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Stakeholders in the nation’s road sector, in Abuja lauded the improvements on roads across the country, commending the Federal Government, the minister of power, works and housing, Babatunde Fashola, and his team for the innovative approach to road management since the inception of the Buhari administration.
Speaking at a day public enlightenment on the developments in the road sector, the stakeholders, who included the National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO), the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), and Petroleum Tanker Drivers Association, among other road users, noted that the minister had done a lot to restore confidence of Nigerians on the nation’s road sector.
In his message at the Nigerian Air Force Conference Centre venue of the event, Najimdeem Yasin, president, NURTW, congratulated the minister for his efforts in executing the 2017 budgetary proposals as regards to the development of road network across the country.
Represented at the occasion by Alhaji Nasiru, the NURTW president also expressed appreciation to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari for the prudent management of the nation’s scarce resources, noting that since the beginning of the present administration, the road sector in the country never had it as good as was being currently experienced despite the shortfall in the nation’s revenue generation.
The NURTW president, however, pointed out that as the efforts and actions of the government to improve the roads were being applauded, it was also necessary to direct its attention to a lot more of the roads that still needed urgent attention, urging the minister to put in place a mechanism to institutionalise the culture of construction, rehabilitation and maintenance of federal roads as well as putting necessary instruments that would guide against the abuse of the roads by the road users.
Such mechanisms, the union leader said, included weighbridges, transit parks and provision of other road furniture, adding that as a transport workers’ union occupying the leadership of the International Transport Federation (ITF) and the global vice president, the leadership of the NURTW had taken the sensitisation and training of its members very seriously as it could not afford to operate short of international standard.
Disclosing that the NURTW, in collaboration with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and Vehicle Inspection Officers (VIO) regularly organised series of enlightenment campaigns for the union members in order to encourage them to maintain good driving culture, the union boss said, “I want to assure you of our continuous support and loyalty to every initiative that will improve the safety and sustenance of roads in the Federation.”
Also, Kassim Bataiya, president, NARTO, expressed appreciation to the minister for matching his words with action, recalling that on the first of February 2018, the minister, at a meeting with the various transport unions in his office, did promise that he would convoke such an enlightenment workshop.
Represented by the executive secretary of the union, Aloga I. Okpobo, the NARTO president, who was last week elected president of the African Road Transport Union in Marrakech, Morocco, commended the minister for keeping his words applauding him for the ongoing rehabilitations and reconstruction of roads across the country.
He recommended that the Federal Government should ban the use of steel trucks and replace them with aluminum trucks “because aluminum trucks are lighter in terms of weight capacity” and for the Government to continue the road rehabilitation and expansion it has earlier started as, adding that while the ban of the use of steel trucks would address the issue of axle load, the rehabilitation and expansion of roads would “go a long way in bringing relief to Nigerian roads.”
In his own message, the national chairman of the Petroleum Tankers Drivers Association, Salimon Akanni Oladiti, commended the Minister for “his courage” in organising the workshop pointing out that it is only when one is courageous and doing something right that such a person could invite the public to brief them of such action.
In his address, President Muhammadu Buhari, represented at the occasion by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Boss Mustapha, said the workshop was an indication of the important role that road transportation played in the nation’s economic development, adding that the critical place of road transportation in the country’s evolution and the national life had never been more alive than presently.
“Presently the haulage of industrial goods, agricultural produce and industrial raw material, petroleum products, power plant components and other economic materials required in the manufacturing sector, are carried out using the road network,” the President noted, adding that it was this realisation that underscored the promise of change by the present administration in May 2015 with infrastructure as a priority.
Earlier in his welcome address, Fashola said the workshop was meant to reflect and agree on the need for change about how Nigerians have used their Road infrastructure adding that the country’s Economic growth, National productivity and job opportunities would be impacted by the conclusions and resolutions of the meeting.
Noting that there are now existing treaty obligations within the West African sub region and beyond that regulate the amount of load any goods vehicle can put on an axle and by extension on the road in order to do business within ECOWAS and beyond, Fashola said the only way to optimise the opportunities that lie in road networks like Trans-Saharan highway that connects Nigeria to Chad, Niger, Tunisia, Mali and Algeria; the Lagos-Abidjan Highway through Benin, Togo and Ghana, or the Enugu-Cameroon Highway through Abakaliki – Ogoja, Ikom and Mfum was to sensitise road transporters and imbibe the existing treaties.
The minister, who thanked the President for finally signing the instruments of ratification as soon as it was brought to his attention, after many years of delay prior to his tenure, added, “This meeting is critical to the achievement of our common goal for shared prosperity. Our compliance with these regulations will open a massive door of opportunity and prosperity of cross-border trade to Nigerians engaged in the transport business.
“This is why this meeting was convened; because when President Buhari once said, “We will change our habits and we will change Nigeria,” I believe this is one of the things he had in mind. While it is true that we could have done better by way of massive investment in our transport infrastructure during the windfall of income from oil, this Government is now rapidly and aggressively addressing road transport infrastructure repairs, rehabilitation and construction as many of you who travel regularly will attest.”
Other highpoints of the Communiqué are reaffirmation of need to operationalise the weighbridge stations on Federal roads to check overloading, recognising the need for adherence by motorists to road signage for safety, need for all stakeholders to join hands to halt the abuse on Nigerian roads and agreement that tank farm owners and sea port operators should comply with the axle load limits by installing weighbridges at their depots/ports.
Also present at the occasion were the minister of transportation, Chibuike Amaechi, represented by Anthonia Ekpa; FCT minister represented by the executive secretary FCDA, U.G. Jibrin, Corps Marshal of the FRSC, Boboye Oyeyemi, among other dignitaries and stakeholders.
OSA VICTOR OBAYAGBONA
