The Nation Newspaper

Category: Transportation

  • New dawn of modern tracks for rail

    New dawn of modern tracks for rail

    President Muhammadu Buhari will today launch the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge. The epochal event is holding five days after the National Assembly repealed the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Act of 1955. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE x-rays the implications of this for the transportation sector.

    HISTORY will be made today as President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurates one of the Nigerian Railway Corporation’s (NRC’s) new flagship brand – the standard gauge transit train service – that will run from Idu in Abuja to Rigasa in Kaduna.

    This is coming on the heels of the repeal of the NRC Act 1955 by the National Assembly last Thursday.

    The bill was sponsored by the Senate Committee Chairman on Land Transport, Senator Olugbenga Ashafa (APC Lagos East).

    Ashafa on his twitter handle said: “The Nigerian Senate has passed the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act, 1955 Repeal and Re- enactment Bill, 2016. I’m indeed excited and elated. The @NGRSenate today passed the #RailwayBill2016 as recommended by our Committee.”

    The Act, he said, marked the beginning of the transformation of the railway sector which will now be open to private sector participation.

    A major plank of the new Act is that it  separates the regulator from the operators. “With the passing of the bill, Nigerians should expect a radical shift in performance by all operators.

    “A whole lot of the clauses have been repealed and re-enacted. We looked at the bill, clause by clause and expunged 212 clauses and re-enacted others. Nigerians should expect a radical change,” Ashafa added.

    Senate President Dr Bukola Saraki said the Act is a bold step in moving the transportation, especially railway, forward.

    Though the journey to put Nigeria on the  modern train-user nations’map has been tortuous, it is another example of the administration’s commitment to sustaining the projects inherited from its predecessors. The Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge project was conceived by successive Peoples Democratic Party’s (PDP’s) administrations, this government ran with it because it holds the key to resolving the mass transit challenges in the country.

    Until the coming of the new rolling stock, that will run on a much-wider spectrum of tracks, the NRC was the butt of jokes from Nigerians, who derided its rundown assets, which ironically in the 50s, were synonymous with the  nation’s aspirations and technological development.

    The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, on assuming office, blamed the old management for the trains crawling on antiquated tracks.

    For a nation that for over 100 years used a 3ft 6in or 1,067 mm gauge tracks, Nigeria now  has a wider gauge of 4 ft 8 ½ in or 1,435 mm standard gauge.

    Like in other climes, the standard gauge, which is proposed to crisscross the country, will lead to a reduction in congestion, especially when linked to the ports, as in Kenya, when it was linked to the Port of Mombasa. It reduced the cost of transportation, contributed to the growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), reduced wear and tear on highways, and led to reduction in cost of maintenance.

    Other benefits of the new standard gauge is reduction of heavy trucks on the roads, which will lead to a drop in road crashes and  safer roads, speed up industrialisation through cheaper transportation and the establishment of new industries to service the new trains and the protection of the environment through reduction of carbon emission.

    NRC’s Acting Managing Director Mr Fidet Okhiria said the new facility would improve the profile of land transportation.

    Okhiria said the service would ease pressure on the roads, and goods and services delivery.

    He said: “This project will take a lot pressure off the roads, the roads will last longer and accidents will reduce.

    “Rail infrastructure brings development. In less than a year, you will see industries and estates spring up along this rail corridor because of the presence of a reliable means of transportation,”

    On the opportunities for increased cargo services, the NRC chief said: “The corporation is  moving three trains of fertiliser from Lagos to Kaduna for Flour Mills. We started moving for Lafarge from Gombe to Kafanchan and Kaduna. We are still talking with the petroleum marketers to partner with us.

    “At present, we have a few customers we move petroleum products for with our pressurised tanks. We also use some to move our diesel across our stations. We use over 15 trucks of diesel a month.

    “We will also have parcel wagons running on Abuja to Kaduna, but would not carry huge loads. We have 20 rail wagons and open wagons.”

    Kicking off the new price regime for the novel system last Thursday, the Minister, who was accompanied by the All Progressives Congress (APC) National Chairman, Chief John Oyegun, the National Vice Chairman for Southwest Olusegun Oni, and other party chieftains, said the project was ready for commercial operation.

    Amaechi said passengers, who intend to board executive class, would pay N900 while those on the economy class would pay N500.

    On the perimeter fencing of the train station, Amaechi disclosed that the contract had been awarded and that work would soon begin on it.

    “When we get money, we will start fencing the terminal off. The contract has been awarded and we are looking for money. We hope to start fencing in the next two to three months.

    “We are expecting new locomotives and when it comes, we will then make arrangement in next year’s budget to buy more coaches so that we can have one of the trains stopping in all the stations and the other doing Kaduna – Abuja,” the minister said.

    Logistics experts said the government was taking an holistic view and expanding the new rail network across the country, with the signing of the $11 billion Calabar-Lagos rail contract, with the Lagos-Kano Standard Gauge rail project, a carry over from the Obasanjo era.

    Nigerians, especially from the Southsouth, could hardly wait for much longer before they can begin to board modern coaches from Calabar to Uyo, to Aba, and to Port Harcourt on the Calabar-Lagos project’s first phase and from Lagos to Ibadan also in the first phase of the Kano-Lagos standard gauge project.

     

    Implications

     

    Senate President Saraki hit the bull’s eye on the issues involved in the expansion of transportation infrastructure when he said the reform of the railways was important to the nation’s economic revival.

    He said: “The government alone cannot provide the funding needed to upgrade the rail infrastructure, therefore, there is the need to allow the private sector participate so that the burden of funding may be off the government.

    “There is no way we can address our mass transportation challenge without a direct engagement with the private sector. With a good and efficient transportation system in place people will talk less of cost of fuel.”

    Saraki’s view was re-echoed by Mr Adeolu Dina, a transportation expert, who said: “People will not worry about fuel scarcity if they know that they have an efficient mass transportation system that will move them from place to place.”

    ‘’If the government reduces the NRC to a regulator and invite private operators to get actively in the railway, it would lead to improved train services,’’ he said.

    Dina, a lecturer at the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago Iwoye, Ogun State would, however, want the NRC to improve on the speed of the standard gauge.

    He wondered why the train would be spending about five hours to travel from Idu in Abuja to Kaduna, when its speed is expected to be about 150 km per hour. He said the NRC should justify the investment of the government in the new trains by ensuring that passengers have a new travel experience once they board.

  • Wanted: Viable national transportation policy

    Wanted: Viable national transportation policy

    Last Tuesday, Nigeria initiated moves of having a National Transportation Policy. For 56 years, the sector has operated without one. Is this the coming of the much awaited new dawn for the sector? asked ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    How do you drive a national transportation machinery for Nigeria without a policy?

    This is the nut  Mr Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi has been trying to crack since he became the Minister of Transportation last year. Managing a ministry that has piloted the transportation system for more than five decades without a policy could be frustrating.

    At a stakeholders’ workshop of the Road Transport Management and Mass Transit Operators in Nigeria, organised by his ministry in Abuja, Amaechi said it was disheartening  not to have a transport policy.  The closest the country has always been policy draft.

    Amaechi’s concern is that the  sector cannot go far without a policy  to serve as a compass. The policy will guide states and the centre in tackling transportation challenges.

    According to the minister, road transportation is bedevilled by problems. He said the sector also suffers from poor infras-tructure and near-absence of a regulatory framework.

    His words: “A number of cities do not have urban road design policies and those that claimed to have, have too many obsolete and inconsistent designs that are at variance with current global realities.”

    The minister, expressed delight that the Federal Ministry of Power, Works and Housing (PWH) and its counterparts at the states are improving on road designs.

    Amaechi’s worry has, for a long time, been the concern of many stakeholders and logistics experts. To pundits, the absence of a policy is the bane of good and sustainable transportation infrastructure which all the states must subscribe to.

    He challenged participants to evolve a workable document that the country would be proud of, urging them to redefine mass transit operations in Nigeria, develop short, medium and long-term policies to address  road transport challenges and evolve mechanisms for non-motorised transport systems such as cycling and walking.

     

    Why the policy?

     

    Transportation plays a key role in a nation’s social economic development.  A functioning and well integrated transport system would  stimulate national development, enhance quality of life,  enable seamless movement of goods and people, and facilitate the spatial linkages between separated facilities and social contact and interaction. Good transportation systems also provide access to employment, health, education, alleviate regional inequality and fosters national integration.

    A good transportation policy increases access to markets and links local, regional, national and international markets and promotes economic development by increasing access to labour and physical resources, thus facilitating the realisation of a country’s comparative advantages.

    The overall efficiency and effectiveness of the transport system is of tremendous benefits for road, air and water modes of transportation and their integration.

    The evolution of modern transport system in Nigeria can be categorised into two phases: The colonial and the post-colonial period. While the first, marked the origin of modern transport system, with the three networks developed essentially to meet the exportation of cash crops, such as groundnuts, cocoa, cotton and palm products and the importation of cheap, and mass produced consumption goods.

    The transportation systems of this era were planned in the most economic way possible, as typified in sub-standard road with poor sub-base, which later proved inadequate for heavy duty vehicles and poor rail alignments, which grossly hampered train speed and post colonial development.

    With the attainment of independence came a re-orientation of goals with transportation becoming one of the instruments of unification of the country and an important tool for social and economic development.

    The development of petroleum resources from the 1950s further put increasing demands on the transport system and had significant impact on the nation’s social and economic growth.

    Goods and passenger movements in Nigeria were done mainly by road, with the railway and inland waterways playing less important roles. International freight movement is principally by sea while air transportation is the main passenger carrier.

