Road transport most underdeveloped infrastructure in Nigeria with obsolete equipment – NITT
Road transport most underdeveloped infrastructure in Nigeria with obsolete equipment - NITT
Segun Oladipupo
The Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, Kaduna State has said that the road mode of transportation is the most underdeveloped infrastructure with obsolete equipment in the country.
The Institute therefore adduced the underdevelopment is responsible for the major causes of accidents in the nation’s transport sector.
Speaking at the 10th Nigeria Transport Lecture organized by Transport Day Newspaper, the Director General of NITT, Dr. Bayero Salih Farah stated that Nigeria is top on the list of most traffic accident-related fatalities in Africa due to infrastructural decay.
According to him, 1,834 deaths were recorded between January and March, 2022 out of 3,335 accidents within same period.
The Director General added that Nigeria is a highly mobile country and is ranked 6th among the most populous countries in the world as more than 80 million Nigerians commute daily in the movement of goods and services.
According to him, unregulated operators and safety concerns,poor maintenance culture, and overcrowding were some of the key factors affecting the Nigerian transport system.
Farah is his paper presentation titled :”Transport Safety in Nigeria – A Way Forward , recalled that in 2018,the National Bureau of Statistics revealed that they were 11.8million vehicles in Nigeria adding that 56% were for commercial purposes while 34% were privately owned.
He reiterated that Nigeria operationally has five modes of transport system , saying that the current trend of road accidents remain unprecedented growth in the number of accidents with the corresponding rate of fatalities in the last three decades .
However, the DG explained that drivers behaviour can influence the control of road accidents when they are enlightened and empowered with capacity building adding that paucity of funds, has hindered the progress of the driving centres across the country since 2020.
He re-echoed that NITT is considering to enter into agreement with investors on Public Private Partnership agreement noting that international investors were indicating positive interest
Earlier , Publishers of Transport Day, Frank Kintum expressed satisfaction over the turn out of the the 10th Nigeria Transport Lecture even as he appreciated stakeholders from the industry for attending.
