Steve Agbota, [email protected]
As global supply chains become increasingly more advanced around the world, the need to build an effective intermodal transportation has taken a centre stage.
Intermodal transport is found to be consistently cheaper than all road solutions. Its external costs significantly lower, thereby confirming the high potential of intermodal transport in increasing the sustainability of the transport sector.
As a result, shipping nations in Europe, Asia, America and the rest have shifted their focus from old models of transportation by adopting intermodal transportation solutions while Nigeria is still left behind.
When these shipping nations develop policy around their transport, they focus on the intermodal transport, which they usually seen as a sustainable mobility solution, environmentally friendly and efficient in terms of resources and in terms of freight.
Intermodal transport requires huge capital for effective sustainability and bring the benefits such as cost-effective, environmentally friendly, efficient, scalable, safe into reality. Many shipping nations spent heavily on infrastructure transport to sustain the trend.
In spite of these benefits, even as the world trade volumes increase annually, Nigeria has failed to build intermodal transportation and unable to link the rail and other modes of transportation system to facilitate trade.
For instance, only one out of eight ports in the country are connected by rail system while most access roads to these two ports have collapsed due to traffic gridlock, thus causing congestion. As result of bad road infrastructure, all the landlocked countries such as Niger and Chad have blacklisted Nigerian ports and now patronise neighbouring ports.
Successive Governments in the country were myopic to come in tandem with the new waves of transportation. And one of the obstacles in the Nigerian transport system is lack of investment in infrastructure. This has seen Nigeria lose relevance to smaller African countries and other nations outside the continent.
Due to Nigeria’s ineptitude to connect its major transportation modes, which include the rail, air, water and road, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) scored Nigeria very low, which might be one of the reasons Nigeria ranks low in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business. Though, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr. Boss Mustapha, recently said that the Federal Government was targeting to place Nigeria among the first 70 countries in the World Bank Ease of Doing Business index, a most sought-after economic feat globally, by 2023.
Despite the fact that transportation investments can have large long-term economic, social and environmental impacts, the country has not improved its transport infrastructure to meet the four per cent annual increase in world trade volume.
Championing the way forward, the President of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration (CIoTA), Dr. Bashir Yusuf Jamoh, said that the Institute would professionalise all aspects of transportation industry in Nigeria for sustainable development.
He added, “With the recent assent of Mr. President recognising the Institute as the sole professional body in the transport industry, CIoTA will engage all stakeholders to ensure that all those involved in transport administration in Nigeria are certified to enhance professionalism.
Even stakeholders supported CIoTA to explore all avenues to position the nation’s transport sector to benefit from the world trade.
At a recent event in Lagos, Evening of Honours for Outstanding Maritime Players, the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, said the transportation sector was being developed as a strategic driver of President Muhammadu Buhari administration’s economic diversification and growth agenda. Amaechi said the government was focused on the establishment of a strong intermodal transport system that would facilitate seamless movement of goods and people and drastically reduce the cost of transportation and business generally.
He added: “There will be increased productivity, which comes with creation of more jobs and production of more goods and services. All these will make the economy more competitive, reduce dependence on oil, and usher in economic growth. This is our target.”
“We are aware that transportation is key in any economic development plan. The major elements of production – raw materials, machines, people, finished products, etc. – have to be seamlessly moved from one point to the other as the need arises.”
He said President Muhammadu Buhari government is implementing a transport policy, which entails linking all seaports in the country by rail, in line with global best practices, adding that all over the world, the most efficient way to transport heavy cargo is by water and rail.
“We have a 25-year rail modernisation programme, involving the development of a comprehensive intermodal system. We are taking the rail from where the past governments stopped to the seaports. The Lagos-Kano rail line, which began from Ebute Metta, is being taken from Ebute Metta to Apapa seaport.
“We will take it from Tin Can and Apapa to connect the new Lekki port. The rail line from Lagos to Calabar links Port Harcourt, Onne, and Warri seaports. Our goal is to have a system where importers would bring in their goods and load them on the rail that takes them to the hinterland, thus, easing the pressure on the roads and increasing their longevity,” he said.
On the economic significance of transportation, Amaechi said adequate investment in transport infrastructure will enhance the efficiency, reliability, and capacity of the transportation system, which will, in turn, lead to lower transport costs, shorter transit times, increased business efficiency, and business expansion, as money previously spent on transport is ploughed back into business.