NRC, NPA, NIWA, Sanwo-Olu, Amaechi, Others Back Transport Summit

Sunday Okobi

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and Lagos State Government have confirmed their stakes in the 2024 Nigeria Transport Summit taking place in Lagos on October 17, 2024.

The event, which will bring together critical stakeholders in the transport sector, the organiser, Transportation Correspondents Association of Nigeria (TCAN), said has its theme as: ‘Intermodal Transport: Prospects and Challenges’.

Other firms that have thrown their weight behind the programme are: the Nigerian Safety Investigation Bureau (NSIB), the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Lagos Computerized Vehicle Inspection Service (LACVIS), Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, Worldwide Marine Services, Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, Fidelity Bank Plc, among others.

A statement issued by the TCAN Chairman, Mr. Yinka Aderibigbe, and the Local Organising Committee (LOC), Chairman, Mr. Rasheed Bisiriyu, said the programme, to be chaired by Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, would be declared open by the Minister of Transportation, Senator Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali.

 Also, former Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, would deliver a keynote address at the summit, it added.

TCAN Chairman, Aderibigbe, said: “The focus on intermodal transportation in the maiden edition of the annual summit is deliberate.

“It is aimed at bringing together relevant stakeholders across all subsectors of the transport industry to see the need to form and work in synergy rather than working at cross-purposes, which might pose greater challenge to achieving the dream of giving alternative travel modes in the Nigerian public transportation space.

“Such arrangement will pave the way for greater efficiency through lower costs, operational flexibility and reduced carbon emission in a world committed to cleaner environmental impact that will ultimately benefit all.”

 Already, TCAN said a team of speakers had been carefully selected to do justice to the issue under focus.

It added: “A panel of discussants featuring some relevant members of the intelligentsia, heads of prominent agencies/parastatals and organisations will speak to the sub-themes of the summit around railway, road, inland waterways and aviation sub-sectors as well as safety of operations in the nation’s transportation industry.”

A communique will be issued at the end of the event that is expected to come handy for stakeholders in deciding the new direction of the nation’s integrated transportation system.

Also, an industry journal packaged by TCAN would be formally unveiled as one of the highpoints of the event, the committee also stated.