•  Why FG must scrap Ministry of Works – Opeifa

The Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIOTA) has conferred its prestigious Fellow award on 40 distinguished Nigerians including Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo; Minister of State at the ministry, Ademola Adegoroye, and Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Corps, Dauda Biu.

Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, and his counterpart in Abia State, Nwanoruo Godswill Uche, also received the institute’s fellow award at a ceremony held in Lagos on Wednesday.

The event also saw the induction of 84 full members, 57 associate members and seven graduate members.

Chairman at the event and former Lagos commissioner for transportation, Dr Kayode Opeifa, describing the event as heartwarming and should rub well on the nation’s economy.

He also called for the abolition of the Federal Ministry of Works, whose responsibilities had been the construction of roads and bridges that could be better done by the transport ministry.

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Opeifa, who is executive director at the Centre for Sustainable Mobility and Access Development (CensMAD), said the Ministry of Works should be a department

under the transportation ministry as applicable in other jurisdictions.

According to him, this is aimed at ensuring that transportation professionals are empowered to design, and implement infrastructure developments especially roads and bridges for smooth growth and development of the sector.

“Time has come for the country to address the issue of the relationship between the Ministry of Transportation and that of the Ministry of Works,” he said.

Opeifa also said, “We insist that any road or bridge project that would be embarked upon by the Ministry of Works ought to be guided by the Ministry of Transportation; that is if the works is not dismantled entirely. In South Africa, Ghana, and even in the United Kingdom, Germany and elsewhere, they no longer have Ministry of Works. Let the Ministry of Transportation handle its designs, build and operate the roads and infrastructure.”

Minister of State for Transportation, Adegoroye, represented by his Senior Special Assistant, Mr Fola Ayegbusi, said the ministry would continue to be receptive to ideas that could transform the sector and reposition the industry.

Prof Calistus Ibe, a Fellow of the institute and lecturer at the University of Technology, Owerri (FUTO), said the time had come for CIOTA to take its rightful place to regulate the transportation sector and sanitise the industry.

Ibe, who also delivered a

 lecture on ‘Professional Development in Transport, an investment for future success’, said the professionals in the sector must rescue the industry from the hands of charlatans.

Lagos State Co

mmissioner for Transportation, Dr Frederic Oladeinde, said Lagos, with a population size of over 22 million people, had designed its transportation in a way to reduce the pain encountered on the roads in the state.

He gave some of the initiatives as the introduction of BRT buses and recently the First Mile and Last Mile (FMLM) buses; the channelization of new water channels; the installation of waterway control centre to improve waterway security and the introduction of two colour-coded rail systems as well as a single payment system – the Cowry Card to ensure seamless fare payments across all the modes of transportation in the state.

President of CIOTA, Segun Obayendo, said the Institute was determined to embark on a massive membership drive to ensure that the foremost chartered institute becomes the lead institute in the country.

One of the new fellows, ex-DG of Delta State Traffic Management Authority, Stephen K. Dieseruvwe, spoke on the what is expected of new inductees of the institute.

“As a fellow of the institute, one knows one has been called to duty and needs the best professional foot forward. That what I intend to do. Being a transport professional awarded the fellow of the institute, a lot of is expected from us to help drive the industry and guide the younger ones,” he said.

Another Fellow awardee, Charles Okorefe, who is managing director, Kamany Marine Services Limited, said in an interview, “The fellowship of any institute is the highest rank you can attain. Getting there means you are seen as somebody who has something to give back to that profession. You must have paid your dues and ready to give value.”