    All the transport sub-sectors suffer from the effects of past shortages of resources, and this  reflected in inadequate maintenance. In the road transport sub-sector, the lack of road maintenance often necessitates subsequent reconstruction.

    The inadequate replacement and the poor maintenance of vehicles, contribute to high social costs of atmospheric pollution, and results in high operating costs. In the case of the railways, the lack of necessary resources to keep tracks, rolling stocks and maintenance facility in reasonable working condition produced a serious deterioration of the railway system. Similar problems affected the inland waterways, resulting in its inability to perform useful functions.

    For transport operators, these problems created a feeling of despondency, decline in morale and exacerbated management/employee tension. Feeling of despondency and low morale caused further deterioration and growing problems of the system, creating a vicious circle. Breaking this circle is the overriding immediate objective of the country’s national transport policy.

    Though one of the predisposing factors impeding the successes of any policy as contained in the transport policy draft issued by the Federal Government in August 2010, remains the large size of the country, yet according to the document, transportation remains the only means of linking people with opportunities in the various locations across the country.

    As lofty as the dream of a packaged transport policy was, it has existed  more as a draft than a policy. Such was the frustration of transport experts as they seem to have lost count of the many of such drafts that exist in the Ministry of Transport archives. A former General Manager of the defunct Lagos State Transport Corporation (LSTC) and pioneer Head, Department of Transport Studies, Lagos State University (LASU), Dr Tajudeen  Bawa’Allah, who was a member of committee of such drafts since 1974, would simply want Amaechi to constitute another committee to review previous drafts to arrive at one that would suit the current needs of the country.

    Bawa’Allah made this observation believing that the nation’s problems have largely remained unchanged over the years. “Take the 1993 draft for instance, the document had said: at present, the Nigerian transport system functions in a crisis situation, and one of the principal causes of this crisis was “the major imbalance between the needs of Nigerian society and economy for adequate transport facilities and the ability of the transport sector to meet such demands,” Bawa Allah said.

    Similar sentiment was contained in the 2010 draft document. The imbalance in supply and demand for transport capacity overall, and in the development of the different modes of transport, have in fact, increased over the period since 1993.

    This does not mean that during these years no efforts were made to improve and maintain the system and make it function. A significant improvement existed, but overall, the demand for transport services in Nigeria seemed to have exceeded the supply. The Nigerian transport system is still in a very difficult situation that needs urgent remedies.

    Changes and improvement are obviously needed. Therefore, the present National Transport Policy strives to attain maximum realism, both in the identification of the problems and in the assessment of the means to rectify them.

    The responsibility for planning, developing and maintaining the nation’s transport infrastructure is shared among the three tiers of government. To this end, intra-state roads are the responsibility of state governments, while the local governments are required to cater for intra-urban and rural feeder roads, which account for over 60 per cent of the existing road network.

     

    Conclusion

     

    The Federal Government is responsible for the national highways, which constitute only 17 per cent of the existing road network. In addition, the Federal Government, through its agencies, is also responsible for inland waterways/river ports, sea ports, railways, airports and pipelines.

    Furthermore, high-level policies of government in particular, the Vision 20:2020 economic transformation blueprint, seven-point Agenda, NEEDS, Public Private Partnership (PPP) and international commitments such as the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) all  require functional, reliable and effective transport system to, among other things, connect people, places, services, opportunities, etc.

    Experts say the reason for the agitation of a national transport policy is because it is the only document that could provide the guidelines for planning, development, co-ordination, management, supervision and regulation of the transport sector. Another reason they said is to help explain government’s decisions and actions in the sector by espousing the goals and principles that guide it. It is also meant to  identify existing gaps and short-comings and how to address them, just as it will assist in showing how actions in the different modes are linked in the pursuit of common goals. It will also provide the basis for a system of monitoring and accountability, and ensure consistency in the application of policy principles across all modes and in pursuit of different objectives.

    That is why the Emir of Kano, Muhammed Sanusi II, cautioned the Federal Government against selling critical government transportation infrastructure across the country.

    According to the Emir, while private sector capital  is necessary to close the gap in transportation infrastructure deficit, the government must retain ownership while allowing rooms for private investors to recoup their investments with interests.

    He said: “In the wake of inefficiency and lack of sufficient government investments into critical transportation infrastructure like highways, railways, airports and seaports, the government has been considering selling off some of its transports assets to private sector investors.”

    According to the Emir: “Critical transportation infrastructure like roads, rails, sea ports, airports must belong to the public, while allowing private investors to recoup their investments. That balance is critical in going into partnerships and negotiations.

    “The private sector can build, operate and make profits, but the facility still belongs to government. Government cannot afford to hand over seaports, railways and airports, especially for security reasons. The investors will have to have access to recover their investments, but not total ownership of the infrastructure” he noted.

    The Emir asserted that the government must fashion out a transport policy that works for all as transportation is a fundamental human right.

    “You can not talk about private investments into transportation without looking at the macro-economic environment and the government policies towards transport. We need to create enabling environment that will attract local and foreign investments. Is there an overarching consensus on that? Is there the right form of tax incentives, the right form of concessions, and the right ease of doing business and so on? If not, you can have these beautiful plans of building these roads, but in the end you will be building castles in the air,” he said.

    He highlighted themes that should underline the national transport policy document to include: market-based competition that allows private companies to provide infrastructure and services. Secondly, there should be sustainable way to recover cost of investments and the third is that economic development and linkages and externalities must happen for an efficient transport system to happen. “If you have an efficient public transport sector you don’t need a car, you can save your cash and use it for some other critical needs,” he said.

  • Curbing VIS men’s excesses

    Curbing VIS men’s excesses

    Their job is to coordinate motor vehicle administration, which includes checking for road worthiness and certification of drivers. But in many cases, Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) officials over reach themselves. Reports abound on how they extort motorists in the guise of doing their job. ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE and TOBA AGBOOLA report.

    The men in white and black uniform, who, daily ply the roads in yellow Zebra colour-painted vehicles should naturally be motorists’ friends; but are they? From Lagos to Ibadan, Kwara, Kaduna andAbuja, or through the labyrinth of states in the South from Abia to Rivers, the story seems the same: That of graft. And more graft.

    According to motorists, some VIS officials find it convenient to enforce their mandate in breach – eager to do their job only if there is something in it for them.

    The story was told of an online medium worker in Abuja, who some of these men tried to milk of cash over “expired” vehicle papers.

    The man was heading to their office to have  his papers renewed and had called an official in the VIO office in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) to fast-track the process. As he  turned into the street leading to the VIO office, he was flagged down by an official for a ride and once inside the car, upon hearing that the motorist was going to renew his document, he asked for the papers. Suspecting no foul play, the reporter gave him his papers, which were promptly impounded. The officer led the reporter to his boss, who was happy that another offender had been caught.  In the words of the reporter, “they would have continued to make a fuss of the ‘arrest’ if not for the fact that my papers were not expired”. Realising their folly, after this was pointed out to them, they let him off the hook.

    Many motorists claim that the Abuja Vehicle Inspection Service is a graft minting machine. “They (the VIOs) are everywhere and are more notorious than their Lagos counterparts”, an Abuja resident whose vehicle had thrice been impounded by the VIS said.

    Many who found themselves in the same shoes have harrowing experiences to share. Such was the notoriety of the officers in Kaduna that Governor Nasir el-Rufai disbanded the unit last December.

    The action was informed by the officials’ penchant for corrupt practices, indiscipline and lack of respect for the public, a statement by Samuel Aruwan, the governor’s  spokesman said.

    Lagos State Governor Akinwunmi Ambode also last year, directed VIS officials to stop harassing or forcibly taking over citizens’ vehicles under the guise of impounding them.

    Speaking at a meeting with officials of the agency, Ambode said: “I don’t like the practice where our VIS officers harass motorists and impound vehicles for days. Modern technology should be adopted in arresting road offenders and to ensure that the practice whereby vehicles are detained for long in the VIO yards are eliminated.”

    Despite this charge however, motorists in Lagos continued to tell painful stories of their encounter with men of the VIS.

    Take Thompson, who have had encounter with them twice in recent time. The first, he was held at Abule-Egba, for driving a vehicle with a cracked wind screen, while the second time, he was apprehended at Iponri for driving a car with an expired particulars.

    He said: “On both occasions, particularly, the second, despite acknowledging that the vehicle papers expired just the precious day, I was given a N20,000 fine and even when I returned with the bank teller, they demanded for my tax clearance, a development that made me go to their office with the entire tax register for all members of staff of the company I worked for just to show that I pay tax regularly,”  Thompson said.

    This did not assuage the VIS officials, as they requested that I “must drop something for the weekend”, the man added.

    In most instances, motorists have found themselves haggling over the fines levied on them for just any kind of road infraction.

     

    The beginning

     

    The Road Traffic Act of January 1, 1949, which was available as the Road Traffic Act chapter 548 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria (1990) gave birth to the VIO.

    The establishment of the Directorate of Motor Vehicle Administration (formally known as VIO) in the Federal Capital and States of the federation was a product of the 1980 International Treaty on the Harmonisation of the Highways Legislations in the ECOWAS Sub-region signed by the Heads of State and Government, that approved the setting up of appropriate machinery in member-states to be responsible among other thing for: Registration of Vehicle, Issuance of Drivers Licence, Organising of technical inspection of Vehicle and compilation of statistics, movement of goods and passengers by roads.

