)** (1.45)*
+ 1.513X8 + 0.924X9 …. …………………………………….. (3)
(0.11) (1.76)
t -ratio values are in parenthesis; ** Significant at 5% level; * Significant at 10% level
The coefficient of multiple determination (R2) of 0.798 implies that 79.8% of the total variation
in the performance of the tricycle operation explained by the explanatory variables. The re-
maining 20.2% not explained could be attributed to the stochastic variation.
The t-value of the coefficients X1, X2, X3, X5, X6 and X7 were all statistically significant at both 5%
and 10% levels. This implies that the useful age of tricycle (X1), cost of maintenance (X2), gov-
ernment regulation on transport inputs (X3) such as spare parts and petroleum products, state
of the roads (X5), income trend (X6) and effect of other paratransit (X7) contributed significantly
to the variation in the level of performance of private transport companies (see appendix II).
The positive regression coefficients of X1 and X6 indicate that increasing useful life age of a tri-
cycle and income trend will have a corresponding increasing effect on the performance of tri-
cycle operation. The negative regression coefficients of X2, X3, X5 and X7 indicate that every mea-
sure of increase in government regulations on inputs such as prices of petroleum products,
importation of auto-spare parts, increasing cost of maintenance, increasing poor state of roads
and improved other paratransit mode will have decreasing effects on the performance in the
study area. The useful age of the tricycle (X1) has a coefficient of 3.631 (β1=1.162). This result
shows that if useful age increases by a unit, the performance of the transport companies in-
creases by N3.631. This value, significant at 10% level, implies that the useful age of the tricycle
possessed by the operators contributed positively and significantly to the performance of the
tricycle businesses. Therefore, the useful age of a tricycle is of vital importance to performance
of tricycle business in the study area. This conforms to the earlier findings of Aworemi (2006)
where it is ascertained that the useful age of vehicles has significant effects on profit maximi-
zation of public and private transport companies in Southwestern Nigeria. The income trend
of the tricycle has a coefficient of 2.341 ((β6 = 2.341) which means that for every increment in in-
come of the tricycle business, there will be increase of N2.341 in performance. The implication
is that income generation is a cardinal objective of any business outfit; the more the income,

the higher the performance of the outfit: This corroborates the findings of Demelash (2007) in
Addis Ababa where it was discovered that income and revenue of Anbessa public transport is
a significant survival strategy of that transport corporation.
The cost of maintenance (X2) is an important variable determining the performance of any
transport outfit and is expected to contribute significantly to the performance of tricycle busi-
ness. However, this variable has a coefficient of -2.142, which means that for every measure of
increase in the cost of maintenance, there is a decrease of N2.142 in performance. This value
(β2= -2.142) is significant at 5% level meaning that the cost of maintenance contributes nega-
tively and significantly to performance. However, government regulations on inputs such as
pump price of petrol, importation of vehicles and spare parts had a coefficient of -2.615 (β3 =
-2.615), which means for every government regulation in the study area, causes a decrease of
N2.615 in performance of tricycle operators. This value (β3= -2.615) is significant at 10% level,
which implies that various government regulations relating to transportation inputs such as
pump price of petroleum products and restriction on the importation of tricycle spare parts
contributed negatively and significantly to the profitability of the tricycle business in Lagos
state
Furthermore, the state of the roads (X5) has a coefficient of -2.172 (β7= -2.172) which is signifi-
cant at 10%; thus, the operators’ performance decreases by N2.172 with one unit of increment
in the bad state of the road. The explanation for this result is that the state of roads have ad-
verse effects on the performance of transport operations. Some of the tricycle operators inter-
viewed confirmed the poor state of the roads in the area. Further complaints include increase
in the rate of the tricycle breakdown. This corroborates the findings of Ajiboye (1994) that the
poor state of the road had significant effects on the accessibility and output of kolanut farmers
in Ijebu North LGA of Ogun State, Nigeria. Its effects on the performance of tricycle business
in the study area cannot be overemphasized.
The effect of other paratransit modes (X7) such as okada has a coefficient of (-0.767) which im-
plies that for every increase in other paratransit modes, there is a decrease of N0.767 in per-
formance of tricycle business in the study area. This variable is significant at 10% level. The
introduction of substitutes such as commercial motorcycles to the business whereby the com-
muters are taken to their doorstep has greatly affected the patronage of tricycle services in the
study area. In addition, the commercial motorcycle (okada) operations were not affected by
the traffic congestion; thus many passengers prefer okada to tricycle services. This is support-
ed by Aworemi and Animashaun (2008) who establish that availability, door-to-door services,
flexibility and penetration power are the factors responsible for the high patronage of okada
services in Ilorin metropolis.
Weather condition has a coefficient of -0.912 (β4= 0.912). This means for every measure of in-
crease in weather condition, there is a decrease of N0.912 in performance of tricycle operators.
This implies that the travel demand tends to decline as a result of weather condition of the
study area. The reason for this is not far-fetched; the physical structure of the tricycle does not
totally shield the commuters from rain or sun. Consequently, the patronage of tricycle services
reduce considerably during the rainy season or when the sun is scorching. This variable is not
significant at both 10% and 5% levels. Meanwhile, operator’s experience (X8) had a coefficient
of (β1= 1.513), which shows that if the experience of the tricycle operator increases, the perfor-
mance would increase by N1.513. This indicates that the more the operators’ experience, the
better the performance of the tricycle business. However, this value (β= 1.513) is insignificant
at both 5% and 10% confidence interval. The fare pricing (X9) has a coefficient (β9=0.924), which
shows that if the fare charged by a tricycle operator is increased by a unit, the performance
would increase by N0.924. This indicates that the higher the fare the greater the profit margin
of tricycle operators. This variable is insignificant at both 5% and 10% levels. The insignificance
of this variable is as a result of little or no influence of government on fare pricing of private
transport sector.
CONCLUSION
Tricycle operations in the study area is seen as a catalyst for socio-economic development of
the area involved, and for this reason, the availability of adequate and affordable tricycle ser-
vices is required as a basic need for all Nigerians. As previously noted, tricycle business in La-
gos is still experiencing insufficient and perhaps declining capacity, increasing operating costs,
and worsening quality services. However, there are a number of things that could be done to
improve operational efficiency in the study area. The following measures are suggested:
i. There is an urgent need for the adoption of more realistic pricing and fares policies, particularly in the
semi-rural parts of Lagos if costs are to be recovered. Although it is recognized that the fares charged by
some tricycles operating in the city centre are adequate and can lead to cost recovery, a vast majority of
them still need to review their fares especially those operating in the rural and semi-rural Lagos, so as
to improve their viability. However, a low fare policy may lead to the collapse of even the most efficient
transport undertakings. It has been established in this study that the tricycle services contribute signifi-
cantly to mobility in Lagos, especially those areas with bad roads.
ii. The prices of tricycles are no longer affordable; the right thing is to look inwards. Thus, the local vehicle
assembly plants still need to do more to substantially increase local content of tricycle components and
accessories. This can help in reducing costs of locally assembled tricycles. More of such plants should be
established for various types of tricycles.
iii. Adequate and sustainable financing mechanism for tricycle operations need to be put in place. There is
need for the operators to have access to credit facilities from banks and finance houses. This is because the
traditional sources of financing public transport operations are no longer dependable and adequate. This
is largely because of high costs of procuring and running transport business, as well as low net returns
and profits. In fact, drivers who depend solely on fare revenue have to wait for about five years or more
in order to raise enough money for a new tricycle (at the current price and level of inflation).
iv. The problem of inadequate spare parts has long been recognized as a hindrance to effective tricycle oper-
ation; this problem still persists. Steps need to be taken to ensure steady flow of back-up spare parts for
tricycles and workshop equipment.
v. Local fabrication of tricycle spare parts should be encouraged, as well as the building of adapted tricycle
which can carry more passengers.
vi. Tricycle services are becoming a very important means of movement in a growing number of Nigerian

