Minister of Transport, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed that about $166 billion would be required by the Federal Government over the next five years to facilitate and provide for Nigeria’s energy and transport infrastructure needs.
Amaechi, who spoke at the National Assembly yesterday during a public hearing on two proposed legislations, Nigerian Railway Authority (NRA) and National Transport Commission (NTC) bills, also said that the Federal Government and General Electric (GE) had concluded arrangement for the commercialisation of Lagos-Kano railway project.
The minister, who argued that privatisation of railway would conflict with public interest, stated that “governments all over the world have realised that it is not best suited in ownership and management of businesses and as such considered it imperative to shift from purely government to Public Private Partnership (PPP).
He said: “The policy therefore, is intended to guarantee efficiency, sustainability, competitiveness and profitability. To actualise these objectives, the Federal Government had established a trajectory towards driving the model. These led to the institutionalisation of agencies such as Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC) with the statutory power to superintend the transition of government-owned concerns to the private sector under the various models of PPP.”
Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara who declared the public hearing open, urged that the NRA bill, which spells out the operations and regulation of the railway sector, should be thoroughly examined, adding that an efficient rail system is a much safer and cheaper mode of transporting goods, services and persons across the length and breadth of the country.
“It will drastically reduce the damage done to our roads and highways by heavy duty trucks. Rail transportation also provides a strong foundation for industrial activities in any economy, as the haulage of raw materials can be effectively undertaken through the railways.
“The current efforts by the Muhammadu Buhari administration to consolidate on the revival of the rail sector, evidenced by the recent presidential trip to China and the appropriation by the National Assembly of billions of naira to it on the 2016 budget, is highly commendable. It must also be accompanied with a revised up-to-date legal frame-work to organise and regulate the sector,” the Speaker said.
On the intendment of the NTC bill, sponsor of the proposed legislation, Nicholas Ossai (PDP-Delta), noted that an effective regulation of the transport sector would provide a level playing field for private sector participation, attract funding and new investments, encourage competition among major players and reduce loss of about 30 per cent revenue accrued to the federation due to non-integration in the transport sector.
Other stakeholders, who spoke in support of the bill, urged that the commission should not be subjected to Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) regulation, arguing that it could serve as disincentive to investors.
