The Lagos State Government has expressed commitment to the development of a multi-modal transport system to boost the business of the people and accelerate the economic growth of the state.
This, it said, was in line with its aim of expanding the current scope of its partnership with the private sector in transportation.
The Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatude Fashola, stated this, adding that the state government was set to tap into numerous opportunities presented by the maritime sector to secure a space in marine transportation business.
Fashola was quoted in a statement on Tuesday as saying this at the second annual Nigeria Transport Award and Lecture held in Lagos and organised by the Transport Day News magazine, on Friday.
The governor, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Mr. Oluseyi Coker, said communities within the coastal region were no longer challenged in the area of moving goods and services to the mainland.
He also announced that about 1.5 million passengers had been ferried through the waterways, adding that the state was looking at bringing new partners to invest in various forms of transportation; whereby government would provide the environment to ensure competitiveness and adequate financial reward on investment.
“We have a school of transport which runs as a full faculty and we intend to bring in skills in the industry to ensure qualified persons are brought in to drive the process” he said.
He commended various transport unions that had partnered the state in the Bus Rapid Transit and promised that it would allow a similar understanding to prevail in other areas of the transport system.
Earlier, in his lecture titled ‘The Logistics industry in Nigeria, challenges and opportunities’, the Chairman Board of Trustees, Institute of Logistics Management Nigeria, Mr. Ibukun Akinduro, said the country had largely operated a uni-modal system which posed serious challenges to the logistics sector.
He also observed that the dearth of infrastructure had been a major problem militating against the growth of the sector.
