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Tag: transportation

  • NTC: Roadmap for efficient transportation

    NTC: Roadmap for efficient transportation

    To experts, the National Transportation Commission (NTC) Bill, which is before the National Assembly, is the key to unlock the sector’s potential. Will it do the magic?ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE asks

    HOW can the potential of  the transport sector be unlocked? It is through the National Transportation Commission (NTC) says Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi.

    A bill for the commission’s establishment is before the National Assembly.

    The need for the establishment of the commission is not far fetched. Shorn of a regulator, the transportation has become an all comers affair, a situation that has drained the nation of huge resources being exchanged in the sector daily.

    At present, transportation contributes a paltry 1.41 percent the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and that for the Buhari government is “completely unacceptable”.

    To correct this, the government seemed committed to the birthing of  a regulator. When eventually passed, a national framework of the nation’s transportation blueprint would be established. From this, the states as well as the local governments would key in to provide the needed options and local operating environment and from these, a multi-modal system that would see to the maximisation of all forms of transportation that presently obtains at very basic levels would be maximised.

    The bill’s passage according to Amaechi will reduce the haulage of heavy cargoes by roads. This would prolong their lifespan.

    To achieve this goal, government  will revamp the railway sector in order to encourage mass transit of passengers and goods.

    “The movement of petroleum products by rail will be re-introduced in 2016. As you are aware, we have commenced and almost completed the narrow gauge rehabilitation which will be retained for the movement of cargoes.

    “At the same time, massive investments into the standard gauge to link most parts of the country with faster trains for passenger movements have begun.

    “Work will start in earnest on the standard gauge on the following routes: Calabar-Lagos line, which will transverse the following towns and cities: Obudu Cattle Ranch-Calabar-Uyo-Aba-Port Harcourt- Yenagoa-Otuoke-Yenagoa-Ughelli-Sapele-Benin-Agbor-Asaba-Onitsha-Benin-Ijebu Ode-Ore-Sagamu-Lagos Seaports; and the Lagos-Kano line that would link Lagos-Ibadan-Ilorin-Minna-Kaduna-Kano,” Amaechi said.

    According to him, the construction of new lines and rehabilitation of old railway lines will generate over 250,000 direct jobs and more indirect jobs, with a multiplier effect on economy.

    To drive the new policy direction, government seem determined to give the private sector to be at the driver’s seat. While it busied with policy formulation and regulating the process, the private sector brings in the capital badly needed to modernise the sector.

    The policy according to experts would seek to create a synergy of all forms of transportation that were at best at their very rudimetary levels in the country.

    Thus more activity is being envisaged on all modes of transportation- air, land and water. Outside Lagos, a predominantly coastal state, no other state in the remaining 36 states and Abuja, the nation’s Federal Capital Territory has a robust intergrated transportation masterplan to address mass transit challenges.

     

    The UK & US template

     

    According to Wikipedia, the British Transport Commission (BTC) was created under the Transport Act 1947 as part of Clement Attlee’s post war Labour government programme.

    The UK Transport Commission was created to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the separate Ulster Transport Authority). Its general duty was to provide “an efficient, adequate, economical and properly integrated system of public inland transport and port facilities within Great Britain for passengers and goods”, excluding transport by air.

    BTC which came into operation on January 1, 1948, was one of the largest industrial organisations in the world, at one time employing nearly 688,000 people. At first, the commission did not directly operate transport services – these were the responsibility of the commission’s executives. These were separately appointed, and operated under what were termed ‘schemes of delegation’.

    Broadly the BTC scope ranges from the handling of advertisements, vehicle and premises branding, provision of mass transit buses, film production catering and hotel management as well as museum services.

    In the United States all modes of transportation system are fully exploited and cordinated by the Department of Transportation (USDOT) . Majority of passengers travel by automobile for shorter distances, and airplane or railroad for longer distances. Most cargoes travel by train, truck, pipeline, or boat while air shipping is typically used only for perishables and premium express shipments.

    Majority of roads in the United States are owned by state and local governments. The interstate highway is partly funded by the federal government but owned by state governments. There are private highways where tolls are collected to pay for construction and maintenance. There are many local private roads, generally serving remote or insular residences.

     

    Make haste slowly

     

    According to the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Land Transport Senator Gbenga Ashafa, the Senate would  consult widely on the bill.

    He said the desire to hasten slowly to avoid creating “a powerful sole regulator which  ight cause frictions with other international legal instruments and conventions on transport to which the nation is a signatory.

    He aid though the NTC bill was passed to it before the Senate went on recess, work hasnt started on it because the lawmakers had been busy trying to stabilise the economy.

    “However, like the Senate Committee on Land Transport which I chair worked on and ensured the passage of a completely overhauled Nigerian Railway Bill 2016, we would ensure that the Nigerian Transport Commission Bill is passed and that the version that will be passed would be effective and satisfactory to all operators,” Ashafa said.

    A logistics expert Edeme Kelikume said the NTC would pave the way for the deregulation of the transportation sector. “The bill when passed would be a plus to the government”.

    With a benefit of hindsight, the NTC may just be the turning point just as the establishment of the National Communication Commission (NCC) midwifed the transformation that took the nation’s communication industry by storm since  2001.

    Contrary to critics who may think the NTC could just be a drain pipe on the economy, Kelikume said the commission is “a value-adding agency. “If the NCC could become  a major net contributor to the nation’s GDP, one could see the NTC achieving same for the transportation sector.”

    Kelikume said the NTC would unlock the sector, deregulate its operations and draw fresh funds into government’s coffers.

    The expert, whose company Connect Rail Services handles some cargo services for the railway, said with a regulator in place, all the modes of transportation could begin to work in synergy providing new opportunities for private operators who are out to invest with new investment windows.

    But the founder of Safety Without Borders (SWB), Mr Patrick Adenusi, cautioned against creating a bottleneck in order to have a regulator.

    Adenusi said most commissions created by past governments have been mere conduit pipes, “sharing avenues”, to drain the nation’s resources, adding that with an economy in  recession, the nation could ill afford another drainer of its scarce resources.

