A Professor of Transport Planning and Policy at the School of Transport and Logistics, Lagos State University (LASU), Odewumi Gbadebo, has stressed the need for intermodal coordination and integration within each mode of transportation system in the country to function optimally.

He noted that the current disjointed incrementalist approach to transportation development could not help the country’s economy. Gbadebo, who delivered the 99th LASU inaugural lecture series, yesterday, titled “Walking our way back to the garden of Eden: Envisioning a model of the complete metamorphosis of the urban transportation system trajectory,” lamented that the challenges in the transportation system in the country are created by the governments that failed to complete road projects before starting another.

He said that several road projects that had been abandoned make movement of goods and services very arduous, as they have become a barrier rather than a facilitator of the economy.

He, however, expressed fear over the possible abandonment of the recently launched Lagos-Calabar Coastal Road before the eight-year gestation period. He stated that the road transportation system in the country deserves greater attention from government across all levels, saying that it is beyond the money spent on the construction but proper model management, saying: “Only this can ensure proper planning, integration, maintenance and derivation of maximum socio-economic return on its investment.”

Olurode, who also said that the road sector in the country lacked a well-coordinated agency, making many self-appointed stakeholders, including local councils, faceless associations, unions and individuals, to be cashing out, further said: “We are saying loudly in Lagos that there should be an agency that will coordinate and regulate the activities of this most disorganised mode. This mode accounts for more than 90 per cent of Nigerians’ mobility and is an orphan. Nobody is in charge. You have NRA for Rail, FCAA for Air, NIWA for Inland Water, NIMASA for international waters, and NNPC for Pipeline, but none for Road. This explains why the planning and construction are disjointed and governed most unprofessionally.”