(Updated) Govt Should Give More Attention To Road Infrastructure Development – Ekpa

A Former Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affiars, Dr. Anthonia Ekpa, on Thursday  emphasized the need to accord road development equal priority as other modes of transportation, such as aviation and shipping and the railways.

Dr Ekpa, who was the lead Speaker, gave the charge at the 9th Nigeria Annual Transport Lecture organized by Transport Day Newspapers, with the theme: ‘Nigeria’s Transportation For Development; Sectoral Achievements, Prospects and Challenges’ which held in Abuja, even as she insisted that the Sustainable Development Goals cannot be actualized without road transportation.

The former director in the ministry of transportation, said Federal Government can as well borrow heavily the way it borrows for rail development to build lasting road infrastructures.

Dr. Ekpa urged stakeholders and indeed governments to consider reorganization and synergizing the road infrastructure stakeholders with a view to bringing them under one roof for effective development.

“I have seen more than two decades in service, and I’m convinced that not the funding of transportation sector is inadequate when you consider the fact that transportation is linked to the Sustainable Development Goals. In fact, the belief is that without transportation, the SDGs will not function” she said.

She lamented that official records shows that more people die in Africa on roads mishaps than from HIV AIDS and and malaria.

Ekpa decried the scattered transport policy entities across various ministries in Nigeria, saying that a strategic synergy is required to ensure easy and effective and quick response to issues of road transportation development in the country.

According to her, all over the world, road transportation administration and road construction entities are housed together.

“Because the people doing the thinking and the people doing the coordination and the people doing the Construction and the researchers must be on the same table discussing” she said.

Ekpa, who has also been Permanent Secretary in two other critical Ministries: Federal  Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, has extensive academic background and professional experience and expertise in Governance, Development Management, Leadership, Change management, Organizational Development, Policy Analysis, Public Administration, Strategic Communication, and English language with International training acquired globally.

She is an Alumna of the British Chevening Scholarship 2001 to 2002 and currently Goodwill Ambassador of the University of Calabar.

Ekpa has also received many awards from Government and other Institutions, and served with and on International Boards and Committees including those of the United Nations, ALCO, World Bank and ECOWAS. She also served on select Nigerian Boards including NPA, NITT, UBEC and NACA.

Other speakers during the annual lecture include the Director General of the National Automotive Design and Development Council, Mr. Jelani Aliyu; Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation,  Mr. Freeborn Okhiria; and the Director General of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology,  Dr. Bayero Salih Farah.

Others are the Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Mr. Emmanuel Jime; the Director General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority,  Capt. Musa Nuhu; and the Acting Director General of the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, Mr. Joe Ohiani, among others.

The annual event attracted high profile dignitaries from both the public and private sectors in the transportation and logistics industry across the country, as well as some foreign participants.