Photo Caption
Director of Road Transport and Mass Transit Administration, Federal Ministry of Transportation. Dr. Anthonia A Ekpa, middle with some representatives of states ministries of transport at the 3rd Annual Transport stakeholders conference in Abuja
By Ignatius Ushie
The Department of Road Transport and Mass Transit Administration under the Federal Ministry of Transportation, held it’s 3rd Annual Stakeholders Conference on Road Transport & Mass Transit Operations in Nigeria recently with it’s Theme: Road Mobility Safety in Nigeria.
The event which began on Thursday at the International Training Institute in Maitama Abuja, had in attendance Government Officials, Policy Experts, Transport Operators and other Stakeholders in the Transport sector in attendance.
Speaking at the event, the Director of the department, Dr. (Mrs.) Anthonia Ekpa, said that road transport is the most viable instrument and enabler of economic development.
According to her, a research conducted in 2018, revealed that the transportation sector offered the greatest number of investors, adding the Federal Government’s Economic Recovery Growth Plan (ERGP) prioritises Transportation alongside agriculture.
The Director, urged all Stakeholders and Ministries to join hands in sustaining the growth in the sector.
Udo Udoma, the former Minister of Budget and National Planning, in his address to the participants, admitted that the country’s transport infrastructure remained inadequate for the size of its economy. pointing out poor sector governance and weak project execution as the major obstacles to expansion and improvement on the quality of infrastructure. According to him “it is in recognition of these that the Buhari administration placed the development of transport infrastructure at the heart of its policy agenda”.
The major objective of the event is to identify and map out strategies that would ensure the achievements of Policy milestones in the Transportation sector, considering the safety, security and regulation of every commercial motor vehicle operations in the country.
Stakeholders were given the platform to create and showcase their innovations for the sector, as this will explore more opportunities to effectively engage the public, the private sector and other stakeholders in the development of the much-needed sophisticated transportation infrastructure, eradication of road hazard and the enabling environment that will make road transportation contribute immensely to the nation’s economy.
