May 22, 2018

The FCT Transport Secretary, Mr Kayode Opeifa, says government must take responsibility for the development of the country’s transportation sector, and not wait for private sector investments.

Opeifa stated this at the two-day National Tourism Transportation Summit and Expo, which ended in Abuja on Tuesday.

The secretary, who represented the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, said the transport sector was not commercially viable to attract enough private sector investors.

This, according to him, is why the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), is taking it upon itself to develop an efficient inter-modal transportation system in the nation’s capital.

Opeifa’s submission came after several speakers at the forum advocated effective Public Private Partnership to boost the transportation and tourism sectors.

He said; “I have heard a lot about PPP, and I am going to say it here. I am in government, and I have seen what is going on.

“We must not wait for PPP to develop our transportation sector. Government must take responsibility to develop it.

“The return on investment in the transport sector is below the cost of borrowing. So, you may not see enough investors coming into that sector. ‘’

Opeifa noted that it was for this reason that many airlines were struggling to survive around the world.

He recalled that after terrorists hijacked two commercial planes to attack the World Trade Centre in the United States on Sept. 11, 2001, the countries aviation started crashing.

He said the U.S government intervened through non-refundable grants that revived the sector, urging the Nigerian government to start thinking in that direction.

“The transportation sector must be seen as a security sector; it must also be seen as a social intervention tool.

“This is because when you invest in that sector, the ripple effect is that tourism will grow, production will grow, cost of manufacturing will go down, and people will have extra money in their pockets.

“When people have more money in their pockets, they will spend more money to buy more. When they buy more, the GDP increases, and that is the message we are sending to the people in the tourism sector.’’

He urged tourism stakeholders to join their counterparts in the transportation sector in preaching the message.

According to him, those saying “government has no business in business’’ must be told that that should not apply to the transport sector.