The Minister of Transportation Mr Rotimi Amaechi has challenged the staff of the Ministry and its agencies to deliver on the Ministry’s mandate, by developing implementable strategies and initiatives that are technologically driven.
Amaechi dropped the charge on Saturday in Oron, Akwa Ibom State, at a three-day Ministerial Retreat organised by the Ministry for its management staff and top functionaries of its agencies.
He reiterated the need to achieve the current administration’s commitment to fill the infrastructural deficit in the country.
The Minister who reminded the staff of the various resolutions at the last retreat that were yet to be implemented said the actualisation of those resolutions will go a long way in repositioning the transportation sector.
While acknowledging the fact that a lot still needs to be done to meet the vision of the current administration, the Minister admitted that remarkable achievements were recorded in the following critical areas: Establishment of Wagon Assembly Plant in Kajola, Ogun State, the establishment of the University of Transportation, Daura, for which construction is ongoing, and the commissioning of Warri-Itakpe railway lines.
Other areas of successes recorded by the ministry according to Amaechi are; the commencement of commercial test run of the Lagos-Ibadan rail lines; appreciable work on the Deep Blue project to combat insecurity challenges in the Gulf of Guinea, and groundbreaking ceremony of the Kano-Maradi rail line.
The Minister said: “I am aware, that our Medium-Term National Development Plan (MTNDP 2021-2025) high-level goal is to ‘build an effective, efficient, intermodal, safe, reliable, affordable and sustainable transportation system and contributing positively to the growth of the Nigerian Economy’ and our Ministerial mandate 2019-2023 are our collective responsibility to ensure that the sector contributes its quota to National Development.”
Also speaking, the Minister of State for Transportation, Sen. Gbemisola Saraki, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, enjoined participants to leverage on the platform of the retreat to “brainstorm, design and develop new strategies and initiatives and collectively align with the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari to change the course of the transportation sector to become more productive, competitive in line with the current global trend.”
She further charged participants “to engender realistic strategies to enable our vision for a safe, efficient, affordable and seamless transportation become a reality.”
The Permanent Secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, while welcoming participants said the retreat is a platform for top management of the Ministry and its agencies to cross-fertilize ideas on how to galvanise the transportation sector to meet the set goals and objectives of the Ministry.
According to her, transportation is one of the critical factors of economic development and prosperity and Nigeria can leverage on that based on its geographical position, its large domestic market and industrial capacity to become the transportation hub for Africa.
She assured that the Ministry and its agencies will continue to provide the necessary support towards achieving all the deliverables assigned to the Minister and the Ministry and even surpass the targets set for it by the current administration as it relates to the Nigeria Agenda 2050, currently being developed to replace the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) and Vision 20:2020.
The highlight of the retreat was the commissioning of the Simulation Centre (simulation control room, simulation multifunctional classroom, simulation engine room) of the Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Iron by the Minister of Transportation.
The centre, according to the Rector, Commodore Emmanuel Effedua, is for the training of cadets in the Maritime industry on life experiences using the simulation centre.
Those in attendance at the two days retreat include the Rector, Maritime Academy of Nigeria, Commodore Emmanuel Effedua, the Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Engr. Fidet Okhiria, the Board Chairman, NRC, Engr. Ibrahim Alhassan, and Director General, NIWA, Dr. George Moghalu among others.
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