    Though people might argue that it would drive employment opportunity, infrastructure development is the key to drive the growth of the sector.

    This commission is to be responsible to a ministry so why not create a department within the ministry, draft professionals from within the ministry to the department in which case the salary portfolio is not increased and we are able to get the same thing done without increasing the expenditure profile of the government.

    Hinging on bad anticipated implementation, Adenusi posits that the need for geo-political balancing may jeopardise the commission’s achievement when when  it is eventually established.

    He said if properly coordinated, the NTC could catapault transportation into a major money spinner as the various means through which it would generate fund could be exploited.

    He said the era where transportation generates less than two percent of the country’s GDP may well be over as areas such as advertisements, catering and hotel services, road tolling, museum services, centrally coordinated transportation film industry and franchising among others remain areas that the federal and state governments could exploit to generate the badly needed funds to reflate the economy.

    Adenusi said the nation is under developed because past goverments have neglected the transportation sector.

    Under the intermodality scheme that an NTC could bring to bear across the country, all modes of transportation would be maximally exploited, he said, adding that railway would be very active in passenger and cargo traffic.

    “What the cargo trains would move from Lagos to Kano would not be distributed to the stores by the trains but the trucks. So the trucks would still get busy, shuttle shorter distances and serve their owners more.”

    Adenusi noted that if properly regulated, the sector could bail the nation out of recession as huge funds exchange hands daily among the informal operators.

    “If only half of the money that accrues daily to transport unions across the country from commercial operators goes into government coffers, the government would have no need of going to the National Assembly to approve $29 billion loan,” he said.

     

    Conclusion

     

    Transportation and logistics experts agreed with the minister that the nation needs a commission to orgnise, coordinate, and regulate the  operations of all operators in the transportation sector.

    The dearth of this in the past has been responsible for the rudderless operations that has typified the nation’s transportation and staunted its growth over the years.

    Though Senator Ashafa had ruled out a rushed job of the bill by the Senate, experts said the bill with its transformation agenda is worth waiting for. The question is how longer should Nigerians wait?

  • Amaechi’s unquenchable thirst for better transportation delivery

    For leaders like Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria’s transportation minister, nothing interests them like rendering service to mankind.

    Ever since Mr. Amaechi ascended his present political status, he has always been on his toes to deliver on his mandate in the nation’s transportation sector.

    One thing that distinguishes Amaechi  is the fact that Amaechi has an unquenchable thirst to service delivery. His urge to reposition the nation’s devastated transportation sector has no limitation.

    For real, those who work or have worked with the former Rivers State governor can attest to his style. His pro- activeness and commitment to tackling daunting challenging issues that will trigger development to all cannot be overemphasized.

    Back then in Port Harcourt, Amaechi would commit time at night inspecting projects with ‘torch light’, that is how restless he is in committing to service delivery. For him, the job must be done before he takes his cool.

    Anyhow, one would have taught that after serving Rivers State in his forties jumping from one project site to the other , Amaechi would act the typical ‘big man’ Nigerian minister or any other political appointee by attending to official duties at will been the overall boss in the transportation ministry, but, that is not the case. Amaechi would dash to the office at 8.am attending to official matters until late night. For Amaechi, there is no dull moment.

    Working with a pragmatic, selfless and service itching boss like Amaechi requires a qualification of self determination and commitment, you must be ready to kill sleep, you must be on your marks and you must be at his beck and call because for him service delivery cannot be compromised, nothing can deter him to forge ahead except for the fact that death is no respecter of mankind.

    Recently however, series of developmental efforts had been vigorously pursued by the Buhari’s “strong man” to better the transportation sector.

    Precisely on the 1st day of July, 2016 Amaechi had signed a contractual agreement with China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) on the construction of the Lagos-Calabar coastal railway project.

    Amaechi signed the agreement on behalf of the federal government. At the brief event which took place at the ministry’s conference room, Amaechi said the contract was an addendum to the Lagos-Calabar coastal railway project which was initially awarded by former President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration to the Chinese company at a contract cost of $11.917 billion.

    Amaechi also disclosed that at the inception of President Muhammadu Buhari government, the federal government negotiated the contract with the China firm and agreed at a contract cost of $11.117 billion thereby saving a whopping sum of $800m.

    Amaechi reiterated that the Buhari led government has completed the signing of the same contract with a different contract sum in order to legalise the new deal.

    “What we have done today is signing of the same contract but different contract sum to make it legal.President Muhammadu Buhari has assured me that he is committed to the development of the rail sector in Nigeria and would not leave any ‘stone unturned’ to achieving that dream”,he said.

    Amaechi also noted that the first and second segments of the projects run through Calabar-Uyo-Aba-Port Harcourt-Yenagoa-Otuoke-Ughelli-Warri-Sapelle-Benin-Ore-Ijebu-Ode-Lagos with a target of covering all the seaports along those routes in good time.

    Similarly, on the 31st day of August, 2016,  Amaechi took further step in signing two commercial contract agreements with the same Chinese firm on the Kano-Kaduna segment of three of the Lagos-Kano rail modernisation project with a contract sum of $1.685 billion and the Calabar- Port Harcourt segment 1 extending to the Onne Deep Sea Port of the coastal rail project at the cost of $3.4 billion with the Chinese engineering firm.

    Amaechi who spoke briefly at the event described it as symbolic. “In the sense that what we are doing is the segmentation of that same contract in line with the agreement with the China-Exim Bank”.

    Amaechi said the federal government would release its counterpart funds soonest assuring that with the cooperation of the China-Exim Bank, the projects would be completed in November, 2018. “I assured Mr. President that we need to complete these projects in two years time,” he said.

  • Transportation: Govt’s strides thrill experts

    Transportation: Govt’s strides thrill experts

    Though  the Buhari administration has not unveiled its transportation agenda, some experts  and stakeholders say its first year in office shows that it has what it takes to get the sector out of the woods, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE

    To some experts and stakeholders in the transportation sector, the last 365 days have been the best of times.

