The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, has said that ministry will in a few years formulate policies that will ensure proper regulation of land transportation.
Amaechi said this while fielding questions at the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) Forum on Tuesday in Abuja.
According to him, it is the least developed department in the ministry and that explains the poor regulation of all other transportation modes.
“It is the least developed department in the Ministry of Transportation; when we came, we discovered that the reason why it is the least developed is because it is newly established.
“Literally, it seems to be coming out of the Ministry of Works; we need to do quite a lot.
“When we people hear about land transportation, they want to talk about safety; they want to talk about cost; it is beyond that.
“They have to also talk about weight; what vehicle can ply through road.
“I agree with you that not much is heard about land transportation in the Ministry of Transportation.
“I think that in the next few years, we should come out with a lot of policies on the development of land transportation.”
He said that the perception of the sector as an “all comers affair” was not correct.
He blamed the cause of road mishaps more on poor infrastructure rather than the quality of mass transit buses being used.
“Maybe because it is not properly regulated people come in with all sort of vehicles.
“There are so many factors that lead to these crashes; one of those factors that lead to those crashes is the poor quality of our roads; the dilapidated nature of our roads.
“It is not the fact that we are not able to regulate the land sector transportation or the fact that anybody can bring in their buses; some of the infrastructures are assisting.”
He advised local government administrations that have jurisdiction over motor parks to bring sanity to such facilities, so that Nigeria would rank with other nations in the services rendered in the transportation sector. (NAN)