Yemisi Izuora
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has assured of Federal Government is determination to revamp the transportation sector as a critical tool toward its economic recovery strategy.
Amaechi made this known in Abuja at a seminar organised by the Abuja Transport and Aviation Correspondents (ATACA) in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of transportation.
Amaechi was represented by Mrs Yetunde Soniake, Director of Press, at the event with the theme: “Forging a Resilient Transportation Industry in Nigeria “.
Amaechi said that since inception, the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has taken a holistic approach and developed sector specific strategies to revamp and make the various subsectors of the transportation industry self-sustaining.
He said that the intervention strategies cover all facets, which includes an overhaul of legal and regulatory frameworks, sector specific human capacity building strategies, businesses and trade facilitation strategy and other bilateral trade agreement with landlocked countries.
“The transportation industry is the main driver and backbone of every prospering economy the world over and also one of the largest employer of labour.
“Building a robust Transportation Industry in Nigeria is one of the cardinal objectives of the present administration hence, the merger of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation to the Present Federal Ministry of Transportation.
“It is pertinent to know that the development of the transportation sector is cardinal to the economic recovery strategy of the Present Administration,” Amaechi said.
According to him, one of the current developments worthy of mention is the National Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (NERGP) 2017-2020, under, which each sector is supposed to cascade down their Medium Term Sector Implementation Plan 2018-2020.
He said that a lot of successes have been recorded in all the transportation subsector including Aviation, rail, inland waterways, marine with many projects on that would improve the sector.
He commended ATACA for its laudable initiative in organising the seminar, a function which brings everyone to the same page.
He said that the relationship between the press, government and stakeholders is another mechanism to ensure that Nigeria have a resilient transportation industry.
The Minister charged members of the association to be responsive in all areas of press coverage, urging them to investigate and ask questions where necessary to get their stories right.
Also speaking, Minister of State for Aviation Hadi Sirika said that the commitment of the Aviation sector towards economic growth and development has put the country on a global scale as it has recorded a lot of achievements.
Sirika was represented by Prof. Sani Marshi, Director-General, Nigeria Metrological Agency (NiMet).
He said that the efforts in the Aviation sector has led to the certification of the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos by the Nigeria Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) and the International Standard Organisation (ISO) 2015 certification of NiMet by the International Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA).
Sirika said that the administration has resolved to making Nigerian Airports among the best in the world.
He said that this led to the decision of the Federal government to make the private sector play key roles in the development of airport across the country.
Sirika said that the Aviation sector would not relent in its efforts as it would continue to do more to improve the transportation sector inline with the visions of the present administration.
In his remarks, Mr Chris Agabi, Chairman of ATACA, said that the maiden seminar seeks to unlock some concerns from both the public sector and private sector that would help improve the transportation sector for effective service delivery.
Agabi said that the transport sector is one of the sectors that can reduce unemployment in Nigeria significantly and spur economic growth because efficient transport connects people and businesses faster.
He said that the transport sector should be opened for business and It should also be sustainable, hence, the need to attract private capital into financing transport infrastructure.
He said that the Federal government should make policies that can would make the transportation industry profitable and sustainable.
“Economic experts agreed that for Nigeria to successfully position itself to promote domestic business and attract investments, the public sector must improve its process of doing business.