Automating the Haulage Industry in Nigeria
The haulage industry in Nigeria is gradually transforming into what I termed an emerging “hybrid” sector, thanks to a new crop of brilliant minds who have tapped into the power of technology in order to make haulage/logistics processes seamless within our geographical landscape. Such minds are kobo.com, Oneport365.com etc etc who are re-defining the haulage space in Nigeria through creating applications and online platforms for users to get things done at the comfort of their homes and also through direct and indirect creation of employment opportunities for those at the middle of the pyramid. Interestingly, the Covid19 era also serve as a catalyst for customers to engage with these brilliant innovation.
For instance, OnePort 365 connects haulage equipment and warehouse owners with importers and exporters who are either bringing goods into Nigeria and distributing across the country or those that are accumulating products for onward shipment abroad. In other words from the point A to point Z of logistics is made achievable on just one platform.
However, the challenges that the industry still face includes but not limited to bad roads, lack of knowledgeable truck drivers, and other arrays of factors which we call the “Nigerian Factors”. All these do have an effect on the ability of the online logistics platforms to transform online “proposed-deliverables” into “offline and real-time” performance. We must however give kudos to the initiators for the bold step in starting a paradigm shift in a sector that has for long being dominated by unqualified people. We still have a long way to go to overcome these hurdles but with initiatives like these, we have just began a journey towards tapping into the multi-billion dollar potentials of the haulage transportation industry in Nigeria either from data generation or through physical activities within sector.
It is a clarion call to the Federal Government of Nigeria to continue to create an enabling environment for this critical sector to strive. Thanks for the read. My Regards
