Alkali, Giving the Transportation Ministry A Midas Touch

Having been given the mantle of leadership at the Transportation Ministry by President Bola Tinubu on the 20th of August, 2023 as Minister of Transportation, Senator Sa’id Alkali, has thus far hit the ground running by completing some major inherited projects of the ministry met at various stages within one year in office, write Kasim Sumaina

On assumption of duty, Alkali stated that the mandate of Mr. President was to ensure that the ministry gets it right in the rail and land sector and ensure that all inherited projects within the sector are completed within a short period of time.

Matching words with actions, Alkali has upped the ante by steadying the ship in one of the country’s oldest ministries despite an economic crunch. Just like his predecessor, Rotimi Amaechi, Alkali told whoever cared to listen that it was time to move the country’s rail sector to another level, especially with the directive from the President that all existing contracts must be completed.

Expectedly, Alkali emphasised that his intention was to reactivate road transportation and mass transit operations in the country. This, he said, was in furtherance of sincere commitment to ensure the realisation of the “Renewed Hope Agenda” of this administration.

Interestingly, the minister said he has resolved to ensure effective supervision, monitoring and evaluation of performance of all the departments of the ministry and its agencies to meet operational standard, judicious expenditure management and optimal productivity.

Against this background, Alkali pointed out that he would also ensure a sustainable collaboration with related ministries, agencies and corporate entities to reactivate the road transport and mass transit operations in the country.

The Ministry of Transportation he explained, was primarily established to facilitate the provision of public transport services and effective coordination of all the agencies and institutions under it and shall strive to ensure the realisation of its mandate and the mandates of agencies under its jurisdiction.

This endeavour will assist to harness the resources of the nation, promote national prosperity and dynamic self-reliant economy that will actualise the ‘Renewed Hope’ of the present administration’s developmental agenda of ensuring an efficient transport system consistent with the socio-economic objectives of the Constitution.

Alkali said: “In order to sustain this reality, the Ministry of Transport must assume a leading role of improving the public transportation sector to support the numerous policies that are geared towards providing democratic dividends that are accessible to ordinary Nigerians through effective provision of public transport that is secured, affordable and convenient across the country.

“It is important to state that the Federal Ministry of Transportation remains among the few Ministries that were established and continue in existence from colonial period to date with little modification of name given its strategic place as gateway to the nation’s economy.

“This might probably explain why the Ministry is undergoing restructuring in response to emerging national economic challenges that require the services of the Ministry.

“Similarly, I will, under careful study of prevailing economic trends, undertake the provision, modernisation, rehabilitation, planning and development of the rail transport sector with efficient security services to support the realisation of the primary purpose of the government.

“This initiative will no doubt maximise the potentials embodied in the recent constitutional alterations that moved rail transport services from the exclusive list to the concurrent list. It will also reduce the frequent menace on our roads characterized with accidents, kidnappings and armed robbery.”

It is safe to say that one year after, Alkali has executed and fulfilled part of his promises. Within the period of Amaechi’s exit, the ministry of Transportation suffered setbacks without purposeful direction and leadership.

There was a total breakdown in some critical sectors of the ministry especially the railway which was left in ruins. Projects initiated and ongoing were abruptly stopped due to lack of passion by those in the affairs of the ministry in the dying days of ex-president Muhammadu Buhari’s administration.

The coming of Alkali, has however, resuscitated the sector which went into a coma immediately after the exit of Amaechi.

The minister, while appearing before the Senate and House of Representatives Joint Committee on Land Transport, proposed an investment portfolio of $35 billion to develop a functioning railway transportation system in Nigeria. He went further to unveil a bold and transformative budget proposal for 2024.

He noted that his ministry’s vision for the future of Nigeria’s transportation sector places significant emphasis on the expansion and modernisation of railway infrastructure, with plans to connect nearly 6,000 kilometres of standard gauge railways and rehabilitate an existing 3,505 narrow gauge line. The ambitious plans he added aimed to link Nigeria’s North and South, East and West regions, reaching key agricultural belts, oil and mineral resource zones, as well as ports of origin and destination, including the Lekki Deep Sea Port.