    They argue that the President Muhammadu Buhari administration has shown a genuine commitment to revitalise the sector, which according to them, had no national framework for a long while.

    The administration, the stakeholders believe, started well by attempting to stimualte the growth of other modes of transportation in a country that relies on road as the major means of transportation for its over 170 million population.

    The over-dependence on road for more than 56 years took a debilitating toll on the movement of goods and passengers across the land.

    According to the stakeholders, the transportation sector, believed to be the second most critical  after energy, is not only vital to the nation’s economic transformation, but could hold the ace towards the administration’s success.

    The Federal Government has said it might need about $166 billion to intervene in the transportation and energy sectors in the next five years.

    Tranportation Minister   Rotimi Amaechi told the National Assembly during a public hearing on a Bill to Repeal the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act, last Tuesday, that the amount will be needed to provide infrastructural backbone for the sectors.

     

    Picking the pieces together

    The Buhari administration, according to the minister, remains committed to the taking-off of a seamless inter-modal transportation system to stimulate viable, complementary and non-competitive growth of all transpotation modes,  including air, water and land.

    He said the commitment expalined why the government collapsed aviation and transportation into one ministry.

    Though Amaechi is yet to come up with a national transportation master plan (what some experts referred to as the National Transportation Policy), he has left no one in doubt about the focus and the direction of the administration  on the sector.

    Foremost transportation scholar, Dr. Tajudeen Ba-Wahala,  lauded  the government for the milestones recorded so far and averred that a new transportation policy may well be on its way, following the composition of a committee to review it.

    Ba-Wahala, however,  challenged the government to break the jinx and give the nation a far-reaching policy that would be sustainable on the short, medium and long terms, adding that it would be the third time the nation will try to develop such a policy since 1971.

    The ex-Dean, School of Transportation Studies, Lagos State University (LASU), said he was confident that the government was on track with with steps taken to repeal the Nigerian Railway Act and reactivate the abandoned Lagos-Port-Harcourt coastal road. This, he said,   would also be complemented by the coastal rail line, which has been enmeshed in controversy.

    He said: “When the coastal road, which Lagos had to abandon because other coastal states failed in their responsibility to construct the link in their domains is completed, and complemented with a standard gauge rail link as proposed by this government, a major impediment to intercity mass transit for goods and passengers would have been eliminated.

    “The move to repeal the Railway Act would no doubt stimulate the growth of the railway in the overall interest of all Nigerians.”

    Another expert, Adeolu Dina, said Nigerians remain in the dark on government’s policy despite the ambitious dreams of the President Muhammadu administration.

    He said without the policy on the government’s economic and developmental goals, it would be difficult to monitor progress within the sector.

    “Government’s policies and plans must be clearer,” he said.

    Dina, who teaches in the School of Transportation Studies, Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, Ogun State, described as ‘wonderful’, the government’s funding plans for the Lagos-Abuja, Lagos-Calabar and Abuja-Lokoja rail projects, adding that when they  come on stream, it would change the transportation template and boost the economy.

    “We in the sector are quite confident that with a prudent and accountable leadership that President Muhammadu Buhari offers, all the projects would be reasonably executed and completed in good time.”

    Identifying transportation as “the most critical thing after power”, Kayode Opeifa, said the government is “admirably tackling the hydra-headed challenges of the sector from all angles.” He added that when all eventually coalesce, there would be a major shift in the perception of the sector as it would lead to the promotion of public sector transportation.

    Opeifa, a former Lagos State Transportation Commissioner, said that unlike the usual practice, Nigerians were seeing a more coordinated synergy between the Ministries of Transportation and Works, Power and Housing, which has seen the latter addressing some road networks, identified by the government as “critical” to the administration’s initiative on safer road.

    In Lagos, the Federal Government, has declared as critical the roads to the Apapa Port, arguably the nation’s flagship seaport. When the ring roads within Apapa are completed, Nigerians, living or doing businesses in that axis will experience a major relief.

    The government, he said, has also declared emergency on some Trunk A roads, including Mokwa-Kabba, Abaji-Kaduna, Lagos-Port Harcourt, and Lagos-Ibadan Expressway – the nations’ busiest gateway  – among others, in an attempt to address the gaping infrastructure challenge facing smooth ride across the country.

    Describing infrastructure as key to transportation, Opeifa said just as the government was trying to close the gap on the roads, it was moving to ensure the completion of ongoing rehabilitation of all narrow gauge rail tracks and the take-off of the standard gauge, which is the next stage of the transformation of the railway.

    Thus as the government would soon kick-off the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge route, which is the pilot system, with construction beginning on Lagos-Kano and Lagos-Calabar standard gauge, the coastal line that would link the Lagos ports to the economic nerve centres of the South.

    As the Federal Government is doing this, it is also looking at repealing the NRC Act, and in anticipation of the completion of the process by the National Assembly, is already ceding the management of the narrow gauge to America’s General Electric (GE), while, China’s CRECC to manage the standard gauge.

    The Senate, in the bill before it, began last Wednesday, the process of unbundling the Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC), the second day it got the bill on the National Transport Commission (NTC), sponsored by Senator Andy Uba. like the NRC Act, the NTC Bill has scaled the second reading.

    The bill seeks the creation of the National Railway Authority (NRA), the Independent Railway Regulatory Commission (IRRC) and the Railway Operators’ Scheme (ROC).

    Titled: “Review of the Nigerian Railway Corporation Repeal and Re-Enactment Bill”, the proposed legislation restricts the Ministry of Transportation to policy making, while the National Railway Authority is to manage the infrastructure, pending the establishment of National Transport Commission.

    Praising Uba, who is the Senate Committee Chairman on Public Accounts, for proposing the bill, Barnabas Gemade, representing Benue Northeast Senatorial District, said the bill is coming at a time the management of transportation in the country is confused and disorganised. The commission, according to him, will regulate transportation in the country.

    Senate President Bukola Saraki described the bill as “one of the priority bills in our legislative agenda. For us to stimulate our economy, we must get our transportation right”.