cities. This situation calls for the integration of the mode into the public transport network, bearing in
mind their level of safety and carrying capacity.
vii. Rather than the piecemeal and “fire-fighting” approaches which characterize government response to the
crisis facing the transport sector in general, it is now time for the government to start thinking about more
concrete, short and medium range plans (strategic) and consistent policies that will have far reaching ef-
fects on public transport operations and management.
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Performance of Public Transport in Osun State, Nigeria’, Journal of Research in National Development, 3 (2): 26-29.
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Unconventional Public Transport in Ilorin, Nigeria’, Journal of Applied Education and Vocational Research, TASUED,
Ijebu-Ode, 2(4): 174-183.
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Companies in Southwestern Nigeria’, Unpublished PhD Thesis, Department of Management Science, Ladoke Akintola
University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria
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Demelash A. A. (2007) ‘Analyzing Public Transport Performance using efficiency measures and spatial analysis: The case
of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’, Unpublished Msc thesis, Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation, The
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M.Sc. Thesis, Department of Geography and Planning, Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, Nigeria.
Hutchinson T. P. (2000) ‘Discussion: A syllabus for transport studies’, Road and transport Research 9(2), June 62-68.
Murray D. et al (1998) ‘Public Transportation access’, Transport Research D. 3, 5 319:328.
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Kotun F.A. (1985) ‘Provision of urban transportation a case study of Lagos State Transport Corporation’, Unpublished
MURP Dissertation, CURP University of Ibadan.
Armstrong-Wright & Sebastian A. (1987) Bus Service: reducing cost, raising standards’, Urban Transport Series, The
World Bank.

11
The Role of Intermediate Means of Transportation
in Informal Cross-Border Trade between Proximate
Communities
Asenime, C.O.
School of Transport, Lagos State University, Ojo
charles.asenime@lasu.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
Informal business is the biggest employer of labor in Africa; about 70% of Nigerians belong to this sector
with low pay and no security. Issues that trigger informality at Nigeria’s borders are mainly on poor econ-
omy and bad governance. In a bid therefore for the low-income people to survive, they engage in smuggling
of goods across the border using IMTs. One attraction to this business is the low capital input and the cheap
goods that come in from Benin Republic due to their free port status. However, their activities are various-
ly perceived as hurting the economy and against the West Africa Trade Agreement. Data used for this pa-
per was from the fieldwork conducted at the Nigeria/Seme border by postgraduate students of the School of
Transport, Lagos State University through a face to face administration of questionnaire and observations.
Also, a regression analysis to determine factors that affect daily income of IMTs was done. Findings show
that all operators are male, with 70% married and mostly aged between 25-30 years with a vast majority
with limited education and mostly of western Nigeria extraction, closely followed by persons from north-
ern extraction. It also shows that motorcycles are the most used vehicles, followed by tricycles and then
minibuses. They make an average of 4-5 trips daily and make a profit of about N1000. Analysis of factors
that affect profit among other factors shows that daily operational cost, type of vehicle used, riding experi-
ence are the major factors affecting the daily profit of the operators. The paper concludes that differences in
trade tariffs is one of the major causes of informality at the border, coupled with poverty and the corruption
pervasive among security agents. It recommends that since it is almost difficult to stop this illicit business,
government should explore ways to block the leakages in income through proper taxation regime of these
informal operators.
Keywords: Informal, cross border, low income, economy, trade tariffs
INTRODUCTION
Currently it has become very difficult to define informality, due to its multifaceted nature in
the face of different perspectives held by economists, sociologists and other social scientists.
the role of intermediate means of transportation in informal cross-border trade between
proximate communities | asenime, c.o.
However, Schneider and Enste (2000 in Munro, 2011) refer to informality as any unregistered
economic activity or enterprises that contribute to gross national product (GNP).
Several factors are responsible for informality, whether in trade, transportation, community or
way of life; however, the major factor that has been severally agreed is poverty which is more
common in economies of the south. According to Porter and Schleifer (2014), in most low-in-
come economies, informal businesses make up more than half of their entire economic archi-
tecture, providing livelihood for the citizenry, yet their role in the development of their econo-
mies remains shrouded in controversy. An UNCTAD (2019) report submits that if you remove
agriculture from the livelihood activities of sub-Saharan Africa, informal employment will still
be the dominant source of employment. According to Munro, (2011), one half to three quarters
of non-agricultural employment in developing countries is informal. Informal trade is estimat-
ed to provide up to 70% of employment in sub-Saharan Africa; it provides access to domes-
tic goods that would have been expensive if formally sourced (Koroma et al, 2017). These are
displayed at almost every street corner, most of which are smuggled using IMTS on informal
routes. Such scenarios are common along proximate international border communities which
sometimes extend outside the community.
Intermediate means of transport (IMT) according to Starkey (2014), refers to road vehicles
preferred to be used on hire for flexible passenger transportation, because they do not follow
any schedule and may not follow a fixed route. IMTs services include: cycle rickshaws, auto
rickshaws, converted cars, and minibuses, among others, depending on the country and the
terrain.
Globally, especially in developing economies, the use of IMTS is becoming popular due to fail-
ing economy and poverty. According to Fasakin (2001), two major factors that has escalated
their usage in Nigeria are the astonishing pace of urbanization and the economic decline which
started in 1981 as a result of the fall in crude oil prices in the world market. The commercial
motorcycle continues to enjoy increasing acceptance relative to other modes. The reason is that
the commercial motorcycle and other paratransit modes used for informal cross border trade
(ICBT) belong in the informal sector. A SIDA (2004) fact finding report states that the prolifer-
ation of informality is largely characterized by low entry requirements in terms of capital and
professional qualifications, a small scale of operations and skills often acquired outside of for-
mal education. These characteristics are aptly seen in the operational and ownership structure
of the IMTs used for ICBT in Nigeria/Benin border, where most of the operators own the vehi-
cles and are mostly uneducated.
This paper examines the role of intermediate means of transportation (IMTs) in informal cross
border trade between proximate communities in Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. Accord-
ing to Benjamin (2015), the Nigeria Benin border is marked by the coexistence of state presence
yet there is a widespread evasion of state control by smugglers who have developed a mutual-
ly beneficial relationship to pass through official border posts or the bush with the consent of
border officials, through a complex set of unofficial payments.
The objectives of the paper are: evaluate the Profiles of operators, examine the types of IMTs