    Technically, the law empowers the VIS to be in charge of ensuring that a motorist does not evade all road taxes he is expected to pay as a citizen of the country.

    The agency was established to provide oversight functions on road usage by motorists on all Nigerian roads with the view to ensuring decent and responsible usage to guarantee users’ safety.

    However, like the Nigeria Police, the VIS officials have learnt to ambush motorists at bad spots on road stretches to stop suspects and contrive one or two infractions, knowing that “no vehicle plying the roads would be safe from all bookable offences,” with the aim of extorting money from offending motorists.

    While the governments are struggling to come up with innovations to restore public confidence, the field officers simply water it down by their brazen acts of corruption and lack of professionalism.

    The fear of the VIO at Oke-Odo/Ile-Epo/ Abule-Egba is the beginning of wisdom for motorists plying the axis.

    A recent investigation showed that VIS officials on this axis despite the governor’s directive seem to have lost the sense of responsibility, dignity and integrity.

    Motorists on the axis poured out their frustration on the activities of the VIOs to The Nation.

    A commercial driver, Obioma Elendu, said he does not know what is wrong with the VIO that makes them stand in the way of the commercial drivers making a living.

    He said the officials apprehend vehicles unnecessarily even when the vehicle papers are complete. He said they would always find a fault to have vehicles impounded.

    According to him, about two weeks ago, he spent about N8,400 to bail his car because a passenger alighted from his vehicle. He said while he and other drivers alike were trying to make a living, they drive with fear because of the VIO’s excesses in maintaining law and order. He said if proper parks and bus stops were earmarked, it would make a difference. He said all commercial drivers hate the VIOs because of the various ways they embarrass them.

    Kazeem Yusuf, an engineer- turned- commercial driver, said commercial drivers avoid the VIO like plague because despite their having all vehicle papers, ‘’they will still find a way of putting some blame on you and the least fine one could get is N6,000, while the highest fine could be up to N20, 000, which is more than what a commercial taxi operator makes a day’’.

    He said things were hard enough in the country with a sky-rocketing unemployment rate and he would love to see a VIS that is people- friendly and less combative.

    According to him, “Having to deal with VIO and road safety officers or task force officials, makes it more difficult to achieve that dream.”

    He said the pressure by the VIO is getting too much. There are cases of drivers who got involved in accidents while trying to avoid being arrested by the VIO. He said  government should reduce the level of stress put on taxi drivers.

    He said as an operator, no one was sure what the rules and regulations say because by VIO standards, all commercial operators are always on the wrong and must be promptly arrested.

    He pleaded with the government to intervene in the situation and save the sub sector from an imminent collapse.

    “A lot of Nigerians are out there struggling, there are no jobs anywhere,” Kazeem said.

    Mr Tunji Agboola, a private car owner, said the VIOs either in Lagos or elsewhere are out to frustrate motorists because it is obvious that they are after their own personal interests rather than following the ethics of their training.

    Agboola, who in the past had been in the VIS net, said he was stopped by the  VIO at Oke Odo/ Ile Epo axis, and was asked to produce his drivers’ licence. He said he could not produce it immediately because he had left it in his other car at home. He, therefore, asked them to give him 10 minutes to go home and provide it. Before he returned (in less than 10 minutes), they have impounded his vehicle and he was fined N60,000, a sum he considered outrageous.

    He said: “They said I don’t have drivers’ licence, fire extinguisher and reflector. I was able to produce all these but they still fined me N60,000.

    “Right there in their office, right before me, they were celebrating the day’s adventure with wine. This is very unfair,” he said.

    But the VIO Director Mr HafizToriola denied such complicity. He said the agency is neither a foe nor an enemy of motorists in the state, adding that as the agency incharge of ensuring the road worthiness of all vehicles, his men would not rest until they have ensured that all road unworthy vehicles are pulled out of all roads in the state.

    Toriola, who said the agency is now visible in all the 20 local governments, said motorists who have faults with their vehicles either electrical, or mechanical should endeavour to fix them before putting them on the road, or else they would be stopped and such vehicles impounded until they are repaired.

    “We would never allow any motorist to make our roads unsafe in Lagos State. We have been empowered by the state government and more men have been added to ensure that we cover more grounds than we hitherto do in the attempt to ensure that roads are made safer for the commuting people of the state,” he said.

     

    The VIS vs FRSC debate

     

    The Corps Marshal of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) Mr. Boboye Oyeyemi recently stirred the hornet’s nest when he declared that VIOs are not permitted by law to inspect vehicles and drivers’ licences.

    The National Chairman of the Directors/Chief Road Traffic Officers of the Federation Revd Bayo Otuyemi in a swift reaction, however, asserted that VIOs have the right to inspect vehicles and drivers’ licences.

    He mentioned that the VIOs were sufficiently backed by law to inspect both private and commercial vehicles to, not only ascertain their road worthiness but to test their drivers’ competence among others. Otuyemi clarified that the function fell under residual matters and, as such, is not included in either the exclusive or the concurrent legislative list of the 1999 Constitution; implying that only the state Houses of Assembly can legislate on it.

     

  • Aero, firm sign deal on Wifi for passengers

    As part of its comitment to provide world-class internet service experience, Spectranet 4G LTE has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Aero Contractors to provide free internet service to  passengers of the airline at the Murtala Muhammed Airport Terminal Two ( MMA2) in Lagos.

    Speaking at the ceremony at the weekend in Lagos, Spectranet Chief Executive Officer, David Venn, said the Spectranet brand is driven by innovation towards endless experience for consumers across all level, to  enable  them  connect to the internet, irrespective of their  location .

    He said the  choice of Aero was clear and deliberate, based on the strategic discovery of the strength of the airline’s  brand as a leading player in the air transport value chain .

    “Our partnership with Aero Contractors is a statement of the aspiration of Spectranet as a leading brand of ISP and we want to continue to scale up our performance, thus the choice of Aero contractors as a partner to give special experience to  passengers at the Murtala Mohammed Airport,” David said.

    While welcoming the Spectranet team,  Aero Contractors’ Chief Executive Officer, Captain Fola Akinkuotu, said it was exciting to partner with a brand, such as Spectranet 4GLTE, a brand with huge ambitions in the market.

    He praised the Spectranet 4G LTE team for the initiative and drive to contribute to the culture of excellence of Aero with the provision of its internet service offering.

    Captain Akinkuotu said: “We are driven by a culture of excellence and everything we do, from tangible to intangible, is anchored on excellence, so this relationship is a combination of a testimonial to the excellent nature of the Spectranet brand in the market as well as an endorsement of our culture of excellence.”

    He said though the service offering will be in Lagos,      he hoped it would grow with the brand to other markets as the customers of Aero Contractors are in every state of the federation.

    Assuring the Aero Contractors team on its plan to expand across the country, David Venn reiterated       that the firm’s presence is in Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt and Ibadan with plans at advanced stages to be in more cities of the country.

     

  • Easing traffic pangs on Third Mainland Bridge

    Easing traffic pangs on Third Mainland Bridge

    Lagos State Ministry of Transportation has introduced laybys on the Third Mainland Bridge to address traffic congestion, especially around the Oworonshoki corridor. Will it work? ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports

    For most people plying the Third Mainland Bridge spending valuable man-hour in traffic to and from Lagos Island has been a daily experience. For now, there seem to be no way out of  this nightmare. Living on the Mainland and working on the Island is a daily cross they have to bear because of the terrible traffic on the bridge.

    What they go through everyday has somewhat made some Lagosians to ‘vow’ not to have anything to do on the Island, especially on week days. Going or coming out of Lagos Island could be hellish.

    One of those, who has a phobia for the traffic on the Third Mainland Bridge, is Simon Nwabuike, a business executive, who said nothing could make him go to Lagos Island anytime after 2pm.

    “One place I dread to go is Lagos Island. Except when absolutely necessary, I don’t enjoy going to the Island and even now that I run my own firm, I don’t go to the Island once it is 2pm because of the fear of the return trip. If you find yourself stuck on the Island till after 3pm, you are in for a nightmare,” he said.

    Nwabuike may have had a choice to stay away from Lagos Island, but  others such as Samson Iyere, who lives at Iyana Iyesi, a suburb of Ota, Ogun State, and goes to work in Lekki, has no choice. He leaves home by 4.30am to join the staff bus, which moves by 5am. Most times, he not only takes a nap inside the bus, but ends up eating junk food morning and night. Iyere’s lifestyle typifies how almost everyone that finds him/herself working on the Island lives.

    In a news report some six years ago, the Lagos State government said over two billion man-hour were being lost monthly in traffic gridlocks in the megacity.

    The Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Dayo Mobereola, who, in 2012 was  the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authourity’s (LAMATA) Managing Director, said commuters in Lagos spend an average 40 per cent of their income on transportation.

    According to the 2010 news report, Lagos government said much could have been achieved and the economy improved if gridlocks were addressed and travel time on the roads reduced.

    Six years after, one can imagine the quantum of man-hour being lost to traffic gridlocks in Lagos.

    The Third Mainland Bridge, one of Lagos’ super highways, arguably, has the highest frequency of vehicles in the state, especially during work days. The bumper-to-bonnet experience is a daily occurence that is hellish to the motorists and this seemed to have defied logic and solution until lately.

     

    Congestion cost

     

    Traffic congestion has been identified as a major constraint to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of any economy, as it continues to impact negatively on cities’ economic environment.

