Developing Nigeria’s transportation sector is strategic to the growth of the economy if properly structured in line with United Nations sustainable development goals (SDG-goal 9),which states that a functioning and resilient infrastructure is the foundation of every successful community.
For nations like ours to effectively manage economic challenges we need to re-organise our policy framework, industries and infrastructure to meet global standards. We also need to promote innovation, sustainable technology and enabling environment that will attract foreign investment opportunities, equal rights and opportunities for all citizens. This will create a sense of belonging among citizens as well as build a more stable and prosperous nation.
In addition to the above our cultural democracy also needs to be improved upon by ensuring our electioneering process is free, fair, and transparent. There also needs to be Freedom of expression to enable people participate in policy decisions that will facilitate growth of our workforce, productivity (output per hour worked) and use of modern technology systems for growth of companies.
Most nations that are economically vibrant and successful today had some of these basic structures in place as part of their fundamental process and this is why they were able to achieve economic success. Nigeria needs to upgrade its infrastructure for it to be able to disrupt economic activities.
For Nigeria to grow economically there are strategic steps we need to adopt, some of them are urgent upgrade and construction of modern transport infrastructure that will facilitate transportation and drive efficiencies that will improve logistics services
For Nigeria to grow economically there are strategic steps we need to adopt, some of them are urgent upgrade and construction of modern transport infrastructure that will facilitate transportation and drive efficiencies that will improve logistics services. Also important is the use of modern intelligent transportation systems to efficiently drive, monitor and manage the system as well as improve traffic management systems on our highways in addition to electronically collecting tolls and automatic illegal parking detectors and security camera systems across all our roads, railways, jetties, Ports, airports. Implementation of all these will help reduce traffic congestion.
The introduction of Transit Smart Cards and Real-time Public Transport Information Systems will also help improve mass transport services, develop, and promote the use of environmentally friendly vehicles, such as electric cars to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and mitigate climate change which is a major environmental issue across the globe.
Using modern technology systems will also help develop the use of autonomous or self-driving cars to facilitate greater mobility and safety for the elderly in our nation following its integration into public transportation systems. The construction of more highways will also facilitate economic development, while enabling people to travel across the nation within the shortest possible time.
In summary, government, transport leaders and stakeholders need to focus on the following points for us to maximize the contribution of public transportation system to our economy by adopting and implementing public transportation-oriented policies, improve our monitoring systems to ensure safety and security on all public transport facilities as well as increase investment in public transportation systems.
The increasing use of private vehicles on our roads is a major challenge contributing to traffic congestion on our roads especially in major cities such as Lagos, Port-Harcourt, Kano, Onitsha, Aba etc.
Improving our policies and regulatory environment for the government to certify and reward outstanding transport and logistics organisations with incentives will also lead to growth through increased investments in human capital development, strategic partnerships as well as mergers and acquisitions.
If we upgrade our public transport transportation systems it will help reduce the number of private vehicles on our roads as well as reduce the rate of deterioration of our roads and improve safety and security.
Read also: Average transportation cost rises 36.92% in December – NBS
Government also needs to introduce transport cards, integrated fare systems and put in place a median bus lane system to drive competition and greater efficiency. This will increase passengers’ value for public transportation systems such as railways, bus, marine, pedestrians, cyclists etc.
We also need to introduce the Transportation Impact Assessment System to help evaluate facilities that generate significant traffic volume. Penalties and fines will also need to be given to vehicles and facilities that cause traffic congestion to increase our revenue strategies.
In the area of marine and aviation, government needs to increase funding to the sector as well re-evaluate existing regulations and laws for better management and efficiency as the sector is grappled with a lot of challenges ranging from insecurity, safety concerns, increase in fuel and fare as well as regulatory, institutional and structural challenges. Poor infrastructure and access to financial incentives; inability to repatriate funds; as well as underfunding of the industry are also part of these challenges.
We also need to align our policies with modern intelligent systems, this will improve vehicular traffic flow and reduce accidents through tracking and providing swift movement of traffic information. It will promote emission reduction as air pollutants from diesel and fossil fuels are alarming and a threat to health and safety.
Last but not the least we also need to start working on plans to replace diesel and premium motor spirit powered vehicles with those powered through other sources like electricity. This will in turn improve air quality and also encourage the government to enact stronger laws that will drive the power sector.
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