By Ignatius Ushie
The Director General of Nigeria Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside says the agency will collaborate with other agencies in the transport sector to drive transportation sub sector, in collaboration with the new Transport University to be established in Daura, Katsina state.
Peterside disclosed this while responding to questions from journalists at the just concluded maiden National Transport Summit holding in Abuja. The summit was organised by the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria(CIoTA).
According to him, there is a relationship amongst the various modes of transportation and no mode of transport on its own is self sufficient.
“Every mode of transportation will need to work with the other and connect with the other to achieve its ultimate goal, to maximise efficiency.
“Obviously, we are in sync with the new spirit of inter-modalism that the country is promoting because that is being promoted around the world.”
Peterside, while commending the initiative of the Transportation University in Daura, urged for more initiatives that would build the capacity of Nigerians and better the economy.
According to him, “every opportunity we have to build capacity, we must take advantage of it. We are a country of 200 million people. We can’t have enough universities to build capacity; we need more universities to build capacity. So, we definitely will work with all tertiary institutions to build capacity.
”If there is one area where we should have a niche and take advantage, where we should have comparative advantage, it is in manpower.
”Philippines supplies 500,000 seafarers to the world. We should supply transport professionals to the whole of Africa, taking advantage of the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement.
“So, we are going to cooperate and collaborate with all transport training institutions to build capacity for our country.
“To ensure that we are self-sufficient, we must export transport professionals to other countries of the world,” he added.