    Saraki, who said no economy can develop without an efficient mass transportation system, acknowledged that the government alone cannot provide the funding needed to upgrade the rail infrastructure; therefore, the bill will make provision that would allow private sector participation  and subsequently take the burden of funding off the government.

    This position, according to Opeifa, is consistent with the commitment of the government to reposition the transportation sector, adding that though these bills actually were presented in the life of the Seventh National Assembly, its reintroduction underscored the focus of the government on transportation.

     

    More Works

    The former Commissioner  has however expressed the hope to see more collaboration between the minister and transport commissioners at in the states.

    This, according to Opeifa, would ensure that all the states embrace mass transit as against the prevalence of Keke NAPEP (tricycle), Danfo (mini-buses) and Okada (motocycle) menace that has made a mess of transportation in states of the federation. This, he said, would make public transportation cheaper.

    He urged the Federal Government to make funding available to transport operators at 0 to 5 per cent to finance mass transit buses and also for the mass production by assembly plants currently operating in the country. He also canvassed same for water transport operators.

    Opeifa argued that through this loan scheme, to be bankrolled by Nigeria Infrastructure Bank (NIB), the federal and state governments should inject between N150 billion and N300 billion,  as a revolving transport fund repayable over a period of two years as economic palliative to transporters to buy between 10,000 to 20,000 mass transit buses.

    “The loan, if carried through, will bring down transportation cost that currently accounts for about 30 to 40 per cent of the take-home pay of the average worker, create sustainable jobs, reduce inflation, reduce green house gasses (ghg) emission, reduce traffic and create wealth,” he said.

    Opeifa urged the road safety regulator to equally encourage the states and Federal Government to provide road signs and pavement markings for road safety and to save lives on the roads.

     

    Conclusion

    Dina, however, expressed skepticism over possible collaboration or coordination between the federal and states, especially as transportation infrastructure is capital intensive.

    He said the Federal Government might need to do more, especially in providing the railway backbone infrastructure across the states, to ensure their successful integration  into the seamless mass transit plans of the government.

    He said though an overall rating of President Buhari-led administration might be too early, the government has, nonetheless, achieved what previous ones could not by deregulating the Petroleum Motor Spirit (PMS), a development, which  he said, qualifies him for a pass mark rating in the sector.

     

  • Democratising bus transportation in Lagos

    There is madness all around me. The sun is high and heat is sweltering. There is traffic, street hawkers, hustlers and everything about the atmosphere is quite hectic. This is Lagos. And this is a very usual week-day occurrence in many parts of the metropolis. And as true-born Lagosian, the chaos is familiar. But I am not complaining as I am seated, tucked comfortably on the Obalende-bound bus. How can I complain? Of course, I am engrossed in the novel I am reading. But I’m sure it’s because I am not in just any bus. I am seated on one of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) buses that have become ubiquitous to the discerning Lagosian. I only notice the bustle in darting glances outside my object of focus. Bus rides in Lagos was not always an enjoyable experience.

    Hitherto known for its mostly dilapidating yellow and black striped Molue buses, public bus transportation in Lagos has paved way for comfort and modernity in transporting residents within the metropolis. Since the early years of its creation in 1967, Lagos teemed with a growing population and government at various times had experimented with providing public buses. But somehow, these efforts were fleeting with confidence of passengers waning just as the fleet of buses disintegrated and disappeared.

    It was in the shadow of these failed interventions to public bus transportation that Molue buses thrived and even became symbolic of Lagos. And for decades, Lagosians packed into dilapidating, rickety, exposed to the dangers of pickpockets and unscrupulous hawkers. That was in the past. But the BRT initiative seemed to have come to stay. Now, BRT buses have come to replace the eyesore the Molues degenerated to.

    Though the BRT blueprint was laid down by the Bola Tinubu-led government, Babatunde Raji Fashola, former Lagos governor and present minister of power, works and housing began the execution. And after the baton of Lagos State governorship passed on Akinwumi Ambode last May, the BRT has since got further boost.

    Firstly, within his first six months as governor, the state government purchased 434 new BRT buses to join the existing fleet. In the same spate of time, he commissioned the Mile12-Ikorodu extension. And in a move aimed at bringing sanity to the route, Ambode relocated the 1st BRT Co-operative of Lagos Council of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) to another corridor. According to the government, they didn’t adhere to stipulated frequency schedules and operated buses below 50 percent fleet capacity which was contrary to the agreement. In addition to that, commuters had complained of their reckless nature on the road. Also, in February, Lagos launched Special Offences (Mobile) court for traffic. And with this development, more sanity is expected to prevail on Lagos roads. While the court will try different traffic offences such as driving against traffic, disobeying traffic lights and signs and even jaywalking, it also seeks to punish motorists who use BRT lanes.

    And thinking forward, I find it commendable that the Ambode-led government is considering 24-hour operation of BRT buses. Confirming this, Lagos State Commissioner for Energy and Mineral Resources, Wale Oluwo, in January said: “Arrangement has been concluded on having BRT buses to work at night once the Light Up Lagos project is completed.”

    For a city that compares to New York in major parameters, Lagos is long overdue for a 24-hour transport system. The truth be said, many parts of Lagos hardly sleeps. And this unlike what some people think can only further drive the state’s economy. And with the increase in street lightning the state is witnessing with the ‘Light Up Lagos’ project, movement in the state will be safer. Already, from Berger in Ojodu to Lekki, Ikorodu to Lagos Island, the entire Ikeja axis, Victoria Island and Ikoyi, and even the route of my daily commute from Ikeja to Agege via Alfa Nla Road are now lit up at night.

    I can feel the seriousness the Lagos State government attaches to the ensuring efficient public bus system. However, to jack up efficiency, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) must step up on its regulatory functions. It must ensure it continues to work with other partners, like those involved in maintaining roads, ensuring order on the roads and those providing lightning, to bring out the best.

