The National Director, Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT), Nigeria, Mr. Paul Ndibe has said that there has not been any major breakthrough in the logistics and transport sector of Nigeria in the first half of 2017.
Ndibe who made this known in an interview with Primetime Reporters in Lagos noted that in the rail sector, outside the ground breaking ceremony for the Lagos-Ibadan rail line, there had not been any major improvement in the sector.
“What we have seen is the issue of GE taking over or not taking over and that has created some doubts and it is only the federal government that has information on this and government is the major investor in that sector. So, we have not seen any major change in that sector”, he said.
He continued,”On the aviation sector, we have seen the closure of the airport, that is the effect on the aviation sector. Then the position of Arik also has its own effect and there has not been any major injection of stability in the aviation sector. The government intention to float its own airline has not been in any way formalized and that has also affected investment in that sector.
“There has been some major improvements on the infrastructure at the airports but they had not been completed, its impact has not been felt. The dominance of the foreign airlines are still there. So, Nigeria as a matter of fact is shrinking in terms of its economic play on the aviation industry”.
He observed that the story was the same with the road sector where he said the decays were increasing rapidly thereby affecting the level of mobility.
According to him,”The decay of last year was carried over to this year, there has not been any major structural improvement on the road, I mean both the inter-city. The Lagos-Ibadan, the suffering is still there, it has not been eradicated and then on the major arteries, we have not seen any major improvement on the road and it is a major incentive for investment. So, the condition of the road has actually prevented further investment in that sector”.
The National Director while adding that the initiative by the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on standardization of trucks was also affecting investment in the maritime sector noted that unless huge and new investors inject new trucks to meet the expectations of the FRSC and NPA, the idea may not come to fruition.
Mr. Ndibe pointed out that investors were waiting to see a policy that would support the FRSC and NPA initiative as the policy was not there yet.
He said,”Congestion in Apapa is still there, the road situation is still there, so, even if you bring in a brand new truck valued at millions of naira, within six months, it will now be like those other trucks. So, the investment climate is not favorable for new investors in that sector.
“So, looking at the first half of the year, what has affected these other sectors also affected the maritime sector, importers were not importing because of the exchange rate variability but the demand has dropped because of the economy. So, the maritime sector has not actually increased its operation in terms of the first half of the year on account of this economic situation. By my rating, we have not actually done much and that has reflected in the economic statistics we have seen so far”.
Send your news, press releases/articles to augustinenwadinamuo@yahoo.com. Also, follow us on Twitter @reportersinfo and on Facebook on facebook.com/primetimereporters or call the editor on 07030661526, 08053908817.