    In a paper, “Evaluating traffic congestion in developing countries – a case study of Nigeria”, delivered by Dr Kayode Olagunju of the Federal Roads Safety Corps at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Africa Forum in Tanzania last year said the consequences of traffic congestion included productivity loss, change in accident frequency and characteristics, increase in air pollutants and emissions, increased vehicle operating costs and increased noise nuisance.

    The resultant effect could include relocation of businesses and homes from the congested areas to more favourable locations, forcing down the values for land and houses in addition to the degradation of other economic values in such areas.

    Olagunju, quoting Kenya’s Urban Decongestion Committee, said traffic jam in Nairobi city costs Kenya 37 billion shillings annually as at 2014. According to him, the same year, going by a report by McGregor and Malingha, a daily traffic cost in Nairobi was $570,000.

    A 2030 World Bank’s report had estimated that Cairo’s traffic congestion at US $8 billion, which is up to 4 per cent of Egypt’s Gross Domestic Product. The cost worldwide, especially in the developing countries, is better imagined.

    As part of its trouble shooting initiatives, the Lagos State government last Wednesday disclosed the construction of multiple laybys at Iyana-Oworo and along the choke points on the routes, which among others, may permanently address the perennial traffic gridlock on the Third Mainland Bridge at peak hours.

    Conducting reporters round the route, it was observed that when the laybys are completed, travel time on the bridge from Island to Mainland would significantly reduce from about four hours to between 16 and 20 minutes during the peak periods.

     

    What’s in a layby

     

    A layby is a place at the side of a road where a vehicle can stop for a short while without interrupting traffic flow.

    On the development, Mobereola said the government, over time, had observed that the Iyana Oworo layby has become inadequate and deplorable. The effect of this, according to him, was the negative impact on the traffic, which reverberates the length of the third axial bridge. It always results in high vehicular volume inward Alausa.

    Mobereola said the traffic is caused mainly by vehicles, which encroach into the highway when disembarking passengers, causing constriction of the road with traffic gridlock backlash.

    This has led to an average of one and half hours or more of travel time from Obalende to Iyana Oworo in the evenings between 4-6pm, which could grow worse as dusk sets in.

    “This informed our decision to redesign the Iyana-Oworo layby, which we now improved into multiple laybys (six in number), completed with the introduction of perimeter light and a Teflon shelter for the comfort of commuters,” he said.

    He noted that the expansion has taken the choke off the road with average travel time from Obalende to Iyana-Oworo being reduced to 15 minutes during the same period.

    “The gridlock was caused by commuters, who drop passengers on the road. We have emergency layby, lay-by for cars, staff bus, LASTMA   park as well as emergency park.

    “The problem with transportation in Lagos is the traffic at the junctions  and we are assessing it in holistic manner. By the time we are done with Oworonshoki, we will move to the other side of Oworonshoki to address the traffic challenges for those moving towards Island,” he said.

    Mobereola described the lay-bys as part of the holistic measures Governor Akinwunmi Ambode led-administration has taken to unlock the gridlock on the bridge.

    He said the laybys are designed to accommodate a minimum of 36 cars; 18 Coster buses/LAGBUS/BRT and 55 commercial buses.

    From the volume study of vehicles entering Oworonsoki layby, he said, motorists would be able to make Oworonsoki from Adeniji Adele on Lagos Island in less than 20 minutes, and from Law School and Milverton Road, in Ikoyi in 45 minutes. Motorists from Kofo Abayomi, Victoria Island can make Oworonsoki in one hour, and from Ajose Adeogun in two hours.

    Besides the improvement in travel time, the laybys also offered an improved linkage to the jetty, improving on the environment’s aesthetics.

    Motorists, who spoke on their harrowing driving experience on the bridge,  commended the government for coming up with a strategy, which according to them, has reduced their travel time on the bridge.

    Adelanwa Peter, a commuter, who works in Obalende, said he left Lagos Island about 5:58pm and got to Oworonshoki around 6:20pm.

    Isaac Okon, a commercial driver, said the layby has reduced  traffic on  the road, adding that the average time he spends on the road is between three to four hours from Island to Mainland, using Third Mainland Bridge.

    Richard Ayenibiowo, another commuter, urged the government to focus on other gridlock-prone joints and areas as it did at Oworonshoki /Third Mainland Bridge axis, adding that traffic gridlock is a major challenge confronting residents in the state.

    “This is because in the morning as early as 5:30am, traffic would have built up on almost every part of the state as a result of the inability of the roads to cope with the current use to which the roads are put,” he said.

    Explaining the project, Director, Transportation Engineering, Mr Bolaji Bada, said the Oworonsohoki layby, which is about 60 per cent completed, would come with two parallel roads at Olopomeji, drainage, interlocking/reinforced concrete pavement, kerb/ retaining wall, street light and bus shelter.

    Mobereola said other laybys would be constructed at Alapere, Berger, the intersection at Ilubirin and at Gbagada axis, to address the traffic congestion that usually occurs along those routes. All of these, he added, are aimed at tackling traffic congestion in a holistic manner.

    “The project content include: Parallel alternative road, Iyana Oworo layby, Berger layby, Lagbus. Layby and panel wall. We are also creating another road at Olopomeji,” he said.

  • Rail plots to stop rooftop ride

    Rail plots to stop rooftop ride

    Despite efforts by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to stop them, passengers keep riding on trains’ rooftop at the risk of their lives. Will Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi’s directive to NRC Acting Managing Director Fidet Okhiria on the issue change things? ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE reports.

    Time was 6p.m. The Iddo-Agbado-Ijoko Mass Transit Train Shuttle (MTTS) was loaded as it made its way out of Iddo Terminus last Wednesday. In some coaches there was still enough leg-room to stretch tired limbs, as many made the return trip home. But the story began to change when  the train got to Ebute-Metta (popularly known as EBJ), where passenger spillage first became noticeable. Those who had bought ticket, but could not find seat in the coaches made do with the gang ways.

    But as the train got to Oshodi, the surge became uncontrollable. Hordes of passengers rushed towards the station, trying to make their way into the coaches to take the seats of those disembarking. Many of those with tickets, could not get space inside, climbed the roofs of the coaches.

    Within minutes, the rooftops of the 16 coach-train were filled as passengers sat on all available spaces, including the locomotive engine compartment, cargo and electricity generating set cabins.

    That happened barely 24 hours after the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, directed the NRC Acting Managing Director, Mr Fidet Okhiria, to curb the menace.

    For Amaechi, it would be better for passengers to board the train without tickets than the suicidal ride atop the train. He argued that the government has no business in the business of transportation if it cannot guarantee people’s safety.

    Instances abound where roof riders were the victims of train derailment either at home or abroad. Despite the growing awareness of the danger, many prefer the rooftop ride, which a passenger last Wednesday aptly described as “a ride on Tiger’s tail”.

    Barely a year ago, scores of passengers fell to their death as an MTTS train collided with a truck at the Agege level crossing. In another instance, several rooftop riders were reportedly killed two months ago when the brakes of a Kano bound train failed at the foot of the River Niger at Jebba, in the Moro Local Government of Kwara State.

    The minister’s charge has again raised the need to address the question: “Why do low-income earners and, or people in developing economies choose to die cheaply? Is it in all cases that the ‘passengers’ had no fares as espoused by the Minister?”

    Rooftop riding is a world-wide phenomenon identified as pervasive among the poor. The majority of those who opt for this illegal and risky ride are assumed to be poor and unable to pay their way.

     

    Costly option

     

    A survey carried byThe Nation showed that 70 per cent of those  involved in this risky ride, especially on the Iddo-Agbado route, fall within the ages of 21-35 years. It was also discovered that 60 per cent of them are either artisans, hawkers, or those learning a trade and over 90 per cent of them are gruff. Interestingly, about 50 per cent of those who sit on trains’ rooftops have valid tickets on them.

    Though risky, riding atop trains  has become the acceptable way of life for majority of people in this class. Whether on the Lagos-Ogun MTTS, or those riding between border communities on the inter-state Lagos-Kano shuttle.

    The Ijoko-Agbado-Iddo train, which leaves the Ogun State suburb at about 6am, as well as the Iddo-Alagbado-Ijoko trains which returns at about 6.00 p.m., are usually filled to capacity. For them, the train is the cheapest means of transportation. That explains why on many occasions, the Ijoko bound train, which leaves the sleepy town at dawn for Iddo, are usually filled beyond capacity before getting to Agbado, with many passengers, who cannot secure a seat hanging on any available space for the bumpy ride.

    The menace of rooftop riding is, however, usually minimised in the mornings due to the fear of arrest by men of the NRC Police Command. Hell, however, is usually let loose in the evenings, when the security agents are expected to have “officially closed” for work,  as scruffy-looking ‘boys’, suspected to be returning from “work”, take over to display this menace, which begins from 6.00pm as witnessed recently untill the last shuttle at about 9.00 p.m.

    Before the train would hit Mushin station, from Iddo, the coaches, built to carry only 90 passengers, would have been filled to capacity, making the coaches stuffy and largely uncomfortable. Yet, each stop at the several major and minor stations along the routes means more passengers embarking.

    Some of those, who spoke with The Nation insisted that the uncomfortable nature of the train coaches supplied by the NRC on those routes might have been responsible for the sustained surge in the number of riders who sit on rooftops. Muftau, a motorcycle mechanics, who plies his trade at Iddo, said he would most times leave his seat on the second class coaches to sit on rooftop to escape suffocation inside the stuffy coach.

    Muftau said the second class coaches are no better than a manger, with many of the passengers including beggars, and all manners of stench oozing out of the coaches. “I ride on the roof to escape the odour that comes out of the coaches at times and though it is unsafe, I found out that I could breathe better each time I ride on the rooftop of the train,” Muftau, who has been using the MTTS train since 2011 said.