    At a recent town hall meeting in January, Ambode, while giving account of his stewardship at the second quarterly town hall meeting at the City Hall, Lagos Island, said that 66 major road projects were at various stages of completion and 80 road grading and surface dressing projects will soon be completed across the state. It is also commendable that Ambode’s administration has commenced the construction of flyovers at Ajah roundabout, Abule–Egba Junction and Berger Bus stop.

    Today, Lagos has not yet reached its desired level as regards public transportation. Of course with no metro line and very reliable public water transportation, it is not yet Uhuru. But one thing is clear. Ambode is poised to take the state’s public transportation sector to much more enviable heights, just like his predecessor did. That is why I am consoled by Ambode’s promise that the Blue Line Rail Project which runs from Okokomaiko to Marina will be completed by December.

    While a Lagos without traffic is like stripping the city of its identity, an efficiently planned and properly operated public transportation system will make commuting less hell. In this age and time, public buses should be efficient, modern and with the BRT lanes accorded them, fast. As Lagosians, we owe the government the co-operation to see it work. It is for all our benefit. Eko Oni Baje.

  • Whither transportation in 2016?

    Whither transportation in 2016?

    All eyes are on Transport Minister Rotimi  Chibuike Amaechi to turn around the sector’s fortunes. He has a vote of N202 billion in next year’s budget to do that. Some stakeholders talk of their expectations of him.  ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE writes

    Where will Mr Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi take transportation in 2016? This question becomes germane because much is expected of the transportation minister and his colleague, Mr Hadi Sirika, Minister of State (Aviation).

    The nation is looking up to them to turn around the fortunes of the sector to aid the economy’s diversification.

    To have a feel of the ministry, Amaechi and Sirika have gone round some key agencies.

    Though Amaechi has yet to unfold his master plan, the tour  gave him an insight into what obtains in some agencies.

    While still studying the books, Amaechi gave a glimpse into the government’s thinking in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, last week, at the launch of the Aba-Port-Harcourt mixed passenger train.

    The minister said the government would concentrate on the construction of standard gauge rail tracks, promising the creation of seven new rail lines in the next four years.

    Amaechi, who wondered why the corporation never grew beyond the two inherited lines, said the government would make railway the backbone of its mass transportation initiative.

    At the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Headquarters, Amaechi urged the management to gear up for the challenge of repositioning the railway.

    He said: “Until I became the Minister, I never knew that the Nigerian Railway is still functioning. I once heard a friend tell me it takes the train three days to get to Kano from Lagos, and when I tried to confirm that from the Managing Director just now, he said it only takes two days. What is the difference? I think the management ought to work on its timing if the NRC wants to see more Nigerians patronising the trains.”

    With a whopping N202 billion committed to the ministry next year, stakeholders would no doubt want to know what slice of the budget would go to other key sectors such as aviation and maritime, in the now expanded ministry even as the take-off of the standard gauge remained the key focus of government next year.

     

    Old and new challenges

     

    One of the old challenges that the minister would have to contend with is the repositioning of the traditional mode of transportation in the country – road transportation.

    Nigeria remains one of the few developing nations in the world that  relies heavily on road as the principal source of moving from one point to the other.

    While several other nations have deployed other modes of transportation to serve the transportation needs of their citizens, the road is still responsible for 80 percent of mobility in the country.

    This trend, a transportation expert, Mr Adeolu Dina said “must change if the minister is to be taken serious. “All modes of transportation must be given desired attention by the government and each must be strengthened enough to complement and not to supplant the other.” Dina, a doctoral student in Rail Transportation from the Olabisi Onabanjo University, Ago-Iwoye, ogun State said.

    He said a transportation masterplan that must show the centrality of planning and how each of the modes must complement one another remained lacking, wondering if the present administration would begin by giving to the nation a masterplan for the sector.

    Dina, does not see the need for what he calls the rush into construction of new standard gauge across the country, saying with a speed limit of 150 km/ph the current locomotives of the corporation have what it takes to make Kano in less than two days.

    “What government needs to do is to straighten most of the present narrow gauges which were done without much expertise by the technicians who initially laid them making the movement somewhat laborious for most of the locomotives to maneuver. If these sidings are better straightened, the locomotives would be able to move better and there would be appreciable gain in return time of the trains even on the inter-city shuttle,” Dina, who had carried out several research works on the nation’s rail said.

    He said the government must hasten slowly in its quest for standard gauge lines in order not to end up having a rail system that would be competing with the airlines and not end up killing the airline business for aviation operators.

    “If you make the train a competitor to the airways, there would in no time be a drop in the share of air travels by Nigerians as many may opt for the railways which are by nature cheaper, than any other form of transportation.”

    Even in the development of more lines for the railway, he said it would make more economic sense for the government to prioritise the East-West line to link Lagos to Port-Harcourt, rather than making the Lagos-Abuja the priority.

    “My checks over time have shown that the Lagos-Abuja traffic is what only two coaches of a train can accommodate. You can’t compare the traffic along that route with the number of shuttles that plies Lagos to the East daily. If government opens up that route, it would have succeeded in linking the nation’s major economic centres and this would make more commercial sense as there would higher return on inverstment”, he further added.

    Dina was not the only one who believed that the government must do the unusual to move the transportation industry forward.

    Dr Adegboyega Banjo, a transport consultant and Managing Director of Transport and Development Consultants, said transportation is a serious business and time has come for governments at all levels to allow professionals handle the industry.

    At a recent public forum, Banjo called for a holistic review of the land use law to enable the country achieve more functional use of its land. He also called for the integration of all modes of transportation, adding that the deployment of an intermodal means of transportation would stimulate all dormant sectors, create more informal employment directly and indirectly and stimulate the economy.

    Describing transportation as a major driver of the nation’s economy, Banjo said, while virtually everything could be done by proxy or through other means, the movement of goods or service and the movement of the people from one point to the other must continue to make use of the formal traditional modes of transportation.

    He said in an era where government is looking beyond the oil, transportation is a major goldmine that the government could explore as it has tremendous potentials to contribute substantially to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

    Mr Charles Adejuwon, member of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transportation (CILT), charged the minister to come up with a nationwide transportation policy framework that would enunciate the Federal Government’s standards and ensure its implementation by all the states. He said the absence of such policy has left the country to be operating a rudderless system where all the states work at cross purposes with one another and has no bearing with the central government.