used for trading activities, evaluate the operational structure of the IMTs and nature of freights,
and determine factors that affect daily profitability.
CONCEPTUAL UNDERPINNINGS
An examination of aggregate literature on informal trade shows that the term informality dif-
fers with opinion. While some attempt to define it, some suggest factors responsible for infor-
mality and others looks at the characteristics of informality and its contribution to growth and
development of a nation.
To understand informal economy, it is expedient to examine the various definitions. For in-
stance, Munro (2011) refers to informal labour market as generally associated with lower wag-
es and greater and vulnerability because most people engaged in the informal sector are poor
and mostly women (Chen, 2007). This may not be generally true, though the population of
women in informal trade is quite significant, in Nigeria however, most informal workers are
men, because in the northern part of the country which is largely made up of Muslims, most
women are not allowed to work. Others who have contributed to the literature on the causes
of informality include the work of its size and characteristics of informality. Portal and Shleifer
(2014) put forward five factors that characterize the informal economy such as its size due to
low technology especially in developing countries; its extremely low productivity compared
to the formal economy; tax avoidance tendency, their major disconnection from the formal
economy, and as individual country economy grows and develops, the informal economy will
eventually shrink, and the formal economy comes to dominate economic life—this has been
seen to occur in most advance economies, where every small business is formalized.
Munro, (2011) states that one half to three quarters of non-agricultural employment in devel-
oping countries is informal. Added to this is the submission by Onwe (2013) that informal busi-
nesses are just established to generate a living income for the operator, without necessarily
thinking of becoming big and formal.
Having identified the informality, its causes, size and characteristic, it is expedient to examine
informality in cross border trade. Cross border trade between states in proximity has currently
gained some attention, even though most times it predates a country. For most people living
in border communities, trading across the border remains the only source of income. Goods
taken through informal routes are often smuggled because most of them are contraband, and
to evade paying exercise duties. These illegalities usually occur along rural informal routes,
where there is little or less enforcement and where the use of intermediate means of transpor-
tation is often employed. Some works on cross-border trade and informality include the study
by UNCTAD (2018) which defines it as trade in legitimately produced goods and services that
escape the regulatory framework established by government, thereby avoiding certain tax and
regulatory burden. It also states that these goods and services are moved by people operat-
ing entirely outside the formal economy and passing through unofficial routes. Also, Benja-
min et al. (2015) assert that ICBT thrives because of the porosity of Africa’s borders (Benjamin
& Mbaye 2012), with informal activity often concentrated around border areas. These borders
are “artificial” in the sense that they are not marked by clear geographical or social separation.
The IMF (2017) report of ICBT in Nigeria shows that it contributes about 10% of the GDP of

the non-oil sector. The parameters used by the IMF are not clearly stated in their report; how-
ever, the population of those engaged in informal economy is quite huge. Other contributors
include Bensassi (2018), The Conversation (2018), Nkendah (2010), SIDA (2004), FAO (2017),
Recio et al. (2019) Frederico and Ramos (2017).
METHODOLOGY
The study was conducted at the Nigeria/Benin border with the postgraduate students from the
School of Transport, Lagos State University, Ojo. Structured questionnaire was administered
face-to-face on operators who fall into three vehicular categories—those who use motor bikes,
those who use tricycles, those who use minibuses, wheelbarrows and four-wheeled carts. Due
to their unpredictable nature, as many of the operators that were seen were interviewed. At
the end of the exercise, 98 operators were interviewed and about 89 questionnaires were found
valid for analysis. The data was processed using the SPSS software. Also, a regression analy-
sis was used to determine factors that affect daily profit of these IMTS. Daily income was re-
gressed against other factors as shown in tables one, two and three.

Profile of operators
Public transport in urban areas has become one of the biggest providers of employment oppor-
tunities for the poorer sections of the population from being drivers, conductors, ware loaders
and passenger seekers. These jobs are almost exclusively and informally for men. For instance,
the study shows that all operators of the three-wheeled makeshift vehicles and bikes are men
aged between 26-30years (see Fig. 1). This contradicts Chen, (2007) who claims that there are
more women in the informal sector. The study shows that more than 70% are married, with
only 44% having limited education barely beyond the first school leaving certificate stage. This
was corroborated in the study by La Potal and Shleifa, (2014) who describe informal entrepre-
neurs as typically uneducated. Furthermore, many of the operators have at least three depen-
dents, mostly living in one room face-to-face apartments with a vast majority (44.4%) from the
Northwest and North central regions of the country. The highlight of their profile is the ques-
tion of how people from northern extraction dominate a trade deep in the Southwest. Various
suggestions point to the fact that most of them are usually from border communities who are
used to doing business across borders and may have migrated down south in search of more
opportunities.

Fig. 1: Educational status
Operational structure
Types of vehicle used for operations and ownership
Transport provides employment for a large segment of the poorer segment of the society, from
buses, tricycles, motorbikes, cart pushers, pickup vans almost exclusively operated by the poor
and may also be owned by the middle class who may own a fleet of vehicles up to 20 (Starkey,
2014). About 27% of the IMTs used at the Seme border are motorcycles, closely followed by the
modified tricycles that use Vespa engine, and the motorcars popularly called Lagbo (Fig. 2)
Fig 2: Types of vehicles used
The ownership structure shows that a vast majority are owned by the operator, however the
ownership structure of those of those who use tricycles is different; the person that drives the
tricycle is not usually the owner. Rather the physically challenged person that seats on a stool
at the rear of the tricycle owns the vehicle. Because this business is largely characterized by low
entry requirements in terms of capital and professional qualifications, a small scale of opera-
tions, skills that don’t require formal education and is not labor-intensive makes it easier for

the physically challenged to own the business (SIDA, 2014). A closer examination on why the
physically challenged persons own the vehicles shows that they use it as a disguise to draw
sympathy from the various government agencies at the border post, while they engage in their
illicit trading of contraband goods across the two border posts (Nigeria and Bénin)
Fig. 3: Nigeria/Bénin border base map. Source: Regional Atlas of West Africa
Operational time and trips

