The Federal Government has been urged to prioritize the conclusion and implementation of the national transportation policy that would effectively benefit all Nigerians.
Professor of Transportation at Lagos State University (LASU), Samuel Odewumi, gave the charge while delivering the 99th inaugural lecture series of the university at the Buba Marwa Auditorium of the institution on Tuesday.
He emphasized that the policy should be comprehensive, covering all modes of transportation, such as road, air, rail, water, and pipeline.
Additionally, Prof. Odewumi who spoke on, “Walking our way back to the garden of Eden: Envisioning a model of the complete metamorphosis of the urban transportation system trajectory,” called on the government to address the prevailing insecurity that is a dampener on the growth and prosperity of the Nigeria’s transport system, making it unattractive to farmers and other segments of the society.
According to him, all modes of transportation in Nigeria need overhauling and only a holistic transportation policy would address sector specific concerns these modes are battling with.
He noted with dissatisfaction that Nigeria’s transportation sector is balkanized and its functioning scattered across at least three major government ministries and sundry other agencies which makes nonsense of the push to measure the impacts of the sector to the economy.
This situation, he said, has greatly displeased the Nigerian academia and professional associations such as the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria(CIOTA).
According to him, road and rail management, inland and international waters, the Ministry of Aviation and the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) which serves the pipeline, and the Ministry of Works (road construction), should all have been under one umbrella body – Ministry of Transportation – with an overall minister, and a minister of state to head each of the other units.
This arrangement, he pointed out, would have unleashed the sector’s full potential in its facilitation and contribution to the national economy.
Speaking further, the don, who was the former dean of the School of Transport and Logistics at LASU, gave several other recommendations capable of substantially moving the nation’s transport sector forward.
He said the government would need to give special attention in terms of effective management of road transportation, because about 90 per cent of all mobility in the country is carried out on roads.
He emphasized the urgent need for professionalizing of the transport sector at the three levels of government which would allow experts and trained manpower who understands the system to be in charge at all levels of governance – national, state and local.
The inaugural lecturer, however, commended the Lagos State government for concluding its own transportation policy which he said was presented to the stakeholders on 28th of May this year, advising that any further review necessary for the workability of the all-important document should be carried out without delay.
He said the document if well reviewed would set a pace for the Federal and other state governments still battling with coming up with their own form of policy to drive the transportation sector in their domains.
Among other major dignitaries at the event are traditional rulers, crème of the academia, management of the institution and the Pro-Chancellor of the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, Professor Siyan Oyeweso.