Progress? :FG to partner ECOWAS, UN to develop Lagos-Kano-Jibiya transit corridor

Federal Ministry of Transportation says it is partnering ECOWAS and the United Nations to develop as well as secure the Lagos-Kano-Jibiya trade and transit corridor.

The initiative, which is being actualised under the ‘LAKAJI’ concept, was designed to ensure that neighbouring countries return to the Jibiya–Kano corridor as it was done during the Trans-Saharan trade era.

The ministry said already, the move to establish an Inland Container Depot (ICD) Terminal in the commercial city of Kano was a step in the right direction.

Rotimi Amaechi, minister of transportation, made this disclosure at a two-day stakeholders consultative forum for Kano Transport Policy Green Paper, in Kano.

Amaechi, who was represented by Foluke Oni, deputy-director, Mass-Transit, said his ministry recognised the lopsided and uneven distribution of economic development in the country, attributable to the challenge of transportation infrastructure and services.

According to Amaechi, one of the problems created by the identified challenge was the over concentration of development across the country in major state capitals and few urban centres, leaving swathes of lands at the borders and rural areas unutilised, unmanned and unsecured.

As a way of addressing this challenge, the minister pointed out that his ministry had devised other frameworks to connect important business cities like Kano to be safe and secure as a way of spreading development evenly.

“The strategic initiative of the Federal Government is to lay the foundation and create enabling environment of a robust multi-modal transport system principally through PPP. This will improve transportation networks, which will connect cities, and also provide the platform for sustainable development and growth.

“In line with President Muhammadu Buhari `s change mantra, the government has laid emphasis on rehabilitation of major road arteries, aviation infrastructures, expansion and rehabilitation of rail infrastructure that will impact on trade, national integration and facilitate exchanges.