Informal transport services most often don’t have any standard operational procedure; their
operations depend on demand and the ability to meet it. Several factors are responsible such
as their inability to have a union that has integrity and standard. While some operators may
make several trips, others may have vehicle maintenance problems to contend with, or the op-
erator may not be in good health to work, police issues and union matters, among others. For
instance, the study shows that most of these operators have been in business for more than
5 years and about 31.4% of operators make between 5-6 trips per day, while a large number
(29.1%) of operators make less than 4 trips per day and charge about N400-N500 per trip. At
the top of the pyramid are operators that make more than 9 trips per day, these represent just
9% of the population.
Daily start time of operations is between 6am-7am. This may not be unconnected with the fact
that serious operational checks by government agencies start by 8am and on the average, most
operators (about 43%) close operations between 6:30pm and 7pm, an average operational time
of 12.5 hours daily.
Vehicle operational expenditure

The most important recurrent input in the business is fuel; this is because of the nature of op-
erations. Most of them have to buy fuel from the black market if they are going for off-road op-
erations. This is aptly shown in the study whereby more than 25% of operators expend more
than N2000 daily on fuel. This, apart from the amount spent on bribes, which constitute a ma-
jor daily expense. On maintenance, more than 29% spend about N1000 monthly, mostly borne
by the operator
Income and operational characteristics

An examination of the types of goods carried shows that more than 33% carry rice and about
21% carry household items and more than 50% of the operators get their goods from ware-

houses across the border and mostly taken to a pre-agreed destination. Others are taken to
open markets or to a secret warehouse awaiting the owners to pick them up.
Fig. 4: Goods conveyed
The study further shows that more than 54% are contacted by their clients via cellphones, as the
operators who are smugglers do not have a permanent station. Others are contacted through
third party contacts along the road. It should be noted here that there are many touts or agents
who usually act as go-between for the operators, customers and government agencies.
These people have developed mutually beneficial agreements whereby traders pass through
official border posts or the bush with the explicit assent of officials, through a complex set of
unofficial payments (Benjamin et al., 2015). Also almost half of the operators have regular cus-
tomers who contact them daily.
Perceptions and challenges

A report from the McKinsey Global Institute by Farrel, (2004 in La Porta & Shleifer, 2014) de-
scribes informal firms as parasites competing unfairly with law-abiding formal firms. In con-
trast to this view, almost half of the operators claim that their operation is legal because they
pay money to government officials even though the money never gets to the government, al-
though about 25% claim that their goods have been seized at least 4 times within a year.
The informal sector is the largest employer of labor. According to Koroma et al. (2017) infor-
mal business is estimated to provide up to 70% of employment in sub-Saharan Africa and even
though they escape the regulatory framework established by the government, thereby avoid-
ing certain tax and regulatory burdens (UNTAD, 2018), they still mostly claim their income is
very low. This is aptly shown in the survey whereby almost 40% claim they make about N1000
daily. This does not come as a surprise as the business is shrouded in secrecy and deceit. On
union matters, about 80% of them are in a union, with a vast majority of them paying between
N100 and N200 daily and the unions provide support for them when they have problems with
law enforcement officers and sometimes give them loans when they need assistance for major
repairs. Part of the challenge faced by operators is the extortion by enforcement agencies. The
study reveals that operators pay as much as N400-N500 day. One other challenge that affects
their operations is rainfall or sometimes if the heat from the sun is too high.

Safety and food security issues

Part of the Lagos Traffic Law on the operations of motorcycles and other paratransit modes
is the promotion of safety. It is worrisome to note that almost 70% of operators do not wear
helmets and about 47% have had accidents at least 4 times in the last two years due mostly to
overspeeding and drunk driving. Due to the level of operations of this illicit business, crime is
not too far off from their operations. The study reveals that almost 60% of operators have been
robbed at least once in the past two years. Operators feel that if the government can assist them
in repairing the roads, it will boost their business. Although this business is considered illegal
and informal, however, it has employed a lot of people and associated skills. That is why the
IMF (2016) report on ICBT constitutes a significant proportion of the informal sector activities
and remains a source of employment with enormous impact on food security. Apart from this
business, more than 48% also engage in petty trading, and believe that they will be involved in
this business of smuggling for life, which goes to say that a total clampdown could trigger in-
creased crime within the state and beyond.
Factors that affect daily profit of operators

Linear regression was used to determine factors that affect daily profit. The model utilized for
the regression explains that the variations in daily profit of the operators of IMT in Nigeria/
Seme border can be accounted for by their daily operational cost, educational qualification,
types of vehicle used, charge per trip, riding experience, total daily trip, ownership, operations
hour per day, and frequency of accident. The model summary presented in table 1 shows that
58% of the variations in daily profits of the operators is accounted for by the independent vari-
ables. Also, the ANOVA table shows that the regression model is very significant (see Table 2).
Table 1: Model summary

Adjusted R Std. error of
Model R R Square Square estimate
1 .0.762 .580 .575 0.58537
Source: Author’s analysis, 2019
Table 2: ANOVA
Sum of
Model squares df Mean square F Sig.
1 Regression 150.804 9 16.756 12.339 .000
Residual 40.728 30 1.358
Total 95.775 39
The coefficient of the explanatory variables in Table 3 reveals that daily operational cost is an
important and significant factor affecting daily profit for the operators. The coefficient of the
daily operational cost is -0.310 (p<0.005), which means that daily profit will increase by 0.31%
given a -1% decrease in daily operational cost. The implication of this is that if the operational
cost such as maintenance, union fees, extortion from touts, police, and fuel cost are reduced,
there will be an increase in daily profit.

The type of vehicle used is another variable that has significant contribution to daily profit. The
regression coefficient of 0.306 for the variable means that daily profit will increase by 0.306%
given a -1% increase in type and size of vehicle used. The types are carts, bicycle, motorcar,
two-wheeled vehicle, and tricycle. This indicates that increase in size (capacity) of the vehicle
can lead to increases in daily profit.
Riding experience is another variable with significant positive effect on daily profit (0.268;
p<0.05). This shows that riding experience which is responsible for route familiarity, avoidance
of accident, and proper maintenance (Fasakin, 2001) is a factor that can affect the daily profit.
Other factors with significant contribution to the model are charge per trip (0.132, p<0.05), to-
tal trip per day (0.123, p<0.05), operation hours per day (0.117, p<0.05), and ownership (0.057,
p<0.05). Table 3 also shows that educational qualification (-0.188, p>0.05) and frequency of acci-
dents (-0.054, p>0.05) are not significant when considering the factors that affect the daily profit
for the operators.
Table 3: Coefficients
Standardized
Unstandardized coefficients
coefficients t Sig.
Model B Std. Error Beta
(Constant) 3.811 1.607 2.371 .004
Educational qualification .121 .114 .188 1.063 .296
Types of vehicle used .305 .180 .306 1.696 .001
Daily operational cost -.341 .190 -.310 -1.794 .000
Charge per trip .159 .212 .132 .750 .004
Riding experience .333 .226 .268 1.476 .002
Total trip per day .156 .227 .123 .688 .003
Ownership .057 .172 .057 .330 .002
Operations hours per day .153 .226 .117 .679 .002
Frequency of accident -.063 .200 -.054 -.314 .231
Dependent variable: Daily profit
CONCLUSION
The paper concludes that differences in trade tariffs is one of the major causes of informality at
the border, coupled with poverty and the corruption pervasive among security agents. While
not supporting illegality, the paper however concludes that a complete clampdown of this il-
licit activity could trigger increased crime in the state as many of the operators have no skill to
support urban living.
RECOMMENDATION
It recommends that since it is almost difficult to stop this illicit business, government should
explore ways to block the leakages in income through proper taxation regime. Also, govern-
ment should strengthen the border agencies to properly police the border to stem proliferation
of adulterated goods and small arms in the country,

