•Transportation
Ministry to
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Minister of Transportation Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi yesterday hailed the media for its role in the success of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2015 elections.
The minister spoke when he received a team from The Nation at his office in Abuja.
He said: “I thank The Nation for its contribution towards the change agenda that we have today. I am sure that if not for the positive input of the press, we probably would not have been here today.
“While we thank God for the approval for us to come into government, we also thank human elements that God used to achieve that objective and prominent among the media team that helped in achieving the objective is The Nation”
The minister reiterated that before the end of the first quarter, President Muhammadu Buhari will inaugurate the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge railway project.
General Manager, Training and Development of Vintage Press Limited, publishers of The Nation, Mr. Soji Omotunde, who led the team, told the minister of the conference being organised by the newspaper on March 30 in Lagos, with the theme: ‘Making Nigerian Seaports World Class.’
He said: “We are grateful to you for graciously directing that the ministry should collaborate with us in organising the National Conference on Fast-tracking Port Reforms to find competitive alternatives acceptable to all stakeholders.
“We all know the challenges of the maritime sector and we are aware that they are giving you and the chief executives of the port agencies serious concern. Yet, it is cheering to appreciate that the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the port agencies are now perfecting their own plans to tackle these issues.
“What Nigerians want is for the government to carry the plans from the drawing board to the playing field. They desire lasting solutions to be delivered to them: A 24-hour cargo clearance, reduction of the number of agencies at the ports, easier evacuation of cleared cargo, a quantum leap in revenue generation, and greater security within the ports and our territorial waters.
“Nigeria wants a doer, a proven leader, who can muster the political will, who has a track record of tackling tough problems; who can reach out to all the stakeholders and partners; who can find the financial resources from within and outside the budget to fix our maritime ports. They are yearning for that person who has the courage to go against the roadblocks massed by entrenched interests and those benefiting from the present chaotic situation in our ports.
“The challenges bedevilling our ports are tough and these need a tough person to champion. We believe that you are that person, that’s why we want to support you to succeed.”
Omotunde added that ‘the purpose of the conference is to integrate and fuse the plans of government and its agents, get the buy-in of major stakeholders, agree on desired outcomes within a defined timeframe, and institute a peer-facilitated platform to hold the agencies and other stakeholders accountable to the goals jointly agreed.”
He added that over 150 leaders from all port stakeholder groups; including the National Assembly, the port agencies, terminal operators and private-sector players, interest groups and civil society will gather in Lagos for the conference.
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