…As CILT Nigeria holds Annual conference
The Federal government on Friday said that the National Transport Policy, the new railway, Ports and Harbour, the Inland waterways and the draft National Transport Commission bills would soon be forwarded to the National Assembly for enactment into law.
Speaking at the 2014 National Conference and Annual General Meeting of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria held in Lagos, the Minister of Transport, Sen. Idris Umar disclosed that the bills which were presented to the Federal Executive Council (FEC) early this year were being fine-tuned by a technical Committee headed by the Vice President Namadi Sambo.
Sen. Umar who was represented at the Conference by Dr. Iorwuese Viashima stated that once the Committee’s report is considered and approved by the FEC, the bills would then be forwarded to the National Assembly for consideration and subsequent enactment into law.
According to him,” let me use this opportunity to confirm that the Ministry is forging ahead in its quest to put in place a necessary legal framework and institutional arrangement to further support the ongoing transport reforms”.
“In this regards, the National Transport Policy and the new railway, Ports and Harbour, Inland Waterways and the draft National Transport Commission bills which we have presented to the Federal Executive Council earlier in the year are being fine-tuned b y a technical Committee under the Vice President preparatory to their consideration and approval by FEC and subsequent transmission to the national Assembly for enactment into law”.
The Minister further explained that the bills when enacted into law would give the private sector the much needed confidence and comfort to invest in infrastructure and provision of services in the transport sector to the benefit of Nigerian economy.
He said that the Ministry with the support of President Goodluck Jonathan had continued to put in place measures that would bring about sustainability in the nation’s transport sector commensurate to the global best practices and positioning the industry as the regional hub.
Speaking on the theme of the Conference, “ Commercial Regulation in the Transport Sector and the National Economy: Global Best Practice Implementation Strategy”, the Minister observed that the Ministry with the support of President Goodluck Jonathan had put in place a commercial regulation arrangement that would enable the government intervene and regulate the market with a view to achieving efficiency, competitiveness, value for money, innovation, anti-monopoly tendencies and the sustainability of the nation’s transport sector.
“ It is therefore highly commendable that this years Conference and Annual General meeting have provided the opportunity for members and other industry stakeholders here present to comprehensively look at the issue of commercial or economic regulation, how it works, particularly in our own clime, how it might work in our Nigerian environment and the likely impact on our performance and sustainability of the transport sector in Nigeria”, the Minister said.
