The current administration, led by President Bola Tinubu, will in the next two years invest more in the rail transport sector than all past governments combined.

Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr Kayode Opeifa, stated this while delivering a paper titled: “Sustainable Transformation System In Nigeria: A Pathway To Economic Prosperity” at the 11th Nigeria Transport Lecture (NTL), organised by Transport Day Media in Lagos, recently.

Opeifa said the investment coming to the railway would surpass what the country had put in the industry in the last 60 years.

He said this could easily be achieved by both the federal and state governments after removing railway from the exclusive to the concurrent list and as part of the fallout of fuel subsidy removal.

Opeifa lauded President Tinubu, the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike and others for repositioning the transport system in the country in the past two years.

According to him, the Nigerian government is making steady progress in building an integrated transport network across the country with the support of investors that are committed to boosting economic recovery and improving macroeconomic indicators. 

Specifically, he said President Tinubu had done excellently well by daring to free scarce resources wasted on fuel subsidy and the harmonisation of currency exchange rates. 

He also pointed out that the switch of railways from exclusive to concurrent list, the beginning of work to complete the Badagry-Sokoto super highway, abandoned for over 40 years, and the starting of the construction of the Lagos-Calabar super highway were positive indications to a sustainable transportation system. 

Other areas he gave credit to the current administration are the investment in rail infrastructure, supporting states with grants for rail system infrastructure, establishment of the Presidential CNG Initiative (Pi-CNG), among others. 

Ranking Lagos and Abuja as two cities with the most impressive transportation system, Opeifa said that Kano, Kaduna, Delta, Edo, Oyo, Ogun and others had equally made substantial successes in the transportation system. 

He said, “Of mention are the efforts of the states of the northern part of Nigeria investing in Intra-city and interstate transport services as we have in Adamawa, Taraba, Borno, Sokoto, Kastina, Kogi, and Gombe states, among others.” 

He equally observed that the efforts of the private sector involvement in interstates transportation were more noticeable in the south eastern regions.

Proffering short-term and long-term strategies for developing sustainable transportation system in the country, Opeifa advised that the government and all other stakeholders, including the private sector, donor agencies and development partners must work together for a sustainable result by prioritising accessibility, affordability, inclusion, efficiency, and environmental responsibility while taking into account cost-benefit analysis. 

Other steps for a transport management system, as listed by the NRC boss, are enactment of a national policy on sustainable transportation system, development of a new strategic national rail transportation and logistics master plan, framework for sustainable mass transit operations in Nigeria and establishment of the Ministry of Transportation at all sub-national levels. 

He also harped on the need for a review of the current National Integrated Infrastructure master plan and creating an integrated strategic transportation master plan for each state/sub national government (rail, road, water, air, maritime).

Despite the progress made, he equally warned that infrastructure deficiencies, insecurity, operational challenges, union issues, decarbonisation and lack of clear policy, structure and processes had remained the bane of a sustainable transportation system in the country. 

The lecture was well attended by key stakeholders in the transportation industry including the Lagos state government, federal government agencies, Federal Road Safety Corps, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Nahco Aviance Plc, Nexant Consulting, and transport and affiliated firms, among others.

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