LOGISTICS INTEGRATION ACROSS THE PROJECT LIFECYCLE IN NIGERIAN PUBLIC INFRASTRUCTURE DELIVERY: EVIDENCE FROM THE ABUJA-KADUNA RAILWAY PROJECT

Abstract

Major public infrastructure projects depend on complex flows of materials, equipment, information, personnel and operational assets, yet logistics is frequently treated as an execution-stage activity rather than a requirement extending across the entire project lifecycle. This review article examines how logistics obligations can be understood across initiation, planning, execution, monitoring and control, and closure in Nigerian public infrastructure delivery, using the Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge Railway as a single documentary case. The study adopts a qualitative documentary-analysis design and integrates project-management, logistics and public-procurement perspectives. Publicly available project records, Nigeria's Public Procurement Act 2007, institutional materials and established project and logistics-management literature are analysed through a lifecycle matrix covering logistics feasibility, planning, mobilisation, material and equipment flows, control, commissioning and operational transition. The analysis indicates that logistics decisions arise before physical mobilisation and continue beyond construction completion. At initiation, accessibility, financing, implementation structure and broad supply requirements shape feasibility; planning converts these assumptions into schedules, sourcing arrangements and movement plans; execution requires coordinated physical and information flows; monitoring and control depend on visibility over deliveries, inventories and constraints; and closure requires demobilisation, documentation, commissioning and transfer of operational assets. The review further finds that the Public Procurement Act establishes important governance controls for procurement planning, specifications, tendering, evaluation and contract administration but does not expressly establish a standalone logistics-feasibility test. Consequently, a project may satisfy formal procurement requirements while important logistics dependencies remain embedded within technical specifications, contractor methodology or contract administration. The article recommends incorporating logistics-readiness assessments into procurement planning and project approval processes for complex public infrastructure.