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NARTO wants FG to concession Nigerian roads

By on November 17, 2015

The Nigeria Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has called on the federal government to concession all the roads in Nigeria.

The association also said that the concessioning to private operators would engender the needed standard and afford the ease of transportation.

Speaking with journalists in Lagos recently, the Executive Secretary, NARTO, Mr. Aloga Ogbogo, pointed out that transport is pivotal to the economic growth of any country and that land transportation is chief among other means of transportation, which he added takes about 80 per cent of transport system in the country.

Ogbogo maintained that 60 per cent of the thirty 4,000 kilo metres of roads out of the total 200,000 kilo metres roads in the country belonging to the federal government is comatose.
“Transport is pivotal to the economic growth of any country and as far as we are concerned, there is no alternative to road transportation in this country for you.

“Of the 200,000 kilometres of roads that is this country has, federal government has 34,000 kilometres of those roads and of the roads is in a state of disrepair.”

“Having said this, for me, even if we triple the budget of federal government, it will not be able to put Nigeria roads in order. So, my own humble submission is that the roads should be concessioned out to private operators or investors, “he said.

Furthermore, he noted that if the roads are concessioned to private operators, they would put them in order, illuminate the roads as well as provide operational and security facilities that would be of immense benefits to users even though they would be made to pay for using them.

Ogbogo also stressed that the system would help to gain time, which will eventually enhance turnaround time even as other problems associated with the roads are taken away.

According to him, “the advantage you get is that you gain time which will enhance your turnaround, the security problems associated with bad roads is taken away”.

He, however, urged the government to set aside a national road fund into which Nigerians would contribute as they buy petroleum products.

He however quipped that the use of trade fair as holding bay for trucks was not the right choice stating that Lagos state is averse to the use of the location.

“It should not be a situation where we have mediocre seeking relevance. When you are dealing with people, what is their stake in the industry? Who are their members? What trucks do they have? Where are their offices? What is their national spread?” he queried.

On the task force put in place by the Lagos State government, Ogbogo posited the purpose had been defeated even as he recounted the ordeals the truck drivers pass through in the hands of members of the task force.

 

[ThisDay]