The Minister of Transportation, Mr Said Alkali, has said the newly approved National Land Transport Policy by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) will improve regulation of the road sector to ensure safety.
Alkali said this while speaking with newsmen in Abuja on Friday.
StarReporters reports that the new National Land Transport Policy in Nigeria aims to create an efficient, safe, integrated, and sustainable land transport system.
Alkali said the policy would be driven by private sector investment and modern technology, including cleaner energy solutions.
According to him, the new policy is the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria, while the transport sector is the most burdened mode of transportation worldwide.
*“A lot of potentials remain untapped here, and we feel we should harness all these potentials by having a framework on which the sector needs to operate.
“The framework is going to strengthen the sector,”* the minister said.
He added that the Federal Government was ready to build bus terminals and CNG stations in the nation’s six geopolitical zones.
*“We have moved transportation to the next level with the support of the President and FEC and approval of contract for constructing six bus terminals as a pilot scheme in the six political zones.
“The locations of sites are chosen on their economic viability, and this is just a pilot scheme. We are going to engage with the World Bank to continue with the development of these terminals,”* he said.
Alkali, who explained that the terminals would have CNG centres with the presence of security agencies, added that most road traffic accidents were linked to drug abuse.
According to him, government will insist on the use of manifests for passengers taking off from stations, whether the buses belong to government or private individuals.
“Government has a responsibility to ensure safety. So, we need to ensure all these facilities are on our roads, but certainly a journey of 1000 miles starts with a step,” he said.
On the rail sector, the minister said the corridor on the eastern narrow gauge from Port Harcourt to Aba had been put to use since last year.
According to him, the project was just on the outskirts of Port Harcourt before the present administration.
*“We are working hard to see how we can as well put another corridor from Kaduna to Kano to use hopefully before the end of next year.
“We are also working on the rail project from Kano to Katsina with a branch line in Jigawa State. They have already started laying the rail track in Jigawa State.
“So all these are monumental achievements that the government has achieved in the last two years in the transportation sector,”* he said.
According to him, transportation is a gateway to the economy of any nation with the capacity to boost growth and improve the livelihood of citizens.
(NAN)