    But apart from trying to escape from the clutch of stuffy cabins, some  riders might have been attracted to the rooftop because of the lure “to do other things”. Mrs Cynthia Israel, a Lagos Island trader and another regular user, who lives in Ijoko, said since she started using the train over three years ago, having moved to Ijoko neighbourhood,  she has found out that many of those sitting on rooftops have tickets.

    “They found the rooftops attractive because it enables them to engage in other things. Many of them actually have valid tickets which they purchased at the railway stations, but preferred to sit on the roof of the train to catch some fun because the spot offers them unfettered freedom to do so many other things, such as drugs,” she said.

    She admitted the coaches are extremely inconvenient for passengers as they are usually over-crowded and stuffy, adding that they have made many of the passengers to decide on climbing the roof top.

     

    Drugs on the tracks

     

    The roof top is a world open to the daring and the bold. While the courageous dare to risk their lives in a bumpy ride where they have only the air to clutch on for safety, only the daring could afford to do drugs on the rooftops while the trains speed to the next station.

    Findings showed that many, who do drugs on rooftops do so to gain inner stamina against the phobia associated with such risks, and more appropriately to “chase away fear”.

    Checks as at last Wednesday showed that the rooftops are home to so many illicit trading in both soft drugs, such as Indian hemp, otherwise called marijuana,  and hard drugs such as heroin and cocaine, or just the usual ‘hot’ drinks and cigarettes of all brands.

    As The Nation correspondent disembarked from the train at Shogunle that fateful Wednesday, he beheld a scene where a young man, who just secured a seat on one of the many heat extractors of the coaches searching his bag to bring out a small piece of paper containing some substances suspected to be Indian hemp inside before wrapping and sealing with it saliva. It was a world of unhindered freedom, where there is no security agents; a world where fear seem to have fled.

    The rooftop offers immunity against crime. It does not mean that those who sit there do not have tickets.  On most occasions, policemen and the ticketers often point to the roofs as another option for those, who either could not secure a place inside the train, or complained of stuffy interiors of the coaches.

    Another  regular user of the train who could only express himself in Pidgin English, said: “Dem no born anybody well to attempt to dislodge dem (the riders). These boys, as we usually call them, are no better than hoodlums and they fit throw down anyone who put mouth for dem affairs comot the train,” he said.

    Habitual rooftop riders kick against any intrusion into their “world”. Four years ago, a photo journalist, the late Tunde Ogundeji,  was beaten up at the Ikeja train station, when he attempted to take the picture of these riders.

     

    Soft enforcement

     

    While the Minister and any casual observer might trace the pervading menace to a total or partial failure of enforcement by security agents, the police said they have been working round the clock and are unrelenting in tackling the menace.

    The NRC Police Command said, last year alone, no fewer than 1,000 rooftop riders were arrested and prosecuted with offenders facing the full wrath of the law. The Command said it would not be intimidated by anyone or group of hoodlums in maintaining law and order on the train.

    They not only denied aiding and abetting the menace, the police said the practice is prevalent only at night after official hours. To them, it is an indication that the riders are afraid of being caught.

    The Railway Police Chief, Mr Pius Imue said the security agencies would double its efforts and are more primed to arrest the menace once the NRC gives the green light.

    “The NRC knows what to do to abate this menace and we can only assure Nigerians that the Police is ready to put this menace in check,” Imue said, via a text message sent to The Nation last Thursday, when he was prodded on what new things the police might do to arrest rooftop riding based on the new Ministerial directive.

     

    Way out

     

    Okhiria said the NRC has been battling the issue of rooftop riders since the renewed tempo on transformation of the railways because of the increased awareness of the cheap price of the railway compared with other road mode of transportation.

    The Acting Managing Director, who spoke with The Nation, said the management, under his leadership, would not rest on its oars until the issue of rooftop riders is erased on all its routes in the country. Okhiria, who had served in several formations of the NRC, said he has met with his management since the ministerial directive and would soon unveil a number of initiatives aimed at achieving the result envisaged by his boss.

    He said: “The NRC had in the past embarked on enlightenment campaigns to drum the awareness of the dangers inherent in rooftop riding to all its intending passengers. We would deploy more aggressive efforts into effectively securing the right of way of the trains as well of all stations, to ward off hoodlums from getting easy access to the railway tracks.

    “This would be in addition to the construction of overhead barriers at all the stations to serve as dangers zone for anyone who might intend to still get to the rooftops after all these steps to enable him see even before the train would eventually leave the station that such was a suicide mission.”

    Okhiria said the NRC would also make bold attempts to address the shortage of coaches that usually results in rooftop riding.

    The NRC boss said the surge in the number of riders are clear indications of the growing acceptability of the train by the Nigerian masses whose needs to move from one point to the other are being served by the Corporation, adding that as more rolling stocks are being added either through the refurbishments of the old stocks or through the new ones being bought by the Federal Government the shortages that caused the menace would be addressed.

    He said it was in response to the need to provide more services and entice more people to embrace the train that the Corporation deployed the First Class Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) coach on the route.

    Okhiria said rooftop riding is prevalent especially in the popular category (second class coaches), because most of the stations on Lagos Districts are porous.

    He said: “Ninety per cent of our stations are porous giving easy access to hoodlums to access the train.”

     

     

  • Getting trains back on productive track

    Getting trains back on productive track

    As Nigerians eagerly await the take-off of the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge train service in the next few weeks, experts say the real transformation will begin when the trains are effectively connected to production centres, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    As the nation awaits the switch to the new standard gauge lines, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Acting Managing Director Mr Fidet Okhiria has said the organisation will increase passenger traffic and put the railway on the global map.

    Okhiria said the move from the narrow gauge (measuring 1,067mm in width), which the corporation has used for over 116 years, to the standard gauge of 1445mm is the crystallisation of a dream.

    Five coaches, which had arrived in the country in February, will ply  the route.

    The NRC chief said with the standard gauge, Nigeria has joined the league of countries providing trains that combine speed, safety and convenience.

    “We are expected to begin the trial run this month, and from there on, the commercial operation will kick off. It is no longer news that the Federal Government is pursuing the realisation of the standard gauge from Lagos to Kano, and another one from Lagos to Calabar, and ensuring the completion of the Kaduna-Abuja and Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Port Harcourt standard gauge tracks.

    “The dream of this management is to support the government in achieving this dream by providing the necessary professional advice to sustain it,” Okhiria added.

    Though the cardinal goal of the Federal Government is to deliver a network of standard gauge tracks, Okhiria said the real development of the railway lay in cargo freighting and linking the trains to production centres of the economy.

    He said the British, a century ago, had constructed the narrow gauges to link food and agricultural production centres to the seaports. Hence, a rail track linked farm settlements, coal and tin mines, cement factories and steel firms, such as the Ajaokuta Steel Company, to the ports. The  economy was affected by the neglect of the rail, thus, its rejuvenation lies in getting the trains back on track, Okhiria said.

    Transportation and logistics experts said the focus of the Federal Government was to run the narrow and standard gauge tracks.

    The trains, they said, should not only concentrate on movement of passengers, but also on freight to support local productive and extractive industries.

    In the heydays of the Nigerian Railways, movement of goods was easy as many lines were connected to production centres.

    The Nigerian Railway Corpora-tion (NRC) has revitalised cargo freight, especially along the western line, moving goods from Lagos to Kaduna and Kano.

    Trains now move cement from Lafarge at Ewekoro, in Ogun State, and flour and wheat from Apapa, Lagos, to the North and also ferry containers from APPM terminals at Apapa, Lagos to Kano.

    Also, the NRC said it was wrapping up talks with oil marketers on moving petroleum products to the North.

    The corporation has acquired 40 pressurised tank wagons with the capacity to lift 800,000 litres of petroleum and is awaiting the association’s resolution to conclude the negotiation, it was learnt.

    Besides, Okhiria said the corporation would, from June, start moving about 150,000 tonnes of coal from Igumale in Enugu State to Port-Harcourt monthly.

    Experts said the way to get the economy back on its feet is to return to the railway, connect the old production centres that gave the nation its fame, and begin to build new ones that would connect new industrial centres to main rail trunks via feeder lines.

    Okhiria said the way to go was for the Federal Government to consolidate on the tempo by constructing new rail tracks. He said the nation needed to construct about 100 kilometres of rail tracks to link new production centres.

    He said it was unthinkable that while Nigeria and India and China were almost at par in railway history in 1996, the countries due to deliberate government policies have become major players in the railway business. China and India construct 1,500 and 1,000 kilometres of rail tracks yearly, and buy coaches, wagons and locomotives.

    “Any country with a developed rail sector has developed by deliberate government policy that had continued to invest in it. South Africa added 150 coaches to its rail system last year, while Cameroon bought 56 Diesel Multiple Unit same year, same as Ethiopia which added 100 first-class coaches to its fleet. Government must be involved because no businessman can run the railway system, just as the railway cannot pay itself,” Okhiria said

    But with statistics putting the construction of a kilometre of track at $3.5 million, it is almost impossible to achieve any growth in the sector without private sector participation.

    That was why many experts were ecstatic about a partnership that would stimulate the sector and complement the deals Nigeria has struck with the Chinese government to develop the sector.

    The Chief Executive Officer of Connect Rail Service (CRS), Mr. Edeme Kelikume, whose company handles railway logistics services for Lafarge Cement and Flour Mill, harped on the development of more rail networks to encourage patronage and reduce the stress of cargo freighting by roads.