R EF E R E N C E S
Anushree Sinha1 (?) Trade and the informal economy

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Journal of Borderlands Studies, 30/3: 381-394. DOI: 10.1080/08865655.2015.1068203. https://works.swarthmore.edu/
fac-economics/363
Fasakin, J.O. (2001). Some factors affecting daily profits of commercial motorcycles in Akure, Nigeria. Transport Policy.
Vol. 8, 63-69.
International Monetary Fund Informal Economic Reports NIGERIA: Informal Trade with Neighboring Countries
Munro, L. (2011), “A Literature Review on Trade and Informal Labour Markets in Developing Countries,” OECD Trade
Policy Working Papers, No. 132, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/5kg3nh4xwxr0-en
Onyemaechi Joseph Onwe. 2013. Role of the Informal Sector in Development of the Nigerian Economy: Output and
Employment Approach. Journal of Economics and Development Studies 1(1); June 2013 pp. 60-74
Ponnuswamy, S & Victor, D.J Urban.2012. Transportation: Planning, Operation and Management. McGraw-Hill
Education Private Limited, USA. 2012
Nkendah, R., The Informal Cross-Border Trade of agricultural commodities between Cameroon and its CEMAC’s
Neighbours presented at the Mombasa NSF/AERC/IGC conference 4th December 2010
Recio R.B, Mateo-Babiano I. and Roitman S., 2019. Mobility nodes and economic spaces: Links, tensions and planning
implications. Journal of Transport and Land use 12(1) p765-783
La Porta R. and Shleifer, A. 2014. Informality and Development. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 28/3:109-204
Bensassia, S, Jarreaub, J. and Mitaritonna, C. 2018. Regional Integration and Informal Trade in Africa: Evidence from
Benin’s Borders Journal of African Economies, 2019, 28/1: 89–118. doi: 10.1093/jae/ejy016.
SIDA. 2004. Fact Finding Study: The Informal Economy MARCH 2004. KRISTINA FLODMAN BECKER
Starkey, P., Hine, J. 2014. Poverty and sustainable transport how transport affects poor people with policy implications for
poverty reduction: A literature review. UN-Habitat, October.
Suffyan Koroma, Joan Nimarkoh, Ny You, Victor Ogalo, & Boniface Owino. 2017. Formalization of informal trade in
Africa Trends, experiences and socio-economic impacts
The Conversation.2018. Lifting the lid on the black box of informal trade in Africa
UNCTAD. 2018. BORDERLINE: Women in informal cross-border trade in Malawi, the United Republic of Tanzania and
Zambia

12
An Assessment of Effect of Incentives Payment on
Haulage Drivers’ Productivity in Nigeria
Sonde, D.R.1 / Gbadegesin, A.E.2 / Adeyemi, S.T.3

1
Dept. of Transport Mgt, Olabisi Onabanjo Univ., Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, Nigeria;
2
Dept. of Transport Mgt, Ladoke Akintola Univ. of Tech., Ogbomoso; 3School of
E-Learning, Kampala International University, Kampala, Uganda
Corresponding author: sondedimeji5@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
The larger percentage of road transport haulage industries are competing for survival in this porous and
fierce market. Unavoidable delay is nonproductive time beyond the driver’s control. The study was carried
on an assessment of effect of incentives payment on haulage driver’s productivity in Nigeria. Therefore, this
could be achieved through assessing the impact of monetization of unavoidable delay on driver productiv-
ity. The study adopted multistage sampling that include judgmental sampling used in the selection of 12
registered haulage companies in Southwest Nigeria. Thereafter, stratified sampling was used to divide the
operators under NARTO into flatbed trailer, fuel tanker and specialized trailer, and random sampling tech-
nique was used to administer questionnaire to individuals that formed the sample size. Multiple regression
technique was used to test hypotheses. Findings reveal that financial incentives have great effect on driv-
ers’ attitude when properly channeled. It therefore recommends that delays during loading and offloading,
maintenance and repair and documentation be monetized for higher productivity.
Keywords: driver, incentives, productivity, motivation and organization
INTRODUCTION
M
any road transport haulers compete for survival in a porous and fierce market (Ovid-
iu-Iliuta, 2013). Haulage companies can only achieve business success through hir-
ing and retention of quality personnel, drivers in particular. Motivation and perfor-
mance are essential tools for long-term success.
Every road transport haulage companies uses a system of incentives as appropriate, with the
main goal being to move the energies and desires of drivers working for their companies to
exert more effort to reach the targets set of safe delivery of goods and outstanding perfor-
mance. System of incentives is essential in transport haulage companies in order to ascertain
an assessment of effect of incentives payment on haulage drivers’ productivity in nigeria |
sonde, d.r. / gbadegesin, a.e. / adeyemi, s.t.
the accomplishment of the objectives pursued by the companies. It is not enough to recruit
the best drivers in terms of competencies and capabilities, but the driver must have a desire to
work. Road haulage companies need highly competent drivers so as to meet their goals, de-
liver products and services they specialized in; and achieve competitive advantage. Achieving
goals and performing at a high level can be a source of satisfaction, with feelings of mastery
and pride. Low performance and not achieving the tasks might be experienced as dissatisfy-
ing (Muchhal, 2014).
All incentive penchants determine driving attitude of drivers on the road, this means that in
every transport organization the drivers’ behaviour determine the level of incentives by man-
agement. Incentives drive productive drivers to achieve set objectives (Bilal-Almomani, 2017).
Incentives are the additional benefits earmark for the drivers in recognition of their services.
They may be in the form of monetary and non-monetary benefits. Financial incentives may
mean the amounts paid to drivers, either lump-sum or in monthly payments or in any other
form that translates to additional income to a driver.
Truck drivers are part of human resources in an organization and they need to be treated like
kings as they are an important resource that needs to be given special managerial attention
and time (Storey, 2013). Human resource is the most important asset of transport companies
which should be given the highest priority (Ojeleye & Okoro, 2016). Similarly, Zaman (2011)
argues that human resource provides basis for an organization to accomplish sustainable com-
petitive advantage. Since transport organizations are operating in a dynamic and competitive
business environment, they need to develop or adopt strategies to acquire and retain a compe-
tent workforce.
Motivation, according to Lai (2009), may not necessarily drive chronic nonperformer to opti-
mal productivity, however, a motivated workforce is a lubricant to the engine of the transport
organization and its benefits include, dedication, employee retention, loyalty and harmony.
Driver motivation is very essential since relationship between motivations and driving style
is a direct one (Ovidiu-Iliuta, 2013). It is only through motivation that transport managers can
assist drivers increase performance that will enable the company boost profitability and sur-
vive, even flourish during harsh times. There is the belief that if only haulage management
can identify those things that can motivate the driver aside from salaries and wages, perhaps
there will be a drastic reduction in the cost of fuel cost, truck maintenance, rate of accidents
and insurance cost (Ovidiu-Iliuta, 2013). Every driver has a different mixture and strength of
needs, as some drivers are driven by accomplishment while others are focusing on security. If
the haulage managers are able to understand, forecast and control driver attitude, they should
also know what the driver needs from their jobs since drivers are mainly paid for driving time.
Aside the driving time, non-driving time includes loading, unloading, hooking and dropping
trailers, pre- and post-tripping the truck, setting up the truck for store deliveries, pushing off
pallets, completing paperwork, and a diversity of other activities necessary for completing the
task other than merely driving the truck. Unavoidable delay time is non-productive time be-
yond the driver’s control. If the driver delays for thirty minutes for store personnel to open the

