…..Says It Will Help In Effective Coordination And Planning
Professor of Transport Planning and Policy, School of Transport and Logistics, Lagos State University, (LASU), Ojo, Prof. Odewumi Gbadebo has called on the Federal Government to immediately approve the Land Transportation Policy which encompasses all the modes of transportation, Road, Rail, Water, Air and Pipeline.
He stated this while delivering the University’s 99th inaugural lecture entitled: ‘Walking Our Way Back to the Garden of Eden: Envisioning a Model of the Complete Metamorphosis of the Urban Transportation System Trajectory’ on Tuesday.
According to him, the indispensable concepts in Transportation are Integration and Coordination and no mode is independent of the others. “Those of us in the Nigerian Academia and Professional Association, are in agony seeing the balkanisation of the Transport system’s administration.
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“The Transportation Sector is scattered in the Ministries of Transportation (Road Management and Rail), Blue Economy (Inland and International waters), Ministry of Aviation (Air) and NNPC (Pipeline), and Ministry of Works (Road Construction). This is not an arrangement that will unleash the sector’s full potential in its facilitation and contribution to the national economy.
“We recommend that all these units come under the Ministry of Transportation, with an overall minister and a minister of state each to head the various modes as a unit.
He added that given that the country have gone very far in this unhelpful partitioning, he also advised that there should be a statutory standing committee with membership drawn from the Directorate of all the modes so that there will be a permanent handshake between the units.
This according to him will bring about effective coordination and planning. “This is the minimum condition to bring the desired quantum leap for the sector. If not, our transportation system will struggle with disjointed incrementalism and an uncoordinated development scheme.”
On the need for an integrated and coordinated approach to transport development in the country, Prof Odewumi said for the transport network to function optimally, there must be intermodal coordination and integration within each mode. The present disjointed incrementalism approach to transportation development cannot help leapfrogging the nation’s economy.
“The colonial masters, in their three-pronged agenda of Administrative control, Mineral Resource Exploitation, and Trade facilitation, developed two major road and rail transects from North to South but sadly, we could not sustain these major networks, and consequently, movements of goods and services became very arduous, and the system became a barrier rather than a facilitator of the economy.
While all these existing systems are not integrated and coordinated, we start other disjointed developments in other areas that will not serve any helpful purpose until they link up with other arteries and in an an era of “Ebi npawa”, there are urgent needs that require immediate attention, like insecurity, that must be dealt with if we want to stop becoming government by palliative because farmers cannot go to the farm.”
The lecturer also advised on the need to have an agency for road, “this mode accounts for more than 90% 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.
“Therefore, many self-appointed stakeholders, including local governments, faceless associations, unions and individuals, are cashing out. This explains why the planning and construction are disjointed and governed most unprofessionally.
“At the federal level, the Ministry of Works is developing it but is not working with the concurrence of the Ministry of Transportation managing it. The FRSC is concerned mainly with discouraging and preventing those who want to die on the road and FERMA for maintenance. There should be mergers or mandatory cooperation,” he said.
“If the proposed Transport Commission comes into effect and regulates NRA for rail, NIWA for inland waterways, NIMASA for international water, and NCAA for air (although with some issues), who will report to it on the Road?
“With the present arrangement, our transportation system will remain disorganised and uncoordinated for a very long time. It is time to get back to the drawing board if this government hopes to achieve outstanding development in the sector that is the main engine for fast-tracking the development of all other sectors. Transportation, as we say, is the artery through which all socio-economic activities flow. Without it, life freezes.”
To him, being usually the first and the last mode, except for those living on water or space, this mode deserves greater attention than it currently receives regarding its administration. It is not just the amount of money spent on the construction and the political fanfare of its opening but the entire model management. Only this can ensure proper planning, integration, maintenance and derivation of maximum socio-economic return on its investment.
On road construction, the expert urged the use of local innovation, materials and methods of road construction. “Here, we recommend adopting local materials and technologies for road repairs and construction.
