BY ADEYEMI ROBINSON-ADEFIOYE LAGOS
A former minister of Interior, CAPT. EMMANUEL IHEANACHO yesterday called for the demolition of building for expansion and redesigning of the port access road would solve the perennial traffic gridlock.
Speaking in Abuja at the Day two of the ongoing National Transportation Summit organised by the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration Nigeria (CIoTA), themed “Unlocking the potentials of Transportation for sustainable Development,” IHEANACHO said what is required is expansion and redesigning of the ports infrastructure and access roads to the hinterland.
He said, “How long should it take for a lorry to travel from Ikorodu road into the ports? Some say it takes more than ten days but that isn’t acceptable. The government is trying so hard to correct the situation even deploying the military to clear the roads. It takes more than deploying personnel to clear the roads. What is required is expansion and redesign of the ports infrastructure and access roads to the hinterland.”
IHEANACHO further called for improving the size of Nigerian seaports so as to serve land locked countries like CHAD, NIGER REPUBLIC.
According to him, there is need to have port infrastructure improved proportionally with the increase in cargo throughput.
“Nigeria’s revenue base has been growing but we have continued spending the revenue on imported goods. We have seen the need to improve the size of the ports available in Nigeria.”
“Remember that we have to maximize these ports for our need as well as to serve the landlocked countries like Chad. Nigeria should look at the trade needs and develop ports to serve those needs.
“The demand factor we should focus on is the underlying trade. How do we compare the volume of trade in 1959, 1969 and consistently over the years? If the trade has doubled over this period, then there is need to have ports infrastructure improved proportionally.”
Also speaking, a leading economist, PAT UTOMI has identified weak property right as one of the biggest threat to inflow of capital and foreign direct investment (FDI) into Nigeria’s economy.
UTOMI said that investors do not go to countries where property rights are threatened.
“In Nigeria, Governor’s are revoking C-of-O that were approved by their predecessors. We are talking of properties that people have invested billions of Naira to build. Government revoke them due to political considerations. Investors don’t come to such countries,” he said.
According to him, Nigeria is presently losing relevance to smaller African countries due to lack of efficient transport infrastructures.
“Africa will not make the progress that its destined to make unless Nigeria leads the flying geese. What transformed South-East Asia economy? It was Singapore that began to get it right, and others looked across the border, and joined in the development stride. Before you knew it, Malaysia, Thailand and others had their economy transformed,” he said.
UTOMI, who noted that Nigeria is central to African development, said it’s unfortunate that Nigeria have not done something right in the transport sector such that small countries are beginning to lead the way on the continent.
Citing example, he said that he was in Addis Ababa last week, and saw that they have functional Light rail there. “The road network in Addis Ababa is flourishing, and not the place we used to struggle to go to in the 70’s. We need to see a lot of investment to come to Nigeria’s transport infrastructure.
Earlier, INNOCENT OGWUDE a former Acting Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Technology, Owerri, who presented a paper titled, ‘Urban Transportation: Access and Mobility for Sustainable Development,’ blamed vehicular congestion on Nigerian roads to narrow roads, inadequate land usage and pattern of city structures.
“Nigeria has low vehicular ownership and thus, vehicular congestion ought not to have occurred in Nigeria until year 2025. For now, Nigeria’s transportation mode is vehicle dominated, and there is need for careful planning of urban transportation,” he said.
OGWUDE said vehicle ownership in Nigeria is about 0.6 percent, adding that Nigeria is expected to reach a saturation level for vehicle ownership in 2025 when ownership of vehicles will get to 0.73 percent.
