Federal Government has expressed worry that Nigeria is loosing billions of naira due to lack of modern storage facilities for consumables, amidst the many challenges facing the country’s transport sector, including high cost of transport caused by President Bola Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidy.
Speaking in Abuja yesterday at the fourth edition of the Annual Workshop of Abuja Transport and Aviation Correspondents Association, ATACA, the Minister of Transportation, Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali advocated for a harnessing of all transport systems, such that it is easy for commuters to navigate easily with choice.
Represented by his Special Assistant (Technical), Dr. Shuaibu Danwanka, the minister urged stakeholders to move to address challenges faced by farmers and food supply to ease the survival burden on Nigerians.
For his part, the keynote speaker at the event, Dr. Emeka Okengwu advocated for “affordability and availability” of a sustainable transport system in Nigeria. This, he said, would help Nigerians plan adequately in line with their income.
Harping on the theme, ‘Harnessing the Aviation, Railway, Marine and Blue Economy Sectors for Sustainable Transportation in Nigeria,’ the chief executive officer of Anthill Concepts noted that the “reason why you have high cost of foodstuffs in the country is because of our transport system”.
To create more value, he suggested that Nigeria’s railway system consider conveying more of economic goods than human passengers.
In his goodwill message, the president of Ajaokuta Chamber of Commerce,Arch. Bob Achanya observed that Nigeria is late on the advancement of a Blue Economy, especially when compared with what is obtainable in other developing African countries like Kenya and Ghana.
Calling for a holistic review of government policies, he posited that “outdated” policies are being used by the federal government to pursue the process of a Blue Economy.
In his opening remarks, chairman of ATACA, Leonard Oru highlighted several challenges facing Nigeria’s transport sector, and called on government to work out modalities to harness the sector.