    “Train is the way to go. It complements trailers and trucks which we use to move our cargoes to our final destinations and the warehouse. It is a complemen-tary service,” Kelikume said.

    He said one of the major causes of the bad state of the roads was that they were not built to carry the weight they have been subjected to. Many of the roads built to carry only 30 tonnes weight have been subjected to 40 tonnes vehicles, and the prolonged usage of the roads by these vehicles would ultimately damage the roads.

    “Contrary to the misconceptions of Nigerians, the trains would not kill but complement the truck business. The trains will free up the logjams on the roads, save time and make the roads lasts longer. The railway is meant to carry heavy weights, while the roads are designed to carry lighter weights.”

    Findings have shown that you can’t industrialise without the rail. There’s no Information Technology that can solve the need of transporting cargo from one point to another. The railway, which is one of the oldest forms of transportation, remains the most reliable.

    Kelikume said research had shown that at 25km/hour, the rail remains the fastest, safest and cheapest means for cargo movement compared to the trucks, which average speed is about 15 km/hour.

    “If the nation wants to join others that have joined the one billion tonnage club, i.e. countries that run a billion tonnes of cargo rail yealy, like China, Russia, India and the United States, it must revitalise cargo freights. Interestingly, these four countries, despite running a bust cargo rail service also have the highest truck counts,” he said.

    To jumpstart the revolution, Kelikume said his firm was thinking of organising an agric produce and solid mineral rail conference in June.

    “The focus is to see how we can reduce the wastage in the agricultural value chain and fast-track the development of solid minerals. Various research reports suggest that around 50 per cent of goods produced in Nigeria are wasted; and we want to use the combination of our rail logistics and modern storage facilities to reduce the wastage to about 10 per cent. We are also focusing on solid minerals which is the next major frontier that Nigeria is going to explore. It is well documented also that without a vibrant rail system, you cannot achieve meaningful success in solid minerals.

    “If you check the history of Nigeria, the moment the rail system died; our solid minerals industry died. I went to Port Harcourt recently to see the infrastructure that was built decades ago for coal export rotting away. All those things died when our rail died. I went to a coal mine at Enugu and I saw signs that the lines were once very active. So, the conference is to bring back these two very sectors of our economy. It is a full-day event that would have three segments – the first segment would focus on rail transportation, the second would focus on agriculture and the third would focus on solid minerals. We are expecting the three ministers in the sectors to deliver keynote addresses. We are also expecting players from the private and public sector.

    Coordinator of Nigeria Agri-business Group (NABG) Mr Emmanuel Ijewere expressed delight at the potential of the railway in freighting agric produce and solid mineral from the North to the seaports in the South and elsewhere. He said the NABG was  willing to work with Kelikume’s team to reactivate cargo train services.

    “Our rail line was built in 1900. It is a century-old line, actually 116 years old. The NRC must be praised for still using those same old tracks and moving the trains. These are the same lines that were used to move groundnuts, cocoa and coal from Enugu. If there had been continuity over the past couple of years, we would have had a more efficient rail system, and this efficiency is what we are happy to see coming back with this reactivation,” Ijewere said.

    From its little beginning of less than 5,000 tonnes business in 2014 to about 40,000 tonnes last year, Kelikume said railway logistics was a goldmine that would be boosted with the talkshop that is aimed at encouraging the government to continue to invest in the sector that holds the aces to the nation’s wellbeing and economic development.

    The General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Textiles, Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWN), Comrade Issa Aremu, lamented the neglect of the sector by successive governments.

    “The significance of railway cannot be overstated. Development economists are unanimous that railways propelled North America, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, China and India, among others, into industriali-sation,” Aremu said.

    Its cumulative effects in massive job creation and stimulation of macro socio-economic activities across the country, he said, cannot be underestimated.

    Achieving this, however, depends on the commitment of the government to investing massively in the ongoing transformation of abandoned rail projects and opening up new lines.

  • Getting trains back on productive track

    Getting trains back on productive track

    As Nigerians eagerly await the take-off of the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge train service in the next few weeks, experts say the real transformation will begin when the trains are effectively connected to production centres, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    As the nation awaits the switch to the new standard gauge lines, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Acting Managing Director Mr Fidet Okhiria has said the organisation will increase passenger traffic and put the railway on the global map.

    Okhiria said the move from the narrow gauge (measuring 1,067mm in width), which the corporation has used for over 116 years, to the standard gauge of 1445mm is the crystallisation of a dream.

    Five coaches, which had arrived in the country in February, will ply  the route.

    The NRC chief said with the standard gauge, Nigeria has joined the league of countries providing trains that combine speed, safety and convenience.

    “We are expected to begin the trial run this month, and from there on, the commercial operation will kick off. It is no longer news that the Federal Government is pursuing the realisation of the standard gauge from Lagos to Kano, and another one from Lagos to Calabar, and ensuring the completion of the Kaduna-Abuja and Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Port Harcourt standard gauge tracks.

    “The dream of this management is to support the government in achieving this dream by providing the necessary professional advice to sustain it,” Okhiria added.

    Though the cardinal goal of the Federal Government is to deliver a network of standard gauge tracks, Okhiria said the real development of the railway lay in cargo freighting and linking the trains to production centres of the economy.

    He said the British, a century ago, had constructed the narrow gauges to link food and agricultural production centres to the seaports. Hence, a rail track linked farm settlements, coal and tin mines, cement factories and steel firms, such as the Ajaokuta Steel Company, to the ports. The  economy was affected by the neglect of the rail, thus, its rejuvenation lies in getting the trains back on track, Okhiria said.

    Transportation and logistics experts said the focus of the Federal Government was to run the narrow and standard gauge tracks.

    The trains, they said, should not only concentrate on movement of passengers, but also on freight to support local productive and extractive industries.

    In the heydays of the Nigerian Railways, movement of goods was easy as many lines were connected to production centres.

    The Nigerian Railway Corpora-tion (NRC) has revitalised cargo freight, especially along the western line, moving goods from Lagos to Kaduna and Kano.

    Trains now move cement from Lafarge at Ewekoro, in Ogun State, and flour and wheat from Apapa, Lagos, to the North and also ferry containers from APPM terminals at Apapa, Lagos to Kano.

    Also, the NRC said it was wrapping up talks with oil marketers on moving petroleum products to the North.

    The corporation has acquired 40 pressurised tank wagons with the capacity to lift 800,000 litres of petroleum and is awaiting the association’s resolution to conclude the negotiation, it was learnt.

    Besides, Okhiria said the corporation would, from June, start moving about 150,000 tonnes of coal from Igumale in Enugu State to Port-Harcourt monthly.

    Experts said the way to get the economy back on its feet is to return to the railway, connect the old production centres that gave the nation its fame, and begin to build new ones that would connect new industrial centres to main rail trunks via feeder lines.

    Okhiria said the way to go was for the Federal Government to consolidate on the tempo by constructing new rail tracks. He said the nation needed to construct about 100 kilometres of rail tracks to link new production centres.

    He said it was unthinkable that while Nigeria and India and China were almost at par in railway history in 1996, the countries due to deliberate government policies have become major players in the railway business. China and India construct 1,500 and 1,000 kilometres of rail tracks yearly, and buy coaches, wagons and locomotives.

    “Any country with a developed rail sector has developed by deliberate government policy that had continued to invest in it. South Africa added 150 coaches to its rail system last year, while Cameroon bought 56 Diesel Multiple Unit same year, same as Ethiopia which added 100 first-class coaches to its fleet. Government must be involved because no businessman can run the railway system, just as the railway cannot pay itself,” Okhiria said

    But with statistics putting the construction of a kilometre of track at $3.5 million, it is almost impossible to achieve any growth in the sector without private sector participation.

    That was why many experts were ecstatic about a partnership that would stimulate the sector and complement the deals Nigeria has struck with the Chinese government to develop the sector.

    The Chief Executive Officer of Connect Rail Service (CRS), Mr. Edeme Kelikume, whose company handles railway logistics services for Lafarge Cement and Flour Mill, harped on the development of more rail networks to encourage patronage and reduce the stress of cargo freighting by roads.

    “Train is the way to go. It complements trailers and trucks which we use to move our cargoes to our final destinations and the warehouse. It is a complemen-tary service,” Kelikume said.

    He said one of the major causes of the bad state of the roads was that they were not built to carry the weight they have been subjected to. Many of the roads built to carry only 30 tonnes weight have been subjected to 40 tonnes vehicles, and the prolonged usage of the roads by these vehicles would ultimately damage the roads.

    “Contrary to the misconceptions of Nigerians, the trains would not kill but complement the truck business. The trains will free up the logjams on the roads, save time and make the roads lasts longer. The railway is meant to carry heavy weights, while the roads are designed to carry lighter weights.”

    Findings have shown that you can’t industrialise without the rail. There’s no Information Technology that can solve the need of transporting cargo from one point to another. The railway, which is one of the oldest forms of transportation, remains the most reliable.

    Kelikume said research had shown that at 25km/hour, the rail remains the fastest, safest and cheapest means for cargo movement compared to the trucks, which average speed is about 15 km/hour.

    “If the nation wants to join others that have joined the one billion tonnage club, i.e. countries that run a billion tonnes of cargo rail yealy, like China, Russia, India and the United States, it must revitalise cargo freights. Interestingly, these four countries, despite running a bust cargo rail service also have the highest truck counts,” he said.

