The federal government has expressed confidence that the National Land Transport Policy will improve the nation’s transportation infrastructure, citizens’ well-being, enhance regulations and safety in the sector.
The Minister of Transportation, Sen. Said Ahmed Alkali affirmed this when he met with members of the Abuja Transport and Aviation Correspondent Association (ATACA) in Abuja adding that the newly approved policy by FEC is aimed at address existing challenges and promote a more efficient and secure transportation system.
“This policy is the first of it kind in the history of this country. The transport sector is the most burdened mode of transportation in any part of the world.
“A lot of potentials remain untapped here, and we feel we should harness all these potentials by having a framework on which the sector needs to operate. With the passage of this policy, the framework is going to strengthen the sector,” said Alkali.
“We have moved the sector to the next level with the support and cooperation of the president and the Federal Executive council with the approval of the contract for the construction of Six bus terminals as a pilot scheme, one for each of the six political zones.
The Minister also revealed that plans to build bus terminals and CNG stations in the Six Geopolitical zones of the country are o the way
“The locations of sites are chosen on their economic viability, and this is just a pilot scheme. We are going to engage with the World Bank to continue with the development of these terminals.”
Speaking more on the proposed bus terminals, the minister explained that these terminals will have CNG centers and the presence of security agencies because we have observed that most of the reasons behind these road traffic accidents is linked to drug abuse.
Alkali said to further strengthen the security on the roads, government will be insisting on the use of manifest for the passengers that took off from the station, whether the buses belong to government or to private individuals.
“Government have a responsibility to ensure safety, so we need to have all these facilities on our roads, but certainly a journey of 1000 mile starts with a step,” states Alkali.
The minister also highlighted ongoing development in the rail sector, saying, ” we have put our corridor on the Eastern narrow gate from Port Harcourt to Aba to use. The project was just at the outskirt of Port Harcourt when we came in, but by the grace of God Almighty, we are able to achieve Port Harcourt to Aba.
“It has been put into use since last year, and by the grace of God, we are working hard to see how we can as well put another corridor from Kaduna to Kano to use hopefully by the end of or before the end of next year.
“We are also working on from Kano to Katsina with a branch line in Jigawa State. They have already started laying the rail track in Jigawa State. So all these are monumental achievements that the government has achieved in the last two years in the transportation sector,” noted Alkali.
He further emphasized that transportation is a gateway to the economy of any nation with the capacity to boost growth and improve the livelihood of citizens.
The National Land Transport Policy aims to provide a legal framework for developing, coordinating, and administering the land transport system; create an organized, efficient, competitive, integrated, and sustainable land transportation system.
The policy also aims to attract private sector investments and funding, increase the land transport sub-sector’s contribution to economic growth, and enhance access to markets, domestic consumption areas, and ports for export and import.
The policy covers various aspects, including road and rail transport development, inter-modalism and connectivity, funding and partnerships, green transportation and safety, regulations, and administration.