LAGOS, March 4 (Reuters) - It costs as much as five times more to ship goods into Nigeria than it does to deliver items via other African ports, consultancy SBM Intelligence said in a note on Wednesday.

* SBM tracked shipments from the European Union into Appapa, a key import hub in Nigeria's commercial capital of Lagos, Durban in South Africa and Tema in Ghana over three months.

* The results showed that total costs to get items into Lagos are five times higher than in Durban and three times higher than in Tema.

* Local transport added the biggest amount, costing 10 times as much in Lagos compared with the other ports

* The figures are significant, as Nigerian businesses say poor infrastructure pushes up costs and puts them at a disadvantage as Nigeria prepares to enter the African Continental Free Trade Agreement.

(Reporting by Libby George; Editing by Mark Potter).