The federal government has said the Ministry of Transportation and the Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), will create a database for transporters and other stakeholders in the transport sector.
The Minister of State, Transportation, Gbemisola Saraki, disclosed this during the Annual Retreat of the Nigeria Transportation Commissioners’ Forum, in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Transportation, tagged, ‘developing and fostering synergy in the management of sustainable transport policies.’
According to her, the establishment of the database will make the transportation system easier and safer considering the insecurity in the country.
“We are aggressively promoting the use of technology within the road transport sector. This starts from the aforementioned licensing and registration regime to collecting passenger manifests, real-time trip information, electronic payments systems.
“This will go a long way towards delivering efficient transport services and is also a key element to improving the security of road transport. The NITT has this year embarked on a National Transport Database project which will be the beginning of developing our national intelligent transport infrastructure.
“Considering the security situation in the country with Boko Haram and all sorts of gadgets that are used for different things like bombs, it is vital that we have a database and passenger information on everything that travels. So, technology is key, it makes things easier and safer.”
Highlighting some of the challenges confronting the transport sector, she said: “The road transport sector is beset by a myriad of challenges of the weak regulatory environment and poor enforcement leading to a chaotic road transport industry, poor safety and security on roads leading to loss of lives and property and high transportation costs for people and goods.
“Limited professionalization of workforce, casualization of employment for large numbers of road transport workers, poor compensation, low job security, low government revenues captured from the road transport sector and resultant low impact on GDP.”
She stressed that “To address these challenges, the ministry has embarked on a Road Transport Transformation Programme with the theme “moving Nigeria safely and securely into the future.”
“Towards this end, we have provided input into the draft National Transport Policy, which is currently under consideration by the Federal Executive Council. In addition to that, we have developed a comprehensive National Road Transport Operating Framework covering every conceivable aspect of Road Transportation.
“Part of this seeks to move road transportation towards a “permission” model, whereby operators of mass transit and haulage transport have to earn licenses to operate by meeting set qualifications standards.
“Road transportation must no longer be an all-comers affair where ill-qualified operators and drivers are the order of the day. The framework also includes guidelines and standards for safety, security, environmental sustainability, gender balance, etc.
“Another aspect of the transformation program is a focus on Road Safety and Security. On safety, we are seriously committed to the United Nations’ second Decade of Action for Road Safety with the target of preventing 50 percent of road traffic deaths. One key initiative in this area is that we are working through the NITT to develop world-class driving schools across the country.
“We believe that commercial drivers of passenger and goods transport must meet more rigorous license requirements and must undergo regular training and testing to retain such licenses. As the saying goes, bad roads do not cause accidents, bad drivers do.
“Apart from what we read in the newspapers and hear on Tvs, we all know, at least one person, who has had some harrowing experience of bandits, kidnapping while traveling on our roads. Thus, we are collaborating with law enforcement authorities, coordinated by the Office of the National Security Adviser on a Road Transport Security Summit which will hold shortly to discuss, address and develop far-reaching solutions to our Road Transport security challenges.”
She said the program was also working to ensure that stakeholders have access to funding.
“The Road Transport sector needs strong industry players with the financial capacity to operate high-quality transport operations with a modern fleet of vehicles and qualified staff.
“We understand the difficulties involved in accessing funding especially given the high-interest rate regime. We are exploring with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Ministry of Finance an intervention fund dedicated to the road transport sector similar to what obtains for Aviation and other sectors of the economy.”
She disclosed that the ministry is collaborating with National Insurance Commission (NAICOM) on a fit-for-purpose road transport insurance policy and enforcement framework.