Edo targets efficient transport system, as Amaechi wants maritime potential harnessed

Edo State Governor, Mr. Godwin Obaseki, said, yesterday, his administration was partnering with stakeholders to develop a master plan to ensure efficient transportation system.

Obaseki disclosed this during a transport sector stakeholders’ summit at the Government House in Benin City.

The summit with the theme, “Edo Transport Sector: Harmonising for Sustainability,” hosted stakeholders, including academics, investors, transporters, and government agencies, among others, to brainstorm on how to reposition the state’s transport sector.

Obaseki said: “Edo is a natural transport hub in the country. All major road transportation networks terminate in Edo State. Our vision as a state is to develop an efficient and effective transportation system that will serve the needs of people, who are commuters and improve their quality of life as they reside in our state.”

He said his administration would offer conducive environment for experts, policymakers and other key players in the transport industry to brainstorm on the interconnectedness between transportation and tourism, as well as the connectivity between road, rail, and air transport services for the purpose of economic diversification.

He said: “I am very optimistic that if any state can organise its transportation sector to become world-class standard, Edo is that state.”

Delivering a paper titled, “Edo State Transportation Sector: Challenges and Intervention of Present Administration,” the Managing Director of Edo City Transport Services, Mrs. Edugie Agbonlahor, said transportation plays crucial role in socio-economic growth and development in any society.

MEANWHILE, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Ameachi, has urged the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to harness national maritime potential properly, noting that Nigeria, with over 10,000 kilometres of Inland waterways, is a blessed country.

The minister, who made this disclosure in Port Harcourt, yesterday, at the commissioning of some newly acquired vessels of the agency, noted that the inland waterways is verifiably the cheapest and safest mode of transportation, which equally plays a critical role in multimodal transportation.

Amaechi, who was represented by the Managing Director of NIWA, George Moghalu, stressed that waterways must be dredged to achieve the required draft, adequate survey, mapping, and charting with marker buoys and signal put in place and every necessary step is taken to ensure safe navigation.

In his address, Moghalu, represented by the General Manager, maritime service, Joseph Ororo, reiterated that the huge opportunities that abound within the National Inland Waterways could only be maximised in an atmosphere of a strong regulatory framework.