• Sanwo-Olu insists Nigeria not grappling with road shortage but linkages
• Lagos investing in digital infrastructure to accelerate Africa’s technology growth, Hamzat asserts

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has said that Nigeria’s economic future is closely tied to an efficient transportation system, maintaining that if the country gets its transportation right, the $1 trillion economy becomes much more competitive as every sector depends on transportation.

He stated this yesterday in his speech during the opening ceremony of the eighth National Transport Conference of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIOTA), themed “Integrated multimodal transport systems for sustainable development of Nigeria”.

The President, represented by the Supervising Minister and Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Olufunsho Olusosun Adebiyi, said the theme of this year’s conference could not be more timely, relevant, or urgent.

He added: “It is urgent because transport is not merely about moving people, goods, or services from one place to another. Transport is the physical infrastructure of economic activities and connects farms to markets, factories to consumers, seaports to the Internet, businesses to opportunities, Nigerian communities to one another, and wider Africa to global, distinguished professionals.”

He commended the Institute for the important role it had played in the advancement of transportation administration in Nigeria.

However, Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who was a special guest, stated that Nigeria does not have a shortage of roads, rails, ports, airports or waterways, but a shortage of connections between them.

Sanwo-Olu, who was represented by his Special Adviser on Transportation, Sola Giwa, further said: “A container can clear the port in a day and lose a week on the road to the hinterland. A commuter can board a train at Agbado and still have to solve the last few kilometres alone. Every mode in this country is working hard. Too few of them are working together. That is the problem this conference has set itself, and it is the right one.

“Lagos is a metropolis of well over 20 million people on the smallest landmass of any state in the federation. We cannot widen our way out of congestion. We do not have the land. The only way to give residents more mobility is to move more people in fewer vehicles, across more modes, with an easy passage from one to the next. That is not ideology. It is arithmetic.”

Meanwhile, the Deputy Governor, Obafemi Hamzat, said that the state is investing in digital infrastructure, innovation funding and technology-driven public services to accelerate Africa’s digital transformation.

Hamzat, who spoke at the fifth edition of The Texcellence, organised by CWG Plc. in Lagos yesterday, said Africa’s challenge was no longer a shortage of innovation but the inability to scale successful ideas into sustainable solutions capable of serving millions of people.

He noted that CWG’s technology supports about six in 10 financial institutions in Nigeria, highlighting the role local technology companies could play in building critical economic infrastructure.

According to him, Lagos State is seeking to replicate such success across other sectors through investments in connectivity, digital identity, regulatory reforms and innovation financing.

Also speaking, Secretary to the Enugu State Government, Prof. Chidiebere Onyia, said digital transformation in the public sector required institutional ownership, reliable records and changes in administrative culture, rather than merely deploying technology.

Earlier, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of CWG Plc, Adewale Adeyipo, said Africa must move beyond adopting technology to building and owning the infrastructure and intelligence powering its digital economy.