Supply Chain Resilience and Transport Disruption Management in the Nigerian Pharmaceutical Sector

Supply chain resilience in the pharmaceutical sector is a matter of public health consequence, as transport disruptions can interrupt the distribution of life-saving medicines. This study analyses supply chain resilience and transport disruption management practices in the Nigerian pharmaceutical distribution sector, focusing on companies operating from Lagos and Ogun states in the South West zone. A mixed methods design combining structured questionnaires administered to 60 supply chain managers with in-depth case analysis of four pharmaceutical distributors is employed. The study operationalises supply chain resilience through four dimensions: robustness, agility, adaptability, and recovery speed, and measures these against documented transport disruption events including fuel shortages, road closures, and flooding. Findings reveal that pharmaceutical companies with multi-carrier transport strategies and pre-negotiated emergency delivery contracts demonstrate significantly higher resilience scores. However, cold chain transport resilience is particularly weak, with over half of sampled companies lacking redundancy plans for temperature-sensitive product logistics. The study identifies regulatory requirements for product traceability as an underexplored driver of transport management discipline in the sector. Analysis reveals a gap in existing literature regarding the interaction between transport resilience and product quality assurance outcomes in developing country pharmaceutical supply chains. Recommendations include the mandatory integration of transport risk assessments into pharmaceutical distribution licencing requirements, investment in cold chain logistics redundancy, and collaboration with transport operators on shared resilience planning. Keywords: supply chain resilience, pharmaceutical logistics, transport disruption, cold chain, Nigeria.