Energy is essential to our way of life. It is consumed by nearly all the activities of our economy, and households consume it every day for our personal comfort and for most of our travel. Energy is consumed in different forms, the most common being gasoline, natural gas, and electricity, but other forms also exist, such as biomass and solar energy. The transport sector, particularly in Nigeria, plays a critical role in national energy consumption and has a strong implication to the Energy balance of the country. All planners including those at the energy sector are aware of the rising trend in the population and rate of urbanization which all have strong overbearing strain in the available energy resources in Nigeria. Energy consumption in the transport sector is so enormous that its study cannot be so exhaustive especially looking at the nature of transport system, the modal splits and the transport policy in the country.

In 2005, Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) recorded domestic consumption of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS) and Automotive Gas Oil (AGO). Even when biomass and other renewable energy forms for which data are available are included in the Nigerian national energy demand profile, the transport sector still accounted for about one third of the country's energy demand in almost all the years in focus. Petroleum products, petroleum motor spirit, diesel, fuel oil and dual purpose kerosene are the main fuels consumed in the sector. The sector is responsible for the highest portion of petroleum fuels consumed in the country in the past two decades. It is also the sector responsible for the highest consumption of fossil fuel in the country in all the historical years. One of the dominant factors that driver the energy demand in transport sector is mode and types of transport. The factors are broken down into efficiency and age of vehicles, transport infrastructure, lifestyle, urbanization, population growth rate.

Energy balance is a snapshot of the annual energy flows in a country showing energy production, trade, conversion and consumption of fuels, including electricity profiles with detailed information on the production, trade and consumption of electricity, net installed capacity and power plant input and efficiency. Petroleum products dominate Nigeria's energy consumption mix, averaging 77% of the total over the last five years. The transport sector consumes about 70% of the total petroleum products in the country. Some of our recommendations are; utilization of compressed natural gas (CNG) as a transport fuel, use of bio-fuels as transport fuel, utilization of bio-diesel as transport fuel, introduction of bus rapid transit systems, use of more efficient vehicles, levies and tax on private car usage, and transportation infrastructural development.

Transport is a key element in the social and economic development of any country. An efficient transport system provides access to points of employment, health and education. However, despite the important contributions of transport to national development, the environmental and social costs of transport are significant. In Nigeria, more than 70 per cent of energy consumption is in the transport sector.The transport system in Nigeria reveals that cars for passenger urban transportation consume the highest amount of petroleum products. It is also observed that biomass and electricity has little or no contribution in the share of fuels for transport in Nigeria. These factors shape how energy is consumed in the transport sector and are responsible for the present and future trend of energy consumption in the sector.