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