nation0428

TUESDAY, APRIL 28, 2015
53
THE NATION
BUSINESS
TRANSPORTATION
Hlong distance trains? It is by
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Workers, passengers get security tips on trains
OW can workers, passengers
and others be safe on
remaining vigilant to forestall security
threats, say experts, top Department
of State Security (DSS) officials
and police chiefs at a workshop
on security consciousness and
awareness for railway workers and
users in Southwest.
At the training held at the Nigerian
Railway Corporation Training
Institute (NRCTI) in Yaba, Lagos,
last Wednesday, Permanent Secretary,
Special Services Office (SSO)
in the Presidency Dr. Habiba Lawal,
said all hands must be on deck to
fight insurgency.
Mrs Lawal, represented by the
Director in the SSO, Alhaji
Abdullahi Shehu, said the workshop
was organised to ensure that
passengers and Nigerian Railway
Corporation (NRC) workers are
security conscious always.
The workshop, which began last
year, Shehu said, was the seventh
in the series. Similar ones were earlier
held in Bauchi for Northeast,
Jos for Northcentral, Uyo, the
Akwa-Ibom State capital, for the
Southsouth, Enugu State for Southeast
and Ibadan for Southwest.
Shehu said members of the National
Union of Road Transport
Workers (NURTW), transport owners,
employers, students, media,
market men and women, railway
workers and other users of the railway
have been taught the security
precautions to take on the train.
Shehu said the training is part of
the initiative drawn up by the office
of the National Security Adviser
(NSA) to make security on
inter-state train shuttle a collective
responsibility.
He said: “The workshop is meant
to protect all railway stakeholders,
as insecurity is no longer a joking
matter. Security can no longer be
left in the hands of government. It
is your personal responsibility.
There are a lot of things we see as
•From left: Mrs Omotayo; Mr. Alli, Shehu and Director Department of Special Services, Kaze Delson during the workshop.
Stories by Adeyinka Aderibigbe
we travel on the trains that are potential
danger and these must be
promptly reported to pre-empt
them before they consume lives and
property.”
In his welcome address, NRC
Managing Director Mr. Adeseyi
Sijuwade said insurgents’ activities
in some parts of the country made
it imperative for the railway to retrain
its workers and users to be
security conscious to prevent tragedy
on its network.
Sijuwade represented by the Director
of Operations, Mr Niyi Alli,
said as more people use the railway,
it is becoming increasingly
urgent for the corporation to arm
passengers with the right skill
anytime they are on the train, especially
the long distance services.
According to him, government’s
aggressive intervention in the rail
sector since 2011, led to the rehabilitation
of rail lines; improvement
of its rolling stock and reactivation
of the Western and Eastern
rail lines, which, with their active
branch lines, have ensured
that the country is now effectively
covered by rail network.
“Not only are we now carrying
passengers, we now freight agricultural
produce and raw materials
such as flours, wheat and cement
from the Apapa quays to
Kaduna/Kano, as well as carrying
Automobile Gas Oil (AGO) Diesel
and track materials for our operations
nationwide,” Alli said.
He said the NRC carried more
than five million passengers and
200,000 metric tons of goods last
year.
“All these engender security
risk and with the current spate of
insecurity, we cannot leave our
network unprotected. We need to
protect our assets, our personnel
Experts to Buhari: fix Apapa Ports traffic ‘headache’
HAT will gladden the
hearts of transport experts
the most is the fix-
ing of the Apapa Ports traffic
“headache” by the incoming
Muhammadu Buhari administration.
They are also seeking a national
transportation policy, the absence
of which they claim is turning
traffic in the nation’s urban
centres into nightmare.
Leading the charge are Chartered
Institute of Logistics and
Transport (CILT), national president
Maj-Gen. Umar
Tundunwada Usman, Deputy
National President Prof. Kayode
Oyesiku and Federal Airports
Authority of Nigeria (FAAN)
Managing Director Dunoma
Saleh.
They spoke at the induction of
new members, fellows and corporate
members in Ikoyi, Lagos
last week.
Usman, who is also International
Vice President for Africa
and Chairman, African Forum of
Transportation, described the
Apapa Ports situation as a national
embarrassment. He blamed
previous administrations for allowing
the port to decay, that it
has become a major transportation
headache for users and a disincentive
to businesses and entrepreneurship.
