…says it obstructs investment
The chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) Nigeria has blamed the little or no investment noticeable in the transport sector of the economy on the absence of the National Transport Policy.
Speaking in an interview with Primetime Reporters in his office in Lagos, the Acting National Executive Director (NED) of CILT Nigeria, Mr. Paul Ndibe stated that owing to the uncertainty surrounding the policy direction of the government in the sector, investors were apprehensive of exploring the opportunities inherent in the sector to expand their businesses.
According to him,” the absence of this National Transport Policy is like it is restricting ventures, opportunity for expansion or people venturing into any of these larger areas because they wouldn’t know what policy positions will be, whether it will affect their investments or whether their investments will be protected, what type of investment is required and in which sector will this investment be directed”.
“So, that is why people are afraid since there is no policy, whether if they commence investment who knows if they will be stopped midway and if they stop midway, what happens to the investments already made or whether the government will take up this aspect and leave the other aspects”.
“As a result of that uncertainty, people are worried about it, otherwise, the best thing would have been for the National Transport Policy to be out and all these things will be delineated and people will now venture into investment options”.
On the need for a National Maritime Policy for the nation’s Maritime industry, Mr. Ndibe observed that although the idea was a welcomed development, it would have been better for all the stakeholders in the transport sector to work for the passage of the National Transport policy so as to have a common working document in the entire transport sector.
“My thinking is that, individually, all these things can be coming up but not as a policy until the National Transport Policy is out. It is only when it is out, they can now look at a particular sector, tidy it up under a policy that will guide it so that it will not run counter to the global National Transport Policy”, he said.
He argued that the National Maritime Policy although important cannot exist on its own as according to him, it had to exist as part of a larger document which is the National Transport Policy.
The CILT Chief Executive disclosed that the National Transport Policy would warehouse all the other policies that would exist in the transport sector noting that if they start existing independent of the others or before the National Transport policy, it might bring about confusion and conflict of interests in a sector that ought to be one.
Speaking on the willingness of the government to get the policy enacted into law, he stated that for the Minister of Transport to have repeatedly mention efforts in that direction, it meant that the policy was top on the agenda of the Ministry and that of the Federal government baring all limitations.
While calling on the stakeholders to join in the campaign to pressurize both the Ministry and the National Assembly to expedite action on the policy, he however advised those clamouring for the creation of the Ministry of Maritime Affairs to shelve that idea for now and work towards getting the National transport policy in place as it may hold the answer to all they were seeking for.
“Once you have a policy that can cater for each interest and then there is warehousing centre where all these things can be domiciled, then people will be happier”, Ndibe stated.
