World Bank to establish logistics parks along inter-state roads, railways in Southwest

As part of measures to ensure effective and sustainable maintenance culture in Nigeria and among Nigerians, World Bank has pledged to establish logistics parks that will undertake routine maintenance of road and rail infrastructures which connect states in the Southwest, especially Lagos-Ibadan expressway and other major economic roads and railways.

The World Bank’s plan to construct land transport logistics parks along inter-state roads and railways in Southwest states, starting from Ogun state being the next destination to the internationally-acclaimed mega city – Lagos state and other Southwest states enroute Northern region with a view to ensuring smooth and cost-effective movement of farm produce and locally-produced goods and services as well as people.

Speaking during a courtesy visit of World Bank team led by Feyi Boroffice, Senior Private Sector Development Specialist to Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun state on Tuesday in Abeokuta, Tefsa Micheal, Transport Team Leader, said the mandate of the team was to develop a robust land transport scheme that facilitates movement of people and goods along the identified economic corridors in the region.

According to the World Bank, the programme will be designed in such a way that there will be support for industrialization and agriculture and agribusiness – production, processing, storage, value addition and marketing. We want to ensure that money is well spent on transport connectivity programme which is not for only Ogun state, but also for Southwest states.

Micheal noted that goods and services rendered would be more competitive if healthy system transport and road transport infrastructures are improved on, adding that regular maintenance of land transport infrastructures through the establishment of logistics parks along inter-state roads and railways in the region.

He said, “Basically, what we want to do is moving people and goods along the economic corridors in the Southwest, particularly Lagos-Ibadan expressway. We have two projects now – transport and economic competitiveness. We want to see what are the key export commodities in the state.

“We want to see how that can be eased and facilitated through robust land transport system. Although, investment requirement is huge. In principle, what we want to do is to build on what has been done by this administration and prioritise what the state is doing.

“Regular maintenance in the transport sector is highly required to improve the transport system. There are logistics parks we are going to establish along these economic corridors, we are stronly looking at inter-state infrastructures and we will use Federal Ministry of Works as coordinator because it will involve various states.”

Responding, Governor Ibikunle Amosun decried Ogun state’s inability to entice and domesticate high networth individuals that pay N10 million and above as monthly tax in the state as he said that out of 994 high networth individuals that work in Lagos-Ogun axis and pay N10 million and above as monthly tax, only two of such individuals live in Ogun state and remit such a tax to Ogun state.

While assuring World Bank of availability of counterpart fund on the planned 500 rural roads being constructed across the three senatorial districts of the state, the governor vowed to undertake massive infrastructural development and improve on security mechanism, among other incentives that will entice and domesticate more high networth individuals in the state.