loading dock, waits for a dispatch, or stays long in traffic, that may be considered unavoid-
able-delay time. If the driver takes a rest break, that is not unavoidable delay.
Effect of monetizing the unavoidable delay during traffic, offloading and loading of goods on
driving bahaviour in Nigeria has not been seriously looked into. This necessitates a study on
an assessment of effect of incentives payment on haulage drivers’ productivity in Nigeria.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Maicibi (2005) defines remuneration as pay or reward given to drivers for work done. Indica-
tors of remuneration include: basic salary, wages, health schemes, pension schemes, transport,
overtime and responsibility allowances. Remuneration can also be monetary or financial ben-
efits in form of salaries, wages, bonuses, incentives, allowances and benefits that is accrued or
given to an employee or group of employees by the employer (firm) as a result services ren-
dered, commitment to the organization or reward for employment.
Employees desire to earn reasonable salaries, as money represents the most essential incentive,
when speaking of its influential value (Sara et al, 2004). Financial rewards have the ability to
sustain and motivate individuals towards higher performance, especially drivers of haulage
companies.
Compared to financial resources, human resources have the ability to create competitive ad-
vantage for their haulage companies. By and large, employee performance relies on a large
number of factors, such as motivation, appraisals, job satisfaction, training and development
and so on. As Kalimullah (2010) proposes, a motivated employee has their goals aligned with
those of the organization and directs efforts in that direction. In addition, these organizations
are more successful, as their employees continuously look for ways to improve their work.
Getting the drivers to comport themselves under stressful conditions is a tough challenge, but
this can be accomplished with motivation.
Financial incentives
Money is the chief inducement and no other incentive comes close to it with respect to its in-
fluential value (Locke & Latham, 1990). Money attracts, sustains and motivates individuals to-
wards higher performance (Stanley, 2012). People do not work for free; drivers want to be com-
pensated for the job they do. Employees must be motivated through proper incentive plans
and reward systems and this will invariably encourage them to be proactive and have the right
attitude to job, thereby promote organizational productivity (Armstrong, 2007).
Employee performance is as a result of motivation influenced by compensation (Hersberg,

2009). Recruitment of employees, motivation, productivity and employee turnover are influ-
ence by compensation (Steers & Porter, 2011). Financial incentives are considered an adequate
means to motivate employees and to improve their performance (Smith & Hitt, 2005).
Impact of financial incentives

Conrad (2006) postulates that financial incentives can be described as the influence that pay-
ment to organization and individuals have on consumers. Robinson (1999) posits that financial

incentives can be manipulated to affect employee decisions. The challenge to payers is on how
to assemble the mix or blend of financial incentive rules and monitoring efforts that will lead
to employee productivity. The greater the costs of these activities, the less likely that financial
incentive are used. The effectiveness of any financial incentive scheme in deducing any chang-
es in employee’s productivity depends not merely on the amount and type of payment, e.g.
staff preference for monetary versus other incentives such as security, autonomy, and condu-
cive working environment and self-development opportunities.
Impact characterizes in exploration (Miller 2015) as for advancement connections fought that
motivation is a key achievement part and from this time forward they need to give incentives
remembering the deciding objective to energize inventive thinking and sustain high motiva-
tion. In contrast, Kohn (1993, cited in Fryer, 2010) explains that workers will have decreased
motivation and that their achievement will not be positive once the incentive strengths are
taken away. Cameron and Pierce (1994, cited in Shaw & Gupta, 2015) aver that incentives are
without a doubt strongly and completely related to individual performance and appear to
have positive bearing on motivation.
Types of financial incentives

Bandura (2007) posits that albeit there are very large number of financial incentives that could
be utilized a useful distinction is made between the tangible and the intangible additionally.
Tangible (or material) incentive could be broken down further into monetary and non-mone-
tary. Romanoff (2008) defines bonus as a lump sum payment made at the end of the task pe-
riod, usually a year, to reward extraordinarily hardworking employees or achievement while
incentive is a material or nonmaterial reward designed to motivate an individual or group to
behave in a certain way. Also, incentives differ from bonuses as they define both what needs
to be achieved and what the employee will receive in return for achieving it. Consequently, in-
centives have greater behavioral and motivational impact than bonus (Bandura, 2007).
Incentives motivate employee to perform an action. They may be used to excite or tend to
excite to action or greater effort, as a reward offered for increased productivity. It could be
said to be a factor that motivates an individual to accomplish a particular objective. Incentives
are therefore motivations for job. Incentives could be categorized as compensation incentives
which may include items such as pay raises, bonuses, profit sharing, signing bonus, and stock
options, recognition incentives which may include actions such as thanking workers, praising
workers, presenting workers with a certificate of accomplishment, or announcing an achieve-
ment at an organization meeting. Rewards incentives which actually include items such as
gifts, monetary rewards, service award presents, and items such as gift certificates and appre-
ciation incentives which includes such happenings as company parties and celebrations, com-
pany paid family activity events, ice cream socials, birthday celebrations, sporting events, paid
group lunches, and sponsored sports teams (Heathfield, 2013).
Motivation
Motivation is a critical ingredient in driver performance and productivity. Even when people
have the right skills, clear work objectives, and a supportive job environment, they would not
get the task done without ample motivation to meet those objectives (Mullins, 2006), and that

