Damenews 
How investments in the logistics sector could unlock Africa’s trade potential
In the latest episode of Connecting Africa, CNN’s Eleni Giokos and Victoria Rubadiri explore the continent’s expanding logistics sector to see how major investments in ports, railways, and airlines could unlock Africa’s trade potential.
After realising the threat of food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic, Nigeria is investing in building what could be Africa’s largest food hub. Origin Tech Group is constructing a state-of-the-art facility across a 220-hectares of land that will have storage capability for five million metric tons of dry and cold food.
Sola Ige, the principal architect on the project explains, “What we are looking at here is to store a significant amount of food that will last Lagosians for 90 days, should a crisis in the mode of Covid ever occur again.”
Food supply is not able to keep pace in part due to mounting logistic hurdles including poor roadways, high transportation costs, and lack of storage. Prince S. J. Samuel, Chairman of Origin Tech Group discusses the logistic challenges, “Looking across Africa, I think it is time for change. When looking at the food system, you wonder why we still imports a lot of things. It’s because you don’t have the market-led system. I’ve not seen a lot of it developed. I believe that this project needs to run across Africa very fast and we are privileged to be that company who is willing to help pilot that drive because it has to be localised to each and adapted to the farmer’s culture.”
Having a more reliable stockpile not only helps local consumers but also the farmers who supply the food as well. Hakeem Adeniji, CEO of Tiyasilk Integrated Farms says, “The advent of the central logistic hub, which I have regarded as a game changer. People like us who are in the poultry business, who also see it as a prospect for a greater expansion of our businesses because now that we know that there is access to market, there’s a place we can always take our eggs. Now you have adequate return on your investment and when you continue to do that, that means you have business stability.”
The hub will serve as a storing, processing, and distribution centre for all of Nigeria with the intention of expanding to serve the broader region. Ige tells CNN, “The potentials are huge, half a billion tons of food in the space. It’s not a joke. We are not thinking local really, we are thinking at least for the African continent, we can repeat this in several countries, and it’ll be like Africa ceases to be the hunger capital of the world, and we can start exporting food also to the rest of world.”
These interviews were featured in a recent episode of Connecting Africa on CNN International.
‘Connecting Africa’ airs on CNN International at the following times:
Saturday 1st March 2025 at 0630 WAT
Sunday 2nd March 2025 at 0500 WAT, 1200 WAT and 2330 WAT
Monday 3rd March 2025 at 2245 WAT
Wednesday 5th March 2025 at 2245 WAT
Saturday 8th March 2025 at 0730 WAT
Sunday 9th March 2025 at 0330 WAT and 1830 WAT
Monday 10th March 2025 at 0400 WAT