     

    New opportunities

     

    The operating environment that has lumped aviation and maritime transportation with the traditional modes of transportation under the present administration according to experts, have however opened a vista of opportunities, even as it called up the need for the strengthening of old policies especially in those areas.

    Particularly aviation, observers would be waiting to see whether the tenure of the minister could berth a new national carrier for the nation.

    Since the ‘death’ of the Nigeria Airways, the nation has been holding the short end of the stick especially in international shuttles as major industry players have continued to toy with the nation and subjecting Nigerians to all manners of embarrassments on their routes.

    Though strictly guided by global standards, operators on the local scene continued to flout laid down standard rules and regulations guiding their operations which on a number of occasions have led to a number of crashes. The ministry, they contend, must design a more stringent control mechanism to ensure that all operators are strictly guided to avoid subverting the rules.

    On the maritime sector, Nigerians would be looking forward to the plugging of the several loopholes from which the nation’s commonwealth have been milked dry in the past.

    Of particular attention many argued, is the need to revisit the agreements of some concessionaires for the sake of redressing the negative effects of their operations on the nation’s economy. Maritime operators argued that the entire ports authority is in need of sanitation and wondered whether Amaechi would have the nerve to dare the forces that have held the jugular of the nation’s ports.

     

    Conclusion

     

    Beyond the major changes anticipated in the way transportation businesses have been handled in the past by the government, Nigerians are looking forward to a seamless transportation system that would see to the deployment of multimodal modes of transportation, with its attendant reduction in the gridlock that has taken the nation’s major urban centres hostage for several decades.

    Residents of Lagos for instance would want an almost immediate resolution of the gridlock that usually sacks Apapa. Many would want the minister to move with a speed of lightening in resolving the gridlock.

    An advocate of safety and founder of Safety Without Borders, Mr Patrick Adenusi, canvassed the immediate rehabilitation of the failed portions of the Apapa-Oshodi expressway, the nation’s only designated cargo route. He said the repair of the road would help in no small measure in relieving the stress of Lagos motorists.

  • Experts seek investment in integrated transportation system

    Consultant to the World Bank Prof Abel Ogunwale has called for investments in refrigerated railways cargo infrastructure to take care of the growing volume of perishable agro exports.

    Ogunwale of the Department of Agricultural Economics and Extension, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Oyo State,  said this has become necessary as demand for perishables grow and transportation of agro cargo through other modes of transportation has become more expensive.

    According to him, inefficiencies, from the farm gate to the port of exit, increased logistics expenses and travel times  affect  trade in perishable goods.

    He said the roads are feeling the effects of expanding trade in chilled and frozen agro cargoes, and that  the  government  should  support infrastructure improvements to better handle time- and temperature-sensitive commodities.

    Conventional rail terminals, he noted, are typically designed to allow trains stop and discharge passengers and goods, advising that there is need to create cold storage facilities within the  terminal area.

    He urged the government to  construct massive refrigerated  terminals and warehouses that could handle unit trains, adding  that  the  economy is ripe  for  a refrigerated intermodal transportation  service to move containers  packed with fresh produce.

    He said there was need to improve the reliability of refrigerated rail service so shippers can entrust perishables to the railroads.

    President, National Cashew Association of Nigeria (NCAN), Mr. Tola Faseru said considerable investments are necessary for railways to accommodate intermodal containers coming from the ports and roads.

    According to him, turnaround times and proper handling of agro produce by ports should be high on the list of priorities, as slow-steaming continues to have a negative effect on perishable shipments.

    He said a supply chain with road and rail links, ports and cold storage facilities in proximity to one another which favour fresh produce farmers.

    He noted that poor quality of rural roads means high transport costs for farmers. Time delays, according to him, could lead to major product losses for producers.

  • Wanted: Road map for transportation

    Wanted: Road map for transportation

    What will President Muhammadu Buhari do about the transport sector? Will his administration midwife a sustainable transport policy and deliver on an intermodal system? These are some of the posers by experts who set a transportation agenda for  the government, writes Adeyinka Aderibigbe

    FOR many Nigerians,  transportation begins and ends with road.

    This has put too much pressure on the roads, which are carrying more than their fair share of the burden of movement.

    The other less exploited modes of transportation are rail, sea and air.

    The pressure and neglect of the roads have turned them into death traps, making them one of the most unsafe in the world.

     

    State of roads

    The road asset is put at N8 trillion. It accounts for over 90 percent of Nigeria’s passenger and cargo traffic.

    While the yearly national auto-density is 10 percent, with most states averaging 2.5 to eight percent, Lagos’ auto density is 30 percent.

    With a total road network of 193,198 km (120, 048 mi), most Nigerians travel by bus or taxi.          In 1970s and 1980s, the Federal Government built and upgraded many expressways and trans-regional trunk roads; the states upgraded smaller roads which opened up the rural areas. This intervention stopped in the last 20 years.

    The immediate past Jonathan administration said 71 per cent of federal roads across the six geo-political zones were amended.

    Former Minister of Works Mike Onolememen, said over N2 trillion was spent on them.

    According to him, from about 5,000km of “fair roads” in 2011, Nigeria now has about 25,000km out of about 35,000km federal roads in good and motorable condition with alignments that can compete favorably with similar roads anywhere in the world.

    Critics however said road contracts have become a bazaar for  slush funds. Over N7 trillion may have been spent in the last 30 years on the nation’s roads.

    Human rights groups said the nation’s roads construction, remain one of the most expensive in the world, (going by the World Bank estimates).

    Experts enjoined the nation would do well to begin to de-emphasise road transportation for a shift to multimodal system to resolve the nation’s transportation challenges.

    Besides many other outstanding road projects Nigerians expect the government to finally lay the ghost of the second Niger Bridge to rest.

    The rail, road, water and air modes they argued, must be reinvented and returned to the path of efficiency.