motivated employees are enthusiastic to exert a certain level of effort (intensity), for a certain
amount of time (persistence), toward a distinct objective or direction (Mullins, 2006).
Rewards
The most important human resource management issue these days is rewards structure
(Milkovich & Newman, 2008). Bowen (2002) describes reward as items given or received in re-
turn for a success or accomplishment. Allen and Helms (2002) describe reward as a material
or financial expression of appreciation that is conditional on results. Workers who are effec-
tive and efficient are probable to be confined if they are not motivated to perform (Sajuyigbe,
Olaoye & Adeyemi, 2013). Mendonca (2002) sees compensation and reward as a system that is
based on the expectancy theory, which proposes that workers are more probable to be moti-
vated to perform when they perceive a strong link between their performance and the reward
they receive. Reward is a critical element that motivates workers to perform as expected (Arm-
strong, 2007).
Recognition
According to Daniel and Metcalf (2009), recognition is a gain coming to worker’s effort and
dedication at work, as well as his or her results. A worker recognition program can be a great
morale-building tool for any organization, whether big or small. An effective recognition pro-
gram can lead to innovation, higher productivity and greater job satisfaction for employers
(Beer & Walton, 2014). Worker recognition programs could include several levels of recogni-
tion, from a simple Certificate of Appreciation to Employee of the Month to awards given on
the division and companywide level, recognition should be provided to those who exceed ex-
pectations and earn the award (Steers & Porter, 2011). Recognition is one of the strong moti-
vation factors; employees feel comfortable when they are praised and recognized (Armstrong,
2007).
Job satisfaction
Job satisfaction is how fulfilled an individual is from the task they perform. It is linked with
performance, motivation, absenteeism, mental/physical health and general life satisfaction of a
particular employee (Saleem, 2011). Several job-satisfaction studies find it has a strong impact
on job performance, nonappearance, turnover, and psychological disorders (Storey, 2013). A
number of research findings (Ismail, Guatleng, Chhekiong & Ibrahim, 2009) propose a positive
relationship between motivation and job satisfaction to the extent that Kreitner and Kinicki
(2001) suggest that managers can potentially enhance employee motivation through employ-
ee job satisfaction. Jepsen (2003) postulates that almost every employer tries to find satisfac-
tion in his job, especially if the job aligns with his occupational choices, he will almost attain
job satisfaction.
Performance
Cole and Kelly (2011) see performance as a continuous process for improving the performance
of employees by aligning actual performance with that desired (and with the strategic goals
of the organization) through a variety of means such as standard-setting, appraisal and eval-
uation both informally, day-to-day, and formally/systematically through appraisal interviews

and goal-setting. Job performance is defined as the value of the set of employee attitudes that
contribute, either good or bad to organizational goal accomplishment while task performance
are employee behaviors that are directly involved in the transformation of organizational re-
sources into the goods or services that the organization produces (Colquitt, Lepine & Wesson,
2014).
Productivity is usually defined as the ratio of inputs to outputs. It essentially measure how ef-
ficiently production inputs such as labor and capital are being used to produce a given level
of output (Krugman, 1994). The baseline for economic productivity of an organization is the
strength and quality of human capital. Human capital refers to the skills, abilities, competen-
cies and qualities of an organization’s employees. It comprises of the knowledge and expertise
employees apply to produce products and services and to the operations of the organization,
its equipment and machineries (Weaver, 2008 in Arraya, 2013). When human capital is ade-
quately motivated, it leads to enhancement in productivity and service delivery.
METHODOLOGY
The study was carried out in Lagos State, Nigeria. The choice of this study area was due to the
fact that most registered haulage companies headquartered in Nigeria are located in Lagos.
There are 41 registered haulage companies in Lagos (businesslist.com.ng). Balloting sampling
technique was employed to select eight companies randomly for the study. The staff strength
for the eight sampled registered haulage companies is 5,370. Random sampling technique was
as well used to administer copies of questionnaires to 373 that formed the sampling size. Ques-
tionnaires were used to elicit information on the effect of financial incentives on drivers’ atti-
tude. Likert scale was used which range from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Descriptive
statistics was employed to analyze the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents while
multiple regression was used to analyze the effect of financial incentives on drivers’ attitude
and the impact of monetization of unavoidable delay on driver productivity.

Socio-economic characteristics of respondents
The study analyzed the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents (Table 1) accord-
ingly. It depicts that 2.5% of respondents were less than 25 years of age, 17.8% were between
26 – 30 years, 20.2% were between 31 – 35 years of age, 24.1% were between 36 – 40 years of
age, 18.4% were between 41 – 46 years of age, 12.6% were between 46 – 50 years of age, while
the remaining of respondents were above 51 years of age. This indicates that majority of the
respondents were mature and elderly. Moreso, 18.6% were single while 81.4% were married.
This suggests that majority of the respondents are married and corroborates the result of age
analysis.
Furthermore, 19.7% of respondents had primary-school education, 54.2% had secondary ed-
ucation, 16.7% had OND/NCE certificate, while 9.3% had HND/B.Sc. This indicates that ma-
jority were secondary-school certificate holders. It further shows that, 3.8% of respondents
had spent between 1–5 years on the job, 8.5% between 6–10 years, 13.1% spent between 11 –

15 years, 30.1% spent between 16–20 years, 17.8% spent between 21–25 years, 20.0% spent be-
tween 26–30 years, while the remaining respondents had spent above 31 years. This indicates
that majority of the respondents had enough experience on the job as 89.5% had spent 6 – 30
years on the job. Finally, the study shows that 51.8% of the respondents earned salary while
48.2% earned wages.
Table 1: Socioeconomic characteristics of respondents

Age: Frequency Percent
Less than 25yrs 9 2.5
26–30yrs 65 17.8
31–35yrs 74 20.2
36–40yrs 88 24.1
41–45yrs 67 18.4
46–50yrs 46 12.6
51yrs & above 16 4.4
Total 361 100
Frequency Percent
Marital: Single 68 18.6
Married 297 81.4
Total 365 100.0
Qualification: Primary 72 19.7
Secondary 198 54.2
OND/NCE 61 16.7
HND/B.Sc 34 9.3
Total 365 100.0
Work Experience: Less than 5yrs 14 3.8
6–10yrs 31 8.5
11–15yrs 48 13.1
16–200yrs 110 30.1
21–25yrs 65 17.8
26–30yrs 73 20.0
31yrs and above 24 6.6
Total 365 100
Remuneration: Salary 189 51.8
Wages 176 48.2
Total 365 100.0
Source: Author’s field survey (2019)
Hypotheses testing
Table 2 reveals the extent of variation in dependent variable (drivers’ attitude) explained by in-
dependent variables (accident-free allowance, trip allowance, bonus, recognition, rewards, pay
raises, nondriving time incentives) is 70%. From ANOVA table, the analysis of variance of the
relationship between explanatory variables and drivers’ attitude values shows that the F-ratio
is 75.966 and a P-value is less than 0.005. This implies that the null hypothesis is rejected mean-
ing that there is effect of financial incentives on drivers’ attitudes.
Table 2: Model Summary

