Dr Bayero Salih-Farah was appointed Director-General/Chief Executive Officer Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT) Zaria, Kaduna State in January 2020 having spent over two and half decades in the organization at various capacities. A holder of PhD in Management and Business Administration from the University of Huddersfield United Kingdom, transport and logistics management expert with a passion for human capital development, Salih-Farah in this interview with BusinessDay Editorial Board member, Obinna F. Nwachukwu, x-rays the opportunities and challenges of the transport industry in Nigeria and proffers solutions. Excerpts:
From your profile, you have been in NITT for over two decades. How did you receive the news of your appointment as Director-General?
Thank you very much. I feel it was a very big challenge having served in the institute for a long time and having had the vision of what the institute is. I feel I had been given a very big challenge and I feel that the challenge is surmountable.
Why do you see it as a big challenge?
It is a challenge because of the challenges on ground in the institute and the need to tackle those problems I can take you to memory lane; NITT was established about 31 years ago with the objective of providing professionals that can run and man the transport and logistics sector in Nigeria. It was also established to lead in innovations in transport engineering and technology and conduct research and provide solutions to the problems in the industry. Having known these and having seen where we are, I know that I have a very long way to go, that’s why I see it as a big challenge.
In specific terms, what would you identify as the greatest challenges facing the institute and by extension the transport industry in Nigeria?
The major challenges are: First, funding. The institute requires substantial investment to provide facilities and infrastructure that are required and needed to execute its functions as enshrined in the enabling Act. That is a major challenge. The second challenge is the need to provide state-of-the-art faculty that is properly trained in the best institutions in the world to compete favourably with other competing interests within and outside Nigeria. Remember, transport education is relatively new in this country and NITT is a pioneer institute in this field and as such we were saddled with a very big responsibility to provide the nucleus of the faculty in the logistics and transport industry right from the beginning. In this respect, we had to depend on foreign institutions to develop this faculty and that has been a big challenge to the institute.
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So far, what has the institute done to surmount this challenge?
In the past few years, the institute has made a substantial investment with the support of the Federal Government in the provision of facilities. The institute has established outreach centres in about six locations across the country and has provided facilities in those centres some of which will soon be commissioned. The institute has also taken bold steps of training some of its staff at foreign institutions in the past few years to enable them to acquire current knowledge in the logistics and transport industry and that has helped our faculty a lot. We are proud to say that we have the capacity to meet the substantial needs of the transport industry in Nigeria which indeed is our mandate. Therefore my vision is to see NITT achieve its target of being the leading transport and logistics institute not only in Nigeria, not only in West Africa but the whole of Africa. To do that, the institute with the support of the Council is developing a two year and five-year plan within which we will be able to achieve these in terms of the facilities on ground and the faculty in the institute. So, our plan is such that we are seeking government support and putting it across in our budgetary provisions to develop these facilities and faculty. So far the government has been supporting us in this respect.
Apart from government support, are you exploring support from the private sector and other industry stakeholders?
We have collaborators, locally and internationally. We are also approaching sister organizations and ministries to come to the aid of the institute and support us in the provision of some of these facilities and some of them are responding positively. In addition to that, we have established collaborations with foreign partners, particularly, foreign institutions to support our institute in terms of manpower development. These are some of the strategies we have adopted to reach our goal.
What level of support have you been getting from the state governments where you operate?
We have a very good cordial relationship with the Kaduna, Kano, Ebonyi, Gombe, Ekiti, and other state governments including the FCT. They give us support. Anytime we call upon them for any form of support, they always respond positively. Our relationship with them is very excellent.
What is your management doing about enhancing staff welfare which has been an issue of late?
We recently promoted staff across the board as well as recruited new ones to beef up the workforce. We are doing everything possible to improve the welfare of the staff. Our aim is to make sure that our staff are happy and well catered for so that they can give their best. The Council is supporting us vigorously to develop a new condition of service for the institute which will uplift the calibre of staff serving in the institute. I believe that when they are motivated they will give in their best. Remember, our stock-in-trade is the knowledge we give and for us to give the knowledge, we have to have the knowledge. It is in our front burner to develop staff capacity. Every year our staff embark on training programmes in-house and external to enhance their capacity.
NITT is said to be a hidden treasure waiting to be tapped. What does that mean?
As far as transportation business is a concern in this country, the kind of resources, human and material- available in NITT is second to none. We have good faculty, up to date equipment to train and produce professionals that can run the transport industry in this country successfully. Of particular note is the fact that at the moment, transportation is becoming a major challenge in terms of the rising level of accidents, unprofessionalism of drivers, inadequate number of personnel to man upcoming mass transits, mishandling of presenters’ luggage at the airports etc. most of these lapses are as a result of workers who have not been properly trained in the process of luggage handling. All these are necessary things needed for the development of the industry because transportation is the mainstay of tourism and growth of the economy; so having an institute like NITT set up to train manpower and support the industry not fully utilized because a lot of people do not know about it is the reason we say it is a hidden treasure that needs to be opened up.
With this discovery, what is the Council and Management doing to improve the situation and turn it into a revenue earner for the government?
Both the Council (Board) and Management are determined to improve the situation, enhance the business and increase internally generated revenue. One of our major focuses is to achieve visibility for NITT. For the past 21 years, no minister has visited NITT but recently the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi was here on an official visit. So he knows and had seen what we have here, and that would make him support us when we make presentations or require his assistance in terms of training personnel both from the ministries, agencies and industries. We have also started a major exposition in rail. We need to train the manpower not only to operate the systems but also to ensure we have proper mechanics. We have interacted with some prominent people who have also promised to visit and patronize us as well. So, with all these, we think we can become visible and let the word out on what is going on here which is one of the major objectives of the council.
It is not in doubt that given the available resources, human and material, NITT can fund itself. Are there plans to commercialize some of the activities of the Institute?
Yes, we have such plans. Commercialization is on focus. Both the Council and Management believe NITT can stand on its own, generate funds and even make money available to the government. So, we are on the lookout for those departments that can be commercialized very quickly, and as time goes on, we will expand those commercial aspects. We do not want to solely depend on the government for funds.
Are there plans to upgrade NITT to a degree awarding institute?
That also is being considered. As a matter of fact, we are in contact with the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). Some of our courses have gone through the screening process and we have been given tentative approval to run National Diploma programmes. But our bigger dream is that we will metamorphose into a recognized transport university where we will be able to award degrees in transportation. There’s also a drive from the minister which is in tandem with the vision of the Council, to be the forerunner of electric cars in Nigeria.
As I said earlier, with the support of the Council we want to elevate the institute to achieve its vision of being a leading transport and logistics institute on the continent. We want to do that by providing world-class services. It is my ambition that by the time I leave office as NITT DG, the institute would be recognized as a renowned institute in Africa that can provide state of the art training in transport and logistics and management on the continent. We hope that by then we would be able to attract more students and participants from a sizeable number of African Countries than we have presently.