    To jumpstart the revolution, Kelikume said his firm was thinking of organising an agric produce and solid mineral rail conference in June.

    “The focus is to see how we can reduce the wastage in the agricultural value chain and fast-track the development of solid minerals. Various research reports suggest that around 50 per cent of goods produced in Nigeria are wasted; and we want to use the combination of our rail logistics and modern storage facilities to reduce the wastage to about 10 per cent. We are also focusing on solid minerals which is the next major frontier that Nigeria is going to explore. It is well documented also that without a vibrant rail system, you cannot achieve meaningful success in solid minerals.

    “If you check the history of Nigeria, the moment the rail system died; our solid minerals industry died. I went to Port Harcourt recently to see the infrastructure that was built decades ago for coal export rotting away. All those things died when our rail died. I went to a coal mine at Enugu and I saw signs that the lines were once very active. So, the conference is to bring back these two very sectors of our economy. It is a full-day event that would have three segments – the first segment would focus on rail transportation, the second would focus on agriculture and the third would focus on solid minerals. We are expecting the three ministers in the sectors to deliver keynote addresses. We are also expecting players from the private and public sector.

    Coordinator of Nigeria Agri-business Group (NABG) Mr Emmanuel Ijewere expressed delight at the potential of the railway in freighting agric produce and solid mineral from the North to the seaports in the South and elsewhere. He said the NABG was  willing to work with Kelikume’s team to reactivate cargo train services.

    “Our rail line was built in 1900. It is a century-old line, actually 116 years old. The NRC must be praised for still using those same old tracks and moving the trains. These are the same lines that were used to move groundnuts, cocoa and coal from Enugu. If there had been continuity over the past couple of years, we would have had a more efficient rail system, and this efficiency is what we are happy to see coming back with this reactivation,” Ijewere said.

    From its little beginning of less than 5,000 tonnes business in 2014 to about 40,000 tonnes last year, Kelikume said railway logistics was a goldmine that would be boosted with the talkshop that is aimed at encouraging the government to continue to invest in the sector that holds the aces to the nation’s wellbeing and economic development.

    The General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Textiles, Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWN), Comrade Issa Aremu, lamented the neglect of the sector by successive governments.

    “The significance of railway cannot be overstated. Development economists are unanimous that railways propelled North America, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, China and India, among others, into industriali-sation,” Aremu said.

    Its cumulative effects in massive job creation and stimulation of macro socio-economic activities across the country, he said, cannot be underestimated.

    Achieving this, however, depends on the commitment of the government to investing massively in the ongoing transformation of abandoned rail projects and opening up new lines.

  • Getting trains back on productive track

    Getting trains back on productive track

    As Nigerians eagerly await the take-off of the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge train service in the next few weeks,  experts say the real transformation  will begin when the trains are effectively connected to production centres, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    As the nation awaits the switch to the new standard gauge lines, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Acting Managing Director Mr Fidet Okhiria has said the organisation will increase passenger traffic and put the railway on the global map.

    Okhiria said the move from the narrow gauge measuring 1,067mm in width, which the corporation has used for over 116 years, to the standard gauge of 1445mm is the crystallisation of a dream.

    Five coaches, which had arrived in the country in February, will ply  the route.

    The NRC chief said with the standard gauge, Nigeria has joined the league of countries providing trains that combine speed, safety and convenience.

    “We are expected to begin the trial run this month, and from there on, the commercial operation will kick off. It is no longer news that the Federal Government is pursuing the realisation of the standard gauge from Lagos to Kano, and another one from Lagos to Calabar, and ensuring the completion of the Kaduna-Abuja and Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Port Harcourt standard gauge tracks.

    “The dream of this management is to support the government in achieving this dream by providing the necessary professional advice to sustain it,” Okhiria added.

    Though the cardinal goal of the Federal Government is to deliver a network of standard gauge tracks, Okhiria said the real development of the railway lay in cargo freighting and linking the trains to production centres of the economy.

    He said the British, a century ago, had constructed the narrow gauges to link food and agricultural production centres to the seaports. Hence, a rail track linked farm settlements, coal and tin mines, cement factories and steel firms, such as the Ajaokuta Steel Company, to the ports. The  economy was affected by the neglect of the rail, thus, its rejuvenation lies in getting the trains back on track, Okhiria said.

    Transportation and logistics experts said the focus of the Federal Government was to run the narrow and standard gauge tracks.

    The trains, they said, should not only concentrate on movement of passengers, but also on freight to support local productive and extractive industries.

    In the heydays of the Nigerian Railways, movement of goods was easy as many lines were connected to production centres.

    The Nigerian Railway Corpora-tion (NRC) has revitalised cargo freight, especially along the western line, moving goods from Lagos to Kaduna and Kano.

    Trains now move cement from Lafarge at Ewekoro, in Ogun State, and flour and wheat from Apapa, Lagos, to the North and also ferry containers from APPM terminals at Apapa, Lagos to Kano.

    Also, the NRC said it was wrapping up talks with oil marketers on moving petroleum products to the North.

    The corporation has acquired 40 pressurised tank wagons with the capacity to lift 800,000 litres of petroleum and is awaiting the association’s resolution to conclude the negotiation, it was learnt.

    Besides, Okhiria said the corporation would, from June, start moving about 150,000 tonnes of coal from Igumale in Enugu State to Port-Harcourt monthly.

    Experts said the way to get the economy back on its feet is to return to the railway, connect the old production centres that gave the nation its fame, and begin to build new ones that would connect new industrial centres to main rail trunks via feeder lines.

    Okhiria said the way to go was for the Federal Government to consolidate on the tempo by constructing new rail tracks. He said the nation needed to construct about 100 kilometres of rail tracks to link new production centres.

    He said it was unthinkable that while Nigeria and India and China were almost at par in railway history in 1996, the countries due to deliberate government policies have become major players in the railway business. China and India construct 1,500 and 1,000 kilometres of rail tracks yearly, and buy coaches, wagons and locomotives.

    “Any country with a developed rail sector has developed by deliberate government policy that had continued to invest in it. South Africa added 150 coaches to its rail system last year, while Cameroon bought 56 Diesel Multiple Unit same year, same as Ethiopia which added 100 first-class coaches to its fleet. Government must be involved because no businessman can run the railway system, just as the railway cannot pay itself,” Okhiria said

    But with statistics putting the construction of a kilometre of track at $3.5 million, it is almost impossible to achieve any growth in the sector without private sector participation.

    That was why many experts were ecstatic about a partnership that would stimulate the sector and complement the deals Nigeria has struck with the Chinese government to develop the sector.

    The Chief Executive Officer of Connect Rail Service (CRS), Mr. Edeme Kelikume, whose company handles railway logistics services for Lafarge Cement and Flour Mill, harped on the development of more rail networks to encourage patronage and reduce the stress of cargo freighting by roads.

    “Train is the way to go. It complements trailers and trucks which we use to move our cargoes to our final destinations and the warehouse. It is a complemen-tary service,” Kelikume said.

    He said one of the major causes of the bad state of the roads was that they were not built to carry the weight they have been subjected to. Many of the roads built to carry only 30 tonnes weight have been subjected to 40 tonnes vehicles, and the prolonged usage of the roads by these vehicles would ultimately damage the roads.

    “Contrary to the misconceptions of Nigerians, the trains would not kill but complement the truck business. The trains will free up the logjams on the roads, save time and make the roads lasts longer. The railway is meant to carry heavy weights, while the roads are designed to carry lighter weights.”

    Findings have shown that you can’t industrialise without the rail. There’s no Information Technology that can solve the need of transporting cargo from one point to another. The railway, which is one of the oldest forms of transportation, remains the most reliable.

    Kelikume said research had shown that at 25km/hour, the rail remains the fastest, safest and cheapest means for cargo movement compared to the trucks, which average speed is about 15 km/hour.

    “If the nation wants to join others that have joined the one billion tonnage club, i.e. countries that run a billion tonnes of cargo rail yealy, like China, Russia, India and the United States, it must revitalise cargo freights. Interestingly, these four countries, despite running a bust cargo rail service also have the highest truck counts,” he said.

    To jumpstart the revolution, Kelikume said his firm was thinking of organising an agric produce and solid mineral rail conference in June.

    “The focus is to see how we can reduce the wastage in the agricultural value chain and fast-track the development of solid minerals. Various research reports suggest that around 50 per cent of goods produced in Nigeria are wasted; and we want to use the combination of our rail logistics and modern storage facilities to reduce the wastage to about 10 per cent. We are also focusing on solid minerals which is the next major frontier that Nigeria is going to explore. It is well documented also that without a vibrant rail system, you cannot achieve meaningful success in solid minerals.

    “If you check the history of Nigeria, the moment the rail system died; our solid minerals industry died. I went to Port Harcourt recently to see the infrastructure that was built decades ago for coal export rotting away. All those things died when our rail died. I went to a coal mine at Enugu and I saw signs that the lines were once very active. So, the conference is to bring back these two very sectors of our economy. It is a full-day event that would have three segments – the first segment would focus on rail transportation, the second would focus on agriculture and the third would focus on solid minerals. We are expecting the three ministers in the sectors to deliver keynote addresses. We are also expecting players from the private and public sector.

    Coordinator of Nigeria Agri-business Group (NABG) Mr Emmanuel Ijewere expressed delight at the potential of the railway in freighting agric produce and solid mineral from the North to the seaports in the South and elsewhere. He said the NABG was  willing to work with Kelikume’s team to reactivate cargo train services.

