The Federal Government has identified innovations and digital economy as veritable tools in the nation’s drive to make its transportation system more effective.
The Minister of State for Transportation, Prince Ademola Adegoroye, represented by the ministry’s permanent secretary, Dr. Magdalene Ajani, made this known at the 17th edition of the meeting of the National Council on Transportation (NCT) in Abuja.
The minister called on policymakers, regulators and operators in the sector to seize the opportunity the forum presents to realign through the use of home-grown technological innovations to proffer workable and implementable actions that will make for seamless and efficient movement of goods and services.
Describing this year’s theme – “Transportation Technology and Innovations for Socio-economic Sustainability” – as very apt, he observed that it aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals amplified, which calls for accelerated sustainable solutions to challenges inhibiting socio-economic development, the most notable being insecurity, climate change among others.
“I, therefore, look forward to your active participation at this meeting and implore us to place a high premium on producing quality reports within an implementable time frame,” Adegoroye said.
In an interaction with the media, the president, Chartered Institute of Transport Administration (CIoTA), Prince Segun Ochuku noted that if technological innovations are properly harnessed and deployed, “we can begin to talk about a new Nigeria that the transportation sector will represent”.
Other contributors at the sessions for the first day called on members of the council to draw up a vehicle end-of-life policy – as the country currently has none. They called on the Federal Government to invest more in road transport and transit insurance as a majority of the populace relies on this means of transportation.
The opening session of the four-day event had in attendance top management and staff of the ministry, heads of agencies and stakeholders in the transportation sector.