He called for a Marshal plan to
tackle the gridlock, adding that
the huge manhour lost daily has
added to the high cost of living
in the country and reduced government’s
revenue generation
capacity.
Usman said: “I would strongly
recommend that the incoming
government addresses the issue
of transportation which is at the
heart of ensuring easier movement
of people from one point to
the other. There is the need for the
government to put in place a
transportation policy which if
put in place, would make other
pieces of our national life to fall
in place. Roads are carrying what
are by far above their carrying
capacity. The railway has not
improved on efficiency and this
is resulting in the rate of damage
to the roads.
“Look at the ports, it is clearly
inaccessible. It’s a shame that a
country of the size of our economy
does not have a world class port.
We also need to work on the integration
of all the transportation
modes. Without it, commuting
whether passenger or freight
would continue to be problematic
and a nightmare.”
Oyesiku blamed the state of infrastructure
and lack of inter-modality
of transportation modes for
the sector’s crisis.
He noted that there is no law to
guide the industry and train professionals
, blaming it on the National
Assembly which has failed
to pass its bill.
“The lack of a regulating law
has limited the capacity to engender
the growth and professionalism
of transportation and this
has made transportation to be an
all-comer affair. We are rated 127
in 146 countries of the world in
logistics and transportation and
we must be committed to correcting
this poor rating, Oyesiku
said, adding: “Though the plan
was to have 80 percent of every
100 percent of products leaving
the ports to be freighted by rail,
this is being done by road as rail
has become comatose and the
government got it wrong by embarking
on the rehabilitation of
the narrow gauge rail lines. What
is needed is not rehabilitation of
the old existing infrastructure
but a major reconstruction of
standard gauge rail lines, right
from the ports. This is what
would carry the weight of modern
freights.”
He said the gridlock at the ports
and at Apapa has reduced by 50
percent the revenue generation
capacity of the government.
Saleh, represented by a director
in his office, Mr Olufemi
Ogunode, urged the government
to do more on traffic planning for
the nation’s cities and city centres
because urbanisation is becoming
overwhelming and
stretching available facilities.
He said: “As traffic congestion
discourages movements into certain
areas, so do businesses and
economic growth that impact on
peoples’ welfare are also being
diverted from such locations, resulting
in poor investment opportunities
in the affected locations.”
The increasing cost of doing
business in Apapa, he said, is
worrisome, noting that transaction
is also becoming “very
high.”
The Registrar/CEO, Council
for Regulation of Freight Forwarding
in Nigeria (CRFFN), Sir
Mike Jukwe, said: “Transport is
PHOTO: SOLOMON ADEOLA
and especially our customers,” Alli
added.
The training, which was facilitated
by Mr Matthew Opoiro and
Mr Nom Okechukwu, both of the
DSS, Abuja, was attended by,
among others, Mr Wale Abass,
who represented the Commissioner
of Police NRC Command,
Deputy Director, DSS Office in The
Presidency, Mr D. D. M Kazeem,
Deputy Director, Administration
and Human Resources, NRC Alhaja
Monsurat Omotayo and Acting
Deputy Director of Press and Public
Relations Alhaji Abdulrauf
Akinwoye.
one of the greatest economic
growth areas of the 20th Century
and a key signature to the modern
society.”
Jukwe, who spoke on “The role
of freight forwarding in the supply
chain and national
economy,” said freight forwarding
is at the heart of international
trade.
Successful practitioners, Jukwe
said, must be armed with better
information, adding that they
must recruit skilled labour to reduce
loss.
No fewer than 34 persons were
conferred with fellows, 45, chartered
members and 14 as corporate
members.
Also 55 graduands received the
International Advanced Diploma
certificate in Logistics and
Transport and 61, the International
Diploma Certificate. Some
firms were awarded corporate
membership in the Platinum,
Gold, Silver and Bronze categories.
Nahco Aviance, LAGBUS
and Nigeria Ports Authority
(NPA) among 13 others, got Platinum
award, Associated Bus
Company Plc (Gold), 1st Class
Auto Centre Ltd (Silver), and
DHL, among 10 others Bronze.