Utomi tasks transport institute on Apapa gridlock

Prof. Pat Utomi
Prof. Pat Utomi. PHOTO CREDIT: Vanguard

Founder, Center for Values in Leadership (CVL), Prof. Pat Utomi has tasked the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA) to provide workable solution to the traffic dilemma facing Apapa and its environs.

Speaking at the investiture of Bashir Jamoh as the institute’s new president in Lagos on Tuesday, Utomi said the traffic situation on all the roads leading to Apapa has become a serious nightmare even as value of landed properties have completely dropped.

Utomi, who lamented how transport infrastructure has deteriorated over the years in the country, urged the institute to work with policy makers and give recommendations on how to address the Apapa gridlock.

He said, “Apapa is near collapse due to lack of ideas. I was motivated to challenge the institute with Apapa traffic. No area more represents transport in Nigeria than Apapa. The coming together of the port, rail services that used to go in the port, all of those make Apapa a very unique area but today property values have collapsed in Apapa. It is a nightmare to come to Apapa. If the Chartered Institute of Transportation of Nigeria cannot prescribe a solution to the government, then it has not succeeded in its brief.

“How do we, through professional bodies, enable strong institutions that will make for effectiveness? This is the challenge that I want to pose to the new man at the helm of the institute. It is not good that we have our institute and they are not a force in speaking truth to power. 

“The institute must be able to think through the challenges that face the sector and come up with positions that are globally respected because trends around the world support those positions and stand before people who take policy and encourage policy to respond appropriately to those ideas so that the whole environment will make progress.

“If the trailers can disappear so that the political rally can take place, there is no reason why they should reappear two days after the rally. We must learn to deal with cost and benefits. The cost of what has happened to this neighbourhood far exceeds what benefits are coming if we do not solve this problem.” 

Representative of the Director General, Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Executive Director, Maritime Labour and Cabotage Service, Gambo Ahmed charged the newly executives of the institute to work with other professional bodies including the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (CILT) to address the problem facing the transport sector.

In his acceptance speech, Jamoh expressed his commitment to serve the institute even as he pledged to increase the membership in the next four years.

Noting that the importance of transportation cannot be overemphasized, Jamoh assured that the institute will work to end the Apapa gridlock.