Nigeria has a rare opportunity to electrify container transport at a scale never seen before in West Africa – leapfrogging fossil-powered infrastructure to align with a fast-growing global shift.
Among West African nations, Nigeria is uniquely positioned to lead the charge on this shift. It handles the lion’s share of the region’s imported cargo (70%) and has the largest economy, population and industrial base, making it a natural anchor for low-carbon logistics.
While a phased approach to replacing fossil fuels can be necessary in some instances, the Nigerian container transport sector offers a major opportunity to leapfrog incremental technologies, such as diesel upgrades or gas-powered equipment, and avoid costly lock-in in a context of falling battery and solar prices. This can also drive public and private investments towards significantly upgrading Nigeria’s power grid infrastructure, especially transmission and distribution
This study makes the case for electrifying Nigeria’s container transport sector, quickly and at scale. With battery and solar costs falling, and growing pressure to avoid long-term investments in fossil infrastructure, the time to act is now. Electrifying this sector isn’t just about emissions. Container transport already moves over half of Nigeria’s imported goods by value. As trade and GDP rise over the next five years, that share will only grow.
Done right, this shift could unlock major climate, economic and social benefits – and trigger much-needed upgrades to Nigeria’s power grid.
Read the full whitepaper to see what’s possible, what’s at stake, and why this moment matters.
