By Steve Agbota, Abuja
Vice President of Nigeria, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, has said that the Federal Government investments in the transportation system especially in the areas of rail, road, air and maritime sectors are aimed at achieving the potential transport hub status.
Osinbajo who chaired the 3rd National Transportation Summit of the Chartered Institute of Nigeria (CIoTA) with the theme, “Regulating The Transport Sector In Nigeria: The State Of The Art And The Years Ahead,” in Abuja yesterday, said that there cannot be economic development without transportation, adding that transportation cannot serve its purpose unless it is available in a safe, affordable and secure environment.
Osinbajo who was represented by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said, “This is why CIoTA’s theme for the year 2021 summit, Regulating the Transport Sector in Nigeria: the State of the Art and the Years Ahead” is of special interest to the present administration.
The theme and the sub-themes of the summit are in tune with government’s thinking and actions, as can be seen in the massive transport infrastructure developments in the rail, road, maritime and air subsectors.
“As an indication of the seriousness with which this government takes transportation as sector for driving our economic agenda, we enunciated some creative policy initiatives for funding critical projects in the sector. These include Road Infrastructure Tax Credit Scheme, Bonds, involvement of international development Partners such as World Bank, Africa Development Bank (ADB), IMF, Foreign Direct investment (FDI), Highway Development and Management Initiative (HDMI) and National Tolling Policy. These are yielding tremendous results,” he added.
On the recent election of Nigeria as the Secretary General of the Maritime Organisation of West and Central Africa (MOWCA), he said Nigeria has opportunity to utilise the investments we are making in the transport sector as building blocks to attain hub status, and play big especially as Africa regional trade expands with the coming of Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) initiative.