“Our goal is to close the infrastructural gap in the country, support national economic growth, create employment, generate wealth, and improve the standard of living for all Nigerians. Despite the challenges faced due to funding gaps and dwindling revenue, the Ministry remains committed to realising Nigeria’s Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan.”

Alkali, like Amaechi has taken the bull by the horn in implementing various policies of the current administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in revitalising the rail and mass transit sector of the ministry. So far, the ministry, under the supervision of Alkali, has completed and flagged off commercial service on the Aba section of the Port Harcourt – Maiduguri narrow gauge line.

Upon completion and commissioning, the government commenced operations on the rehabilitated Aba section of the 1443 km Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge rail project.

This was part of government intentions to intensified, drive and to facilitate trade, enhance mobility, accessibility and ensure connectivity between the Southern parts of the country to the North-Eastern part, the 1443 km Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri narrow gauge rail project, stretching from Aba has received priority attention.

Furthermore, Alkali flaghed off the commencement of the commercial services on the 62.0 kilometers of the Port-Harcourt to Aba corridor on 30th April 2024. The project was awarded to Messrs China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC) on October 16, 2020, with a completion timeline of 36 months.

He said that due to several technical and contractual issues, the project rehabilitation commenced in March 2022. He explained that it was worthy to note that the scope of the project covers the rehabilitation of the existing narrow gauge railway line, construction of new modern stations, and procurement of new modern rolling stock.

“This railway line will also link the ports of Onne, Bonny, and Port-Harcourt to facilitate evacuation of goods and sundry freight through the Eastern corridor. The Federal Government in the contractual agreement is to provide 15% of Direct Construction Cost inclusive of land acquisition and Value Added Tax (VAT), while a bank loan through Direct Construction Cost is to cover 85% of the project.

“He further said that facilitation of the bank loan was in progress and was expected to be concluded soon. Thus, the progress achieved on project from inception in 2020 to the present date has been funded exclusively from the yearly budgetary allocation of the Federal Ministry of Transportation.”

He maintained that the federal government, with the commencement of operations along the section of the project, aims to boost economic activities between the South-South and South-East region of the country pending completion of the other sections of the project.

“With the completion of the rehabilitation of Port-Harcourt to Aba rail corridor, the Ministry will continue to vigorously drive Messrs CCECC towards the speedy completion and delivery of the 181 kilometres Aba – Enugu stretch. Commencement of operations on this stretch of the project aligns with priority 5 of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Presidential Priority Areas which identifies “Enhanced Infrastructure and Transportation as Enablers of Growth” to the economy”, he said.

It is, however, worthy of note that the commercial operations on the corridor were offered to passengers free of charge.

Moreso, Alkali revealed that the first segment of the ongoing 387km of Kano – Daura rail project will be ready by 2026. He said the inspection was his second since his assumption as the Minister of Transportation and expressed his satisfaction as remarkable progress has been achieved between now and his last visit.

According to him, “We came all the way from Kano, we drove on the formation that they did, they are doing the earthwork and the culvert and this is a station where they have started preparing the rail lines and the slippers so that they will use their locomotive to convey the materials on the rail.

The ministry recently partnered the Association of Local Government of Nigeria (ALGON) to establish Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) service centers in the 774 local governments of the federation.

Alkali added that the federal government believe that service centers for CNG conversion should not be in urban centres alone which was why the government was partnering with the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria to ensure that it also has the service centers closer to the people at the grassroots.

Speaking on the benefits, Alkali said it will bring down the cost of maintenance by about 60 to 70 percent as well as control emissions given that once the locomotive moves to gas there won’t be gas emissions. He revealed that the process will begin with the Abuja – Kaduna rail corridor given that the workshop for the conversion was in Abuja, noting that they intend to move to other corridors soon.

On the Ministry Tertiary Institutions, the China Civil Construction Company (CCECC) upon completion, recently handed over phase one of $50 million dollars Federal University of Transportation Daura, Katsina State to the Nigerian government.

Building the university, he said, was part of the corporate social responsibility by the Chinese contracting firm, CCECC.

No doubt, Alkali has proven himself as one of the few ministers in this administration that has really measured up to expectations.