    “Our rail line was built in 1900. It is a century-old line, actually 116 years old. The NRC must be praised for still using those same old tracks and moving the trains. These are the same lines that were used to move groundnuts, cocoa and coal from Enugu. If there had been continuity over the past couple of years, we would have had a more efficient rail system, and this efficiency is what we are happy to see coming back with this reactivation,” Ijewere said.

    From its little beginning of less than 5,000 tonnes business in 2014 to about 40,000 tonnes last year, Kelikume said railway logistics was a goldmine that would be boosted with the talkshop that is aimed at encouraging the government to continue to invest in the sector that holds the aces to the nation’s wellbeing and economic development.

    The General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Textiles, Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWN), Comrade Issa Aremu, lamented the neglect of the sector by successive governments.

    “The significance of railway cannot be overstated. Development economists are unanimous that railways propelled North America, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, China and India, among others, into industriali-sation,” Aremu said.

    Its cumulative effects in massive job creation and stimulation of macro socio-economic activities across the country, he said, cannot be underestimated.

    Achieving this, however, depends on the commitment of the government to investing massively in the ongoing transformation of abandoned rail projects and opening up new lines.

     

  • Smoking out rickety vehicles in Lagos

    Smoking out rickety vehicles in Lagos

    The Lagos State Government seems committed to ridding the state of rickety vehicles. But some stakeholders insist that the government must do more than wielding the big stick in the war against the menace, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.

    THE Lagos Vehicle Inspection Service (VIS) rounded off this year’s bi-annual Safety Week with a campaign on non-roadworthy (rickety) vehicles last Sunday.   Attention has shifted to health and other risks associated with having those vehicles on the roads.

    Though the state has admittedly moved from where it was before the beginning of the millennium, when rickety vehicles (both commercial and private for cargo trucks and passengers) were found at almost every turn on the streets of Lagos. The government says it is determined to ensure such are removed completely by their owners because of the dangers they constitute to the health of other road users.

    Road safety experts say non-roadworthy vehicles constitute the highest danger to road users, with rickety vehicles being more prone to accidents than properly-maintained ones.

    Statistics shows that though Africa has only two per cent of the world’s vehicle density, the continent contributes 16 per cent of global vehicular deaths as a result of accidents. In the same study, Nigeria and South Africa have the highest fatality rates, with the former accounting for 33.7 per cent, while South Africa has 31.9 per cent of deaths per 100,000 populations yearly.

    At a press conference to drum support for the government’s determination to put an end to the menace, the Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Dayo Mobereola, said the government would no longer tolerate such vehicles on any of its roads because they are threats to lives of other road users.

    He said the theme: “Unroadworthy (rickety) vehicles: Threat to life on our roads”, further underscored the commitment of the government to preserving the lives of road users.

    “We are determined to ensure that no road user dies needlessly on our roads anymore,” Mobereola stressed.

    He said ensuring the security of lives informed the ongoing rehabilitation the roads in the state, adding that the roads would be complemented with improving driver’s competence, routine monitoring of the vehicles plying the roads and promotion of attitudinal change of road users. These, he stressed, have been yielding some positive fruits.

    According to Mobereola, about 20 percent of the 45,037 vehicles apprehended last year, (i.e. 8,012) were not roadworthy. Further extended, he said, it means about 240,000 of the 1.2 million vehicles on the state’s roads are not road worthy. Such statistics, for a city that rely heavily on the road as its main means of transportation of goods and people, is scary. That is: two of every five vehicles on the road are either rickety, or in dire need of routine maintenance to keep them in top shape. Vehicles without adequate maintenance are prone to accident, and pose grave risk to lives and property. That is why Mobereola insisted that safety issues are not just a concern for the government, but a matter for the citizenry.

    “We all must see the issue of safety as being all inclusive and not only government business. When you maintain a vehicle, you are guaranteeing a life.”

    He insisted that there shouldn’t be any economic arguments for allowing a rickety vehicle on the road, because we cannot place a premium or value on any life, adding that the consequences outweigh the gains.

    Besides accidents, Mobereola also drew attention to the health hazards caused by the emissions from some vehicles, which lead to respiratory infections of the throats and lungs. “The atmosphere is heating up and carbon emission from vehicles contributes greatly to this,” he added.

    Noting that all vehicles have a lifespan, he said only maintenance would ensure that they are durable and functional. He listed daily routine checks, fixing of defects immediately, preventive maintenance and adequate monitoring of your vehicles what people could do to ensure that their vehicles are road worthy at all times.

    He said the government would continue to strengthen its regulation of vehicle standards, enforce traffic rules and continue to create a safer motoring environment for road users, urging road users to complement the government’s efforts by ensuring that the roads are safe for all.

    Mobereola said the initiatives being put together by the government were aimed at regulating transportation and stimulating the growth of a public transportation system that would encourage people to leave their vehicles at home and use public transport.

    He said during the enlightenment week,  VIS officials would engage motorists at parks, fleet operators, religious houses (Christian and Muslim), and schools to enlighten people on the need to maintain their vehicles for the benefit of all road users.

    Mobereola noted that the government has expanded VIS operations with 30 new zones, adequate workers well equipped to engage in public advocacy and enforce strict compliance with traffic laws and driver’s licence procedure. He further disclosed that the procedure for road worthiness certificate has now become computerised to further expedite automated vehicle inspection.

    Much as many stakeholders agreed that the move to eradicate non-roadworthy vehicles is an altruistic one that must be supported by all, they insisted that the government must clearly define the rules and not hide under this guise to inordinately generate revenue at the detriment of those who own rickety cars.

    They insisted that successive governments feased on citizens misfortune, inflicting  more misery on them with the heavy fines for putting such vehicles on the road.

    The National President of the Association of Maritime Truck Owners (AMATO), Chief Remi Ogungbemi, ruled out the total eradication of rickety vehicles on the roads. According to him, most vehicles, especially trucks, imported for sale, are over 30 to 40 years old, while some smaller capacity vehicles between 10 and 20 years old have found their way into the country.

    “If we agree that 60 percent of such importation are eventually retained in Lagos and found themselves on the roads, then we can imagine the number of such vehicles that are added to the roads every day.”

    Ogungbemi said there was no way we can get rid of rickety vehicles because there is no support from the government.

    “When government leaves the citizens to source for everything by themselves, there’s little that can be done to prevent such realities. Many people would not only import rickety vehicles, but crashed ones with the purpose of coupling new parts on them here in Nigeria, especially for truck, except for fleet owners. Hardly can you find a truck that is less than 30 years on Nigerian roads, because we only rely on Tokunbo trucks,” he said.

    Ogungbemi said it would be difficult to have modern standard trucks in an ecomony like ours, where operators are victims and the  government acts more like a predator rather than the protector of all interests and businesses.

    He said the deplorable state of most roads in the state was responsible for vehicles being rickety, adding that operators are spending more to keep their vehicles running of the roads that pose grave risks to safe operations, especially cargo laden vehicles.

    He said: “Hardly would a week pass without a truck falling, findings by our team of assessors of the immediate causes of these accidents showed that most of these accidents are as a result of the bad state of the roads and not directly due to the recklessness of drivers of these trucks,”

    For Ogungbemi, his poser to the government is: Can we have more motorable and expanded roads? If this is possible, he added, we may be on our way to achieving better results in making the roads safer for all users.

    He charged the government to understand  that the roads are not meant for small capacity users alone, adding that all users, including articulated vehicles, must find a legroom in their plans to make the roads more conducive. Most of the state’s roads are no longer conducive for the pressure they are coping with because the  upsurge in vehicular density, Mobereola said, adding that it was time the government opened up other alternative modes to free the road and reduce the pressure.

    He also decried policies which stifle the growth of the private sector, especially operators of trucks, adding that the government needs to define if it is out to generate money or to protect lives and property by ensuring that all find the need to be happy with them on the saddle.

    He condemned the policy where the owner of a broken-down truck is forced to pay a N100,000 tow fine. “If a man would need about N50,000 to repair his broken down vehicle but has to pay a mandatory N100,000 fine to get the vehicle towed, the government is already adding to the man’s misery. As a citizen, he also needs to be protected by the government. His vote also counted to get them in power, so why is he always exposed to harsh policies because he ventured into partnering with the government in moving the state of the economy forward because, haulage is a significant aspect of trade and a major contributor to the gross domestic product of states and the nation.

    He said the government and its agencies must stop seeing themselves as tigers or cats, out to catch rats (truck drivers) on the roads; they must be more friendly. He added that no successful operator would want to put on the road vehicles that are not road worthy.

    The Secretary of Allied Trucks Transporters Association of Nigeria (ATTAN), Mr Azeez Gbenro Lawal, called for a review of all policies aimed at killing the trucking business. He said as responsible citizens, truck owners must be encouraged to be in business, adding that the government must continue to support the truck owners.

    The Director of the state’s VIS, Hafiz Toriola, said the government’s agency is not unwittingly targeting anyone but doing all to see that only road worthy vehicles are found on the state’s roads. He charged all motorists and truck owners to continue to maintain their vehicles in order to ensure they are not found culpable by his men.

    Toriola also disclosed that the government has equipped the VIS with new vehicles in order to empower the agency, adding that from four zones, the VIS now has 30 offices scattered around the state to further make its presence felt in all the nooks and crannies of the state.

    He said the VIS would not hesitate to past an off road tag on any vehicle found unroadworthy and such must not be found on the road until they are well repaired. He urged citizens to see the agency as a friend out to protect the wellbeing of the generality of the people, adding that no one has the monopoly of right to cause injury or death to another while conducting their own businesses.