BY Odili Christel
The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, have said that the Federal Government is fully committed to extend railway lines with her land-locked neighbors
like Niger to enhance socio-economic wellbeing within and outside the country.
Speaking at a seminar organized by the Abuja Transport and Aviation Correspondent Association (ATACA) on Wednesday in Abuja, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi who was represented by the Director of Information, Yetude Sonaike reaffirmed the commitment of the government to build a robust Transportation Industry in Nigeria.
He stated that the Federal Government had to award a rail line that will pass through Daura due to lack of a rail line linking Nigeria with her land-locked neighbors like Niger.
Rotimi Amaechi stated further that in order to stimulate more businesses and trading activities, the government approved a rail line to Daura because of the competition for landlocked countries from Ghana and Togo.
The minister noted that Nigeria’s landlocked neighbors are importing through these countries because of the absence of rail lines passing through them. So to address this situation, President approved a rail line that will go to Maragi in Niger.
He stated that in the plan, the Federal Government “would complete the total rehabilitation of all the narrow gauge rail lines and put them to use. The Federal Government is currently discussing with General Electric on the concession agreement.”
According to him, “The government will construct and complete some standard gauge lines in selected corridors across the country, like the Itakpe-AJaokuta-Warri rail line, and undertake various visibility studies with a view to connecting all state capitals, agricultural and industrial clusters by rail.
“Government will also make provision for some international linkages by rail to our neighboring nations, thus leveraging the ECOWAS arrangement and other continental protocols.” The minister, however, did not mention the neighbouring countries being considered by the Federal Government to be connected with Nigeria by rail.
Amaechi stated that the ministry’s mandate was mainly tailored towards problem identification/analysis, policy formulation, implementation and evaluation, but regretted the abysmal performance of the sector.
He said, “It may interest you to note that the transportation sector, since independence, does not have an approved National Transport Policy to coordinate and drive the growth of the industry.
“We just concluded the 2017 edition of the National Council on Transportation in Sokoto State where two inter-ministerial committees involving relevant stakeholders were set up to handle two pressing issues in the sector.”
He stated that the committee on the finalisation of the National Transport Policy document, which is before the Federal Executive Council and National Economic Council, had been tasked to ensure that the policy was approved, as the outcome of its work would take the sector many steps ahead.
Amaechi further stated that many legal and regulatory framework instruments of the agencies in the transportation sector were obsolete, adding that it was in the interest of the country to give out the airports to private operators as concession. “Under our watch, the four transport sector reform bills have undergone various public hearing stages in both chambers of the National Assembly,” the minister stated.
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika who was also represented by the Director of General of Nigerian Meteorological Agency (NIMET) noted that the Aviation sector in the country has done relatively well. He said recent policies in the transport industry will ease the processes of doing business in the country and create jobs for Nigerians.
The Managing Director of Nigerian Port Authority (NPA), Hadiza Usman who was represented by Edward Kabiru lamented the many challenges in the processes of doing business at Nigerian ports.
She said the country’s ports terminals have experienced failed concession leading to “non-enforcement of default penalties on both parties for non-performance of contractual obligations. Some areas Commissioned were not delivered due to various reasons resulting in a deduction from lease fees because their projections are based on total area and the inability of NPA to fulfil its dredging obligation due to design depth.”
“In the light of the above, the present NPA administration has prioritized the need to overcome the hurdles by initiating plans to review all concession and joint venture agreements which will ensure a seamless collaboration for a sustained development of the Maritime industry” she said