     

    Demand for new railway

    The Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), a colonial creation, got its most remarkable support ever under President Goodluck Jonathan. He believed the railway is the backbone of mass transit.

    In 2011, government drew a 25-year master plan for the development of the railway, and began a push that would see much of its needs met through Public Private Partnership (PPP) platform.

    This is coming from the realisation that the government cannot solely fund the nation’s railway. That was after spending N2 trillion on the relaying of the old narrow gauge tracks, and the purchase of new rolling stock over the past five years. The revamp has yielded result. Passenger traffic is projected to hit five million by year end, while over 400,000 metric tons of goods are being freighted from the Apapa Ports to Kano monthly.

    Nigeria has 3,557 km (2,210 mi) of railway track. The main line, a colonial heritage completed in 1911, linked Lagos to Kano.

    Transport expert Mr. Kayode Oyesiku, however said spending on the railway had been wrong headed. He called on government to invest more on standard gauge, adding that the narrow gauge has outlived its relevance and necessity.

    Oyesiku, a Professor of Transport Studies and deputy national President of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), said the present trains won’t bring return on investment. He added that even at the ports, the standard gauge would increase efficiency.  “For as long as the government continues to rehabilitate the narrow gauge, so long would it continue to be a wasted effort,” Oyesiku said.

     

    Water Transportation

    A major arm of international trade, water transportation is seen as a major route for the shipping of goods.

    However, though the nation has seven ocean ports, only two, (Apapa and Tin Can Island), in Lagos, were connected to the rail, a development which has restricted the optimisation of the railway’s freight services’ capacity. For efficiency, ports must be connected by rails.

    On the local scene, the Nigeria Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) which was to drive local investment in the water transportation sector had made but little impact until lately.While the agency continues to navigate the harsh environment for investors in the sector, it remained encumbered by challenges such as very dirty channels, and the dreaded water hyacinth that made navigation a major issue.

    Experts believed the way out remain strengthening of the laws safeguarding the waterways, encouraging the local investors and direct investment of the government in the procurement of wide bodied ferries which would not only force down commuting prices but also serve as the bench mark for investors.

     

    Conducive air mode

    From four international airports in Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt and Abuja about a decade ago, Nigeria now has international airports in each of the six geopolitical zones of the country. But beyond the structures that make accessibility to airline services possible, are more fundamental infractions.

    Over the last two decades, fatal crashes involving commercial passenger airlines had made mockery of attempts by regulatory agencies to restore sanity to the nation’s airspace. Though this tide has ebbed, activities of some of the airlines have continued to draw attention as they are yet to imbibe right practices that would promote safety in the air.

    But the major slap remains the continued absence of a national carrier servicing the air travel needs of Nigerians, a development that has left the sector in the hands of foreign private airlines.

    Experts want more proactive investment in which Nigerians would effectively drive the process.

     

    The intermodal dream

    With 170 million population, growing at about three percent yearly, experts said road transportation alone cannot serve the needs of Nigerians.

    In the Transportation Masterplan in Vision 20:2020, a former Minister for Transportation Mallam Yusuff Sulaiman said the intermodal dream by 2020 is imperative if Nigeria is to become one of the 20 biggest economies in the world by 2020.

    At the 14th session of National Council on Transport (NCT) last year in Enugu, the then Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Transport, Alhaji Mohammed Bashar, said it is a catalyst for a sustained, safe and secure transport sector.

    Bashar said the top priority accorded the transportation sector by the former administration underscored its crucial role in the sustenance of the economy.

    He canvassed a multimodal system of transportation that would be anchored on the private sector for prompt service delivery.

     

    Transport Policy revisited

    Stakeholders believe even the multimodal system would fail if there is no transport policy.

    The National President and Chairman of Council of Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), Maj-Gen. Umar Tundunwada Usman, (rtd), said there is the need for a policy which would drive the economy.

    He said: “Roads are carrying what are by far above their carrying capacity. The railway has not improved on efficiency and this is resulting in the rate of damage to the roads.”

    He bemoaned the lack of professionalism in the sector which according to him is traceable to the fact that the sector has no governing laws as the National Assembly is yet to pass the bill packaged by the Institute for the purpose.

     

    Sharper policies

    Stakeholders said with about 36 states interpreting transport laws and more than a dozen federal agencies doing same, there would be nothing but confusion in its implementation.

    These, they said, is responsible for the lack of articulation of an enduring policy by the government and its agencies.

    The Registrar/CEO Council for the Regulation of Freight Forwarding in Nigeria (CRFFN), Sir Mike Jukwe, said: “Transport is one of the greatest economic growth areas of the 20th century and a key signature to the modern society.”

    Jukwe looked forward to the government doing everything to give the nation a good transportation image, a decision he said begins with planning.

  • ‘ECOWAS sea link project ‘ll ease transportation challenges’

    ‘ECOWAS sea link project ‘ll ease transportation challenges’

    The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) sea link project, when operational, would minimise the challenges of movement of goods and services in the region, Federation of West African Chamber of Commerce and Industry has said.

    Chief Executive Officer of the Chamber, Mr. Cherno Jallow, who disclosed this on Tuesday in Abuja, said the operation of the maritime shipping project, which was an initiative of the Chamber, was aimed at linking the ECOWAS states and Central Africa countries.

    He said the project was in line with the priority given to free movement of people and goods by the leadership of ECOWAS. According to him, the project would also contribute immensely in ECOWAS dream of enhancing economic growth through the strong participation of the private sector.

    Jallow said when fully operational, the project would ensure that vessels, agricultural produce, manufactured goods and passengers could be transported from one country to another within the sub-region and beyond.

    “It will boost trade within the sub-region as well as help erase the difficulties faced by traders when crossing land borders of the ECOWAS countries. This would enable us grow economically and become competitive globally,’’ he said.

    The sea link project is a major step in deepening trade within ECOWAS sub-region and a significant step in enhancing the current trade flow among ECOWAS member states.

    The institutions promoting the project are the Federation of West African Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FEWACCI), NEXIM Bank of Nigeria, and Transimex of Cameroun with support from ECOWAS Commission.

