Engineer Gbenga Dairo is the Commissioner for transport in Ogun State. In this interview with Segun Ayinde, he gives insights into the state’s 2025 transportation budget and plans for rail, dry and sea ports. Excerpts:
*How will your ministry’s budget for 2025 improve the transportation sector in Ogun State?*
Well, transportation in Ogun State is dominated by land transportation, especially road transportation and we are looking to diversify the opportunities for transportation on land in the state. We want to introduce railway access and take advantage of railway projects that is going on in Lagos State and can easily be extended into Ogun State. The second aspect of our land transport policy objectives for 2025 is to improve