Model R R Square Adjusted R square Std. error of estimate

1 .838a .703 .683 .76348
a. Predictors: (constant), accident-free allowance, trip allowance, bonus, recognition, rewards, pay raises, nondriving
time incentives.
ANOVAb
Model Sum of squares Df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 223.118 11 20.283 75.966 .000a
Residual 94.094 353 .267
Total 317.212 364
a. Predictors: (constant), accident-free allowance, trip allowance, bonus, recognition, rewards, pay raises, nondriving
time incentives. b. Dependent variable: Drivers’ attitude
The output in table 3 shows the result of fitting a multiple linear regression model to describe
the relationship between drivers’ attitude and the independent variables. The variables were
represented in the models as follows: Accident-free allowance = acidfall, Non-driving time in-
centives = ndritin, bonus = bouns, recognition = recog, Pay raises = payris, and trip allowance =
tripall. The model to express the result of fitting is shown in equation 3.
Y = -.563 + .256 acidfall + .561ndritin - .017recog + .048bouns + .243patris + .082tripall ---…..eqn 1

From equation 1, it can be deduced that there is positive relationship between the entire ex-
planatory variable (except Recognition, which indicate negative relationship) and drivers’ atti-
tude. It implies that, as accident free allowance and non-driving time incentives increase, driv-
ers behave very well on wheel.
Table 3: Coefficientsa
Unstandardized Standardized
Model coefficients coefficients
B Std. Error Beta T Sig.
1 (Constant) -.563 .453 -.951 .342
Accident free allowance .259 .153 .036 1.693 .000
Non-driving time
.561 .048 .367 1.523 .000
incentives
Recognition -.017 .013 .064 -1.308 .002
Bonus .048 .041 .043 1.170 .072
Pay raises .243 .122 .064 1.992 .160
Trip allowance .082 .047 .077 1.745 .070
a. Dependent variable: Drivers’ attitude
Table 4 reveals the extent of variation in dependent variable (drivers’ productivity) explained
by independent variables (delay in traffic, documentation delay, loading and offloading delay,
hooking and tripping trailer and period during trailer maintenance and repair.) is 82%. From
ANOVA table, the analysis of variance of the relationship between explanatory variables and
drivers’ attitude values shows that the F-ratio is 177.297 and a P-value is less than 0.005. This

implies that the null-hypothesis is rejected, meaning that there is impact of monetization of un-
avoidable delay on driver productivity.
Table 4: Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the
Estimate
1 .904a .818 .804 .72108
a. Predictors: (constant), delay in traffic, Documentation delay, loading and offloading delay, Hooking and tripping
trailer and period during trailer maintenance and repairs.
ANOVAb
Model Sum of sq. Df Mean sq. F Sig.
1 Regression 279.241 9 31.027 177.297 .000a
Residual 62.111 355 .175
Total 341.351 364
a. Predictors: (constant), delay in traffic, documentation delay, loading and offloading delay, hooking and tripping
trailer and period during trailer maintenance and repair. b. Dependent variable: Driver productivity
CONCLUSION
Conclusively, financial incentives have a great effect on the attitude of drivers when appropri-
ately channeled. This means that an increase in salary and wages will no longer motivate driv-
ers since they see it as a right, compared to financial incentives, which is a one-off additional
income.
Driver productivity increases when unavoidable delay is monetized. Consequently, drivers

will report to management of any problem encountered during their last trip and what should
be done to rectify the issue, since it is aware that their nondriving hour(s) is compensated.
Moreover, irrational behaviour towards consignees will be halted whenever there is delay in
loading and offloading.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Delay during loading and offloading, maintenance and repair and documentation should be
monetized for higher productivity. Adequate incentives should be given to driver as at when
due for proper motivation.
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LASU JOURNAL OF TRANSPORT

An International Journal of the School of Transport

Vol. 1, Issue 4, September 2019

Vol. 1, Issue 4, September 2019

FREE ENTERPRISE PUBLISHERS LAGOS

Vol. 1, Issue 4, September 2019

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD

1 Public Transport Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in Lagos Metropolis

4 Assessment of Infrastructure Capacity to Handle Cargo Traffic At Terminals of Kotoka

7 Comparative Analysis of Tourism Patronage in Southwest Nigeria: The Underlying Role of

8 Intermediate Means of Transportation (IMT) in Rural Areas of Nigeria

9 Impact of Management Decision on Vehicle Operating Costs in Haulage Companies in Lagos,

10 Analysis of Factors Affecting Tricycle Operations in Metropolitan Lagos

11 The Role of Intermediate Means of Transportation in Informal Cross-Border Trade between

12 An Assessment of Effect of Incentives Payment on Haulage Drivers’ Productivity in Nigeria

Keywords: accessibility, disability, urban mobility, public transport

2 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

The objectives of this study are to:

 Examine the travel characteristics of PWDs in Lagos metropolis.

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 3

MOBILITY CHALLENGES, EQUITY ISSUES AND SOCIAL

4 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 5

Demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of respondents

Table 1: Demographic and socio-economic distribution of respondents

6 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

Variables Freq. % Variables Freq. %

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 7

Fig. 2: Distribution by marital status

TRAVEL CHARACTERISTICS OF RESPONDENTS

Table 2: Travel characteristics of respondents

8 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

Accessible public transport infrastructure for the disabled

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 9

DISCUSSION, POLICY IMPLICATION AND CONCLUSION

10 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 11

12 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

Ndikom, O. / Nwokedi, T.C.

Keywords: rail freight, transport-corridors, hub-seaports, inland-container-depots

14 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 15

16 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

AIM AND OBJECTIVES

i. To determine the ICD-hub-seaport rail-freight-corridor that offers the optimal cost

• Nigeria Ports Authority,

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 17

Sample size determination

Method of data analysis

18 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

The transportation model

Table1 Calibration of the linear programming transportation model

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 19

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

20 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

Table 2: Optimized cost of transporting from Lagos hub seaports to ICDs

Optimized total an- 7,643,044,330 3,997,786,000 1,780,269,000 1,527,459,000 871,791,976 1,000,750,725

Table 3: Optimized cost of transporting from other hub seaports to ICD/CFS

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 21

Table 4: Group A: Hub-seaport (Lagos)–ICD CFS rail freight corridor

Table 6: Group C: Hub seaport (Calabar)–Kano (Northwest) rail freight corridor

Table 7: Group D: Hub seaport (Warri)–Kano (Northwest) and Aba (Southeast)

22 lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019

lasu journal of transport | vol. 1 no. 4, september 2019 23