Chief of Defence Staff, others advocate improved transport sector

The Chief of Defence Staff, Gen. Christopher Musa, and other stakeholders in the transport and logistics sector have advocated the need for improved and efficient transport services.

The experts, who bemoaned that Nigeria does not have preferred choices of transportation, said that where transportation is taken seriously, one could decide to either use the road, rail water or air transport.

The CDS, while declaring open the 2024 Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) conference, emphasised the need to do more with Nigeria’s transport sector.

He said: “I was privileged to be in China in 2012-2013, China with a land mass 10 times the size of Nigeria has excellent logistics, they have a very good train service subway, and bus system that is working, but Nigeria has just over 900,000 sq km size and we cannot get out transport system right. I know we are doing a lot, but I think we can do better.”

He noted that an efficient transportation system is key, saying transport and logistics are the pillars of an effective structure that delivers results.
Musa expressed optimism that the conference would proffer solutions that would improve the transportation sector of the country.

The President of the CILT, Mfon Ekong Usoro, in her address identified the implementation of the National Transportation Policy as a solution to the difficult, expensive and unavailable means of conveying goods, services and people from one destination to another in Nigeria.

They identified the non-existence of an effective transportation model in the country as one of the major causes of the rising cost of commodities in the marketplace.She called on the Federal Government to implement the Transport Policy to enable development and competitiveness in the industry.

“Attaining a coordinated, collaborative, integrated transport system is a shared responsibility of the ministries in charge of the transport sub-sectors and citizens.

“We can achieve this only if Nigeria has a National Transport Policy. A final Draft of the National Transport Policy was produced in 2022.

“The Policy provides for integrated transport planning, operation, implementation and enforcement chapters for each transport mode with the intention that the respective modes will develop detailed implementation policies that align with globally-agreed policy imperatives,” she stated.

The keynote speaker, Dr. George Banjo, insisted that the implementation of the National Transport Policy will push the different segments of the sector to drastically increase performance due to adequate supervision.

He said the implementation will also reduce cases of policy inconsistency that has hindered efficiency, competition and easy access in the transportation chain in Nigeria.