He explained further: “These locally produced materials and methods could be nationally deployed. Road construction is not so much of a complicated science that we want to continue to rely on expensive foreign Chinese or German contractors, especially for the minor link and rural roads. Foreign contractors can embarrass us by garnishment -ceasing our assets abroad.”
He continued: “Professionalisation of the Transport Sector at the three tiers of governance should be in the hands of those who understand the system. Currently, it is being dominated by quacks and hustlers cashing out from the industry without caring for the efficiency and sustainability of the sector.
“Professional associations like the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration and Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, especially the CIOTA President Prince Segun Obayendo, have been advocating relentlessly for this.
“I call on them and the academic gurus in the field, not to relent until this is implemented fully at the federal and state levels. It has been adopted as a principle, but only Lagos and Osun have it in its policy. Others are even yet to get any policy in place.
Speaking on how insecurity is affecting transportation, the inaugural lecturer said n any mode of transportation, land, water, or air, security, and safety are the first conditions for anybody who wishes to embark on any journey, whether for work or pleasure.
“The trip will not be embarked upon if there is no assurance of safe arrival. This point must be made in the most emphatic way possible: transportation will be depressed if security cannot be guaranteed. When transportation is depressed, socio-economic life cannot thrive.
“We are saying here that Nigerians will be hungry until the farmers can confidently go to plant and harvest. In a situation where the farmers are in Internally Displace Camps (IDP), being fed with rice palliatives is not indicative of a nation that is serious about solving its hunger and poverty problem.
Palliative dole out as an economic strategy must stop; it does not solve any problem. Check the dictionary meaning of “Palliative”. It is a temporary relief without a cure for the disease. The palliative delivery is never equitable; most of the time, it is “man know politician” Corruption-ridden and non-transparent.
“This explains why nearly all those in charge of distributing one form of palliative or the other are answering charges of huge fund “embezzlement.”
“We are pleading that the good old days of safety are brought back. The number one duty of any government is the protection of lives and property. That is the biggest reason for having governments, and a government that cannot secure its people has failed the primary assignment. This government should declare total war against insecurity if the transport system is to serve its purpose of serving as the artery through which all the socio-economic activities are moved; otherwise, the economy will go into spasmodic fits and starts, and hunger will become a permanent resident, he explained.
The lecturer further commended Lagos State Government for concluding its Transportation Policy, adding that stakeholders are excited about its presentation to the stakeholders on 28th May 2024.
He however said Transportation policy is not a document crafted and kept in the archive to gather dust. It should be open to continuous engagement with all stakeholders, such as teachers, researchers, industry, media, and investors.
“Therefore, we call on stakeholders to engage the document to highlight its strengths and weaknesses for the federal and other state governments still battling with their formulations,” he said.
On the LASUTOTAL Urban Transport System Circular Development Model (2024), developed by Lagos State University School of transport and Logistics, the lecturer said scholars and researchers in transportation-related fields are the primary owners of this model for critique, adaptation, and modification.
“Others are government transportation planners whose principal concerns are allocating scarce resources among competing transportation modes and maximising the welfare of the affected population.
“Another group of stakeholders is land developers, both residential and commercial. They will be interested in the model as a tool for predicting the impact of new transportation facilities on land values and future development patterns. This group could include large public utility companies planning new transportation facilities. Their main interest is in comparing alternative methods of providing transportation.
“The model could also be useful to transportation providers who need to evaluate the effects of present and future transportation conditions on their customers and their own facilities. This would include certain public and private operators of transportation facilities and services.
“Finally, the government is the major stakeholder in the people’s interest in determining the trajectory of transport network development so as to plan the city’s land use accordingly. This model will give the planners a long-term strategic view of what the urban transport system will become and, therefore, present them with the opportunity to see into tomorrow’s cityscape and, therefore, the chance to prepare for it,” he stated.
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