A former head of state, Yakubu Gowon, was right on target when he called recently for innovative ideas to radically transform Nigeria’s transport system. Proffered in the midst of a deep recession, a pandemic, flailing efforts to redress the country’s huge infrastructure deficit and deepening chaos in the transport sector, the call deserves serious attention. A new approach is required, combining public and private investment to create efficient national and regional intermodal systems and hubs.
Nigeria’s transport system is in deep crisis, and Gowon, and stakeholders who gathered in Abuja for the second National Transport Summit organised by the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria, canvassed all-encompassing stakeholder participation and strategies to integrate all transport modes. Critically, they advocated innovation and application of modern technology as the drivers of new strategies as encapsulated in the theme of the conference: “Building Sustainable Transport Infrastructure in Nigeria: Opportunities, Innovations and Technologies.”
The country needs fresh thinking, investments and professional management in the sector. As an important facilitator of economic growth, transport infrastructure investments and systems are critical to political, social and economic development. “They increase the riches and power of a country; enlarge markets and lower trade barriers, leading to increased productivity, improved mobility and higher standard of living,” the UNDP said.
But like everything else in Nigeria, transport is shambolic. With a land area of 923,768 square kilometres and 206 million people, it has only 200,000 km of roads of which just 60,000 km are paved; most are dilapidated, some are outright death traps. It has barely 3,984 km of railway tracks, inland water transport is underdeveloped, the ports and airports are rundown with only a handful of struggling airlines surviving; gas and petroleum products pipelines are poorly maintained and frequently vandalised.
Suffering from the “twin evils of infrastructure decay and deficit,” the system relies on these roads for 95 per cent of passenger and freight services. Until recently, rail, the cheapest, was neglected with freight volumes declining from 3.0 million tonnes in 1960 to less than 15,000 tonnes by 2005, said the World Bank. Similarly, while air transport improved considerably from 2004 to 2010, ferrying 12 million passengers by 2007, adversity has hit the sub-sector with dilapidated airports and bankrupt domestic carriers. Of the $3 trillion the African Development Bank says Nigeria needs to invest in infrastructure 2018-2040, over $1 trillion is required for transport. The NEEDS document said $40 billion would be needed for rail alone 2004-2020, while the Ministry of Works and Housing wants N1.5 trillion over the next three years for 700 ongoing road rehabilitation projects. South Africa’s Department of Transport says the county has 750,000 km of roads, the world’s 10th longest and 22,387 km of rail tracks, No.11 worldwide.
There is no more time to waste, the federal, state and local governments need to fix the transport sector. Infrastructure provision must be anchored on intermodal linkages of the five transport modes — road, rail, water, air and pipeline — harnessing natural and human resources, public funds, private capital and the deployment of technology as integral enhancers of the transportation architecture. Poor transport infrastructure and inefficiencies add between 25 and 60 per cent to the cost of agricultural produce, losses of over N20 billion daily are said to be incurred at the Apapa Ports, and Lagos, the commercial hub, estimates its losses at N200 billion annually. High rate of accidents, excessive costs, delays, insecurity and high maintenance costs for vehicles erode competitiveness and deepen poverty.
Today’s crisis to be fair, is not for want of awareness or of initiatives by the federal and Lagos State governments; among several others, the Nigeria Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan, Economic Recovery and Growth Plan, National Transport Policy by the federal, and the World Bank-supported LAMATA agency (Lagos) have rolled out multiple railway, road and water transport projects.
Governments need however to fix the challenges of expansion and maintenance of the various modes and integrate them for seamless inter-connectivity. Apart from poor maintenance culture, underinvestment is another cause of dilapidated networks; though about 20 per cent of all public capital spending was devoted to transport development programmes between 1960 and 1980, it fell to less than 5.0 per cent thereafter.
The government gets it wrong by trying to single-handedly fund almost all major infrastructure projects by endlessly borrowing; the country needs large infusions of foreign and domestic capital. The massive borrowing for rail and airports is not sustainable. The way out is liberalisation, privatisation, concessions and Public-Private Partnership. India’s railway sector, the world’s fourth largest and No.1 in passenger traffic, has invited bids from 151 passenger trains on 109 pair of routes in a major privatisation expected to fetch about $4.2 billion. Backed by the International Finance Corporation, Brazilian states have since 2017, attracted $4 billion in private investment for roads in a nationwide PPP programme.
Worldwide, cross-border investment projects are ongoing in ports, airports, highways, rail and pipelines with OECD projecting investment to reach about $3 trillion per year by 2050. The government should open up the railways, ports and airports to competent foreign and local investors in transparent deals; repeal the 1955 Railway Act and privatise its oil and gas pipelines. The state and local governments should accord priority to urban and rural roads and roll out liberal policies to encourage private investors. The Lagos BRT model and intermodal aspirations should be fine-tuned and adapted by other states. Rural roads should be accorded highest priority. In policy formulation and implementation, expertise should be sought and professionals deployed. Regional transport projects should be jointly pursued within the six geopolitical zones.
The World Bank identifies a nexus between efficient transport systems and national wealth creation. It recommends that increasingly, beyond roads and rail tracks air and seaports, deployment of technology-enhancing services alongside investments in power, IT and human capital. The most modern systems that can survive in a world of breathtaking innovation are needed, not outdated fossil fuel-guzzling trains, boats and vehicles.
