By News Editor
Transportation Correspondents Association of Nigeria (TCAN) a chapel under the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), have challenged the new minister of Transportation Senator Sa’idu Alkali, to transform the transportation sector and leave indelible footprints like his predecessors.
While congratulating the new minister, who was appointed and sworn in on Monday August 21, 2023, by President Bola Tinubu, they urged him to target the low hanging fruits first to lift the sector which is critical to the economy.
In a statement issued on Friday and signed by its Chairman Adeyinka Aderibigbe and Secretary, Fidelis Ugbomeh, the group said they are happy that the mantle of leadership fell on the laps of Alkali at this time, when the eyes of all Nigerians are on the Tinubu to provide palliatives that would bring the needed relief, especially in the area of transportation.
They said that the Minister would among other things, coordinate all transportation interventions proposed by the Federal Government and interface with the state governments such as coordinating the mass transit buses, which the government promised to distribute among the states and bus operators, and the take-off of the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), and electric vehicle alternative that the government proposes to replace dependence on fossil fuel on which subsidy has been removed.
But beyond the palliative assignment which TCAN in the statement said may define the trajectory of Alkahi’s tenure, they argued that the Minister must ensure that transportation contributes more to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
As the guardian of the sector which has given birth to two unique ministries – Aviation and Marine and Blue Economy, TCAN urged the new minister to make the best out of the remaining three modes left in the ministry which are road, rail and pipelines, to operate efficiently.
“The minister must, for instance, sustain the legacy of the Buhari administration on rail transformation by continuing all ongoing railway rehabilitation and modernisation agenda of the federal government.
They urged him to put to rest, as a matter of urgency, the current Nigerian Railway Masterplan, the 25 year roadmap, which would come to term in 2025, adding that the minister should as quickly set up a committee of experts to review the current roadmap and take a holistic review of all that has happened in the sector in the last 10 years to develop another long term roadmap for Nigeria’s railway sector.
According to the statement, “One of the areas on which work must be expedited was the rehabilitation of the Eastern narrow gauge Line which runs from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri.
Even on the Western Line, the rehabilitation of the narrow gauge rehabilitation must be sustained as it remained a major route till date for cargo freight from the Lagos to the commercial city of Kano.
Also, the minister must reactivate the third and final Lot of the Western Line Standard Gauge railway called the Lagos – Kano rail, which presently stopped at Ibadan, even as it stated that must begin on the Kano-Katsina-Maradi Standard Gauge Rail line stalled by insecurity in the Northwest zone.
Still on rail development TCAN urged the minister to bring the Tinubu administration back to the coastal rail line that was designed to link all Nigeria’s southern states’ capitals from Lagos to Calabar, to actualize the federal government’s dream of linking all state capital by rail and catalyse intra state rail development for mass transit.
They urged the minister to ensure the full implementation of all resolutions of the National Council on Transportation (NCT), which is the highest national advisory body, which comprised of all commissioners of transportation, one of which was to ensure that all states of the federation must establish ministry of transportation. They said it is sad that only about 20 out of 36 states have complied.
They urged the minister not to lose sight of the specialised university of transportation in Daura, but ensure it fully comes on stream to help Nigeria to build requisite manpower to man the sector.
TCAN charged the minister to deliver to Nigerians as quickly as possible a transportation policy, the development of which has reached an advanced stage, in an attempt to transform the sector and position it for greater efficiency.
They assured of the readiness of the transportation media corps to partner with the minister and the ministry, in the task of positioning transportation for greater efficiency.
They urged the minister to reciprocate the good gesture by ensuring that he carries the media corps along in the discharge of his assignments as partners in progress in the overall interest of the Nigerian masses.
ENDS