  • Motorcycles may be banned for public transportation

    The National Council on Transportation (NCT) has proposed a ban on the use of motorcycles, popularly known as Okada or Achaba for commercial purposes.

    The proposal, seen as one of the measures aimed at the provision of safe and secured transportation across the country, was one of the major issues at the National Council on Transport (NCT) retreat at the Nike Lake Resort, Abakpa Nike, Enugu State.

    A communiqué, which was co-signed by the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar and the Kogi State Commissioner for Transport,Abdulraman Wuya, said “All states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have been advised to establish a public transport system that ensure strict regulation of the operation of public passenger transportation through a well articulated management system for enhanced safety, security, effective and efficient service delivery.

    “The states are to also develop master plans for the development of Intelligent Transport System (ITS) to facilitate the development and management of their transport operations in line with emerging trends and global best practices.”

    It was also agreed that all commercial vehicles should be properly registered in each state; their enumeration should be carried out periodically to enhance safety and security.

    This year’s theme: “Providing safe and Secure Transportation: Building Stakeholders’ Confidence” examined transportation on the nation’s waters and directed that the Ministry of Transport should develop a national minimum standard framework on safety and security on the nation’s inland waterways.

  • Lagos plans to boost public transportation by 2015

    A plan is underway by the Lagos State government to address traffic congestion in the metropolis by boosting public transportation to discourage private vehicle owners from being on the road in compliance with the UN-Habitat recommendation that traffic headaches in cities can be further addressed through reduction of vehicular movement. ADEGUNLE OLUGBAMILA reports.

    Most owners of private cars and other vehicles in Lagos State may have no need to put their automobiles on the road towards the end of next year when the state government plans to introduce a system that would encourage more public transportation to further address traffic hiccups especially in urban areas.

    The twilight of 2015, will see the government boosting public transportation system by reducing the number of vehicles heading to the Lagos island axis in line with the 2013 UN Habitat recommendation that private driving needs be further discouraged to address numerous traffic challenges particularly in mega cities.

    Lagos State Commissioner of Transport Kayode Opeifa, said structures are already in place to kick-start the initiative.

    Opeifa spoke in Lagos recently at the launch of the 2013 Global Report on Human Settlement tagged:  ‘Planning and design for sustainable urban mobility; by the United Nations-Habitat UN Habitat.

    The planned move, he explained, is not to discourage operators of commercial Danfo buses plying the route but to encourage them to key into the new initiative which aside facilitating easier movement to various work places, will equally makes business transaction a lot more convenient.

    Said Opeifa: “We are bringing on a system toward the end of 2015 that will discourage driving and encourage public transport system which will automatically reduce traffic that we find on Third Mainland Bridge.  We are going to introduce small buses on that road. And people will not need to drive to Victoria Island. Also towards that end, you see that we are now doing the rail, which is now spurring towards Marina, and it will reduce the congestion as people move into that area.

    “We need to reduce the number of vehicles on the road, and to achieve that you have to do what will make other people not drive and leave the whole of the driving to public transport thereby improving on its capacity.

    Opeifa explained further that the ministry has observed a new trend in the metropolis where companies and other organisations are now seeing the need to acquire big buses to ferry their workers to work in order to discourage them from expending their energy in long-hour drive.

    “Interestingly, you will observe there are more Coasta buses on Lagos roads, ditto for Lagbus buses,” Opeifa noted.  “A lot of companies are now buying buses so as to reduce the need for their workers to drive because companies observe that their workers get to work looking very tired having been trapped in traffic for hours.

    “Government is also increasing the number of LAGBuses to Lagos Island by encouraging more private partnership.

    “You will notice that you don’t see Danfo and Molue and on Third Mainland Bridge, you see more of modern vehicles. It is the same people who own those Danfo and Molue that are still buying into the new initiative, so we are not getting rid of them. We have granted some of them licences and we are encouraging them to migrate by applying for loans and if the funding is right and they able to secure the loans, you will see them changing completely.  We will see more of Danfo plying Agege and other long distance routes and not that will they be off the road.

    “You must also note that those buying into this are private sector-driven. And they are now working to increase their capacity and when they do that they create more jobs. The cost of transportation will come down, and people will be ready not to drive,” Opeifa stressed.

    Addressing the avalanche of complaints by users of the almost completed (Lagos)-Ikorodu expressway, ranging from narrowness of road resulting in attendant traffic snarl, as well as what some considered as its needleess beautification, Opeifa  said the current challenges being faced by motorist  on the road, would soon become a thing of the past when the expressway become fully operational.

    “Let me say no amount of road can solve any traffic problem, “Opeifa said while addressing the Ikorodu traffic problem.

    “I remember when we were doing the BRT lane (on Ikorodu road), many accused us of taking a lane out of three, but we told them we were doubling the lane because that one we did would move more people than the remaining two.

    “I agree the road is narrow, but the way it was constructed is not by the number of lanes but how efficient we want to make them to be.  It is not the number of lanes that determines the ease of traffic but how efficient the lanes are.   So, that road is developed to be extremely efficient.

    (When completed) “We are not putting less that 100 BRT on that road; and they are moving on the dedicated lane, so people will find it unnecessary to drive.”

    Opeifa continued: “Instead of you now driving from Ikorodu to Alausa, you only need to board BRT from Ikorodu to Ojota which will only spend 15 minutes and from there you pick another vehicle to Alausa. So it is better to move that way than when you have a big road and all of you are crammed in traffic.  In Chicago for example, they are now turning their three lanes into two; and guess what, they are putting on the third lane-parking.  So if you can drive to a place, park and do business, it is more convenient that way than when you are now stuck on the same road with nowhere to park.

    “People say they want Okada (commercial motorcycle). Okada from where to where? The focus is on non-motorised-that is your legs. So when you trek 100 or 200 metres from the bus stop, you pick a bus, you have exercised yourself. People take Okada from Agege to VI when they are supposed to trek few kilometers from their houses, take a bus, and you know Okada is more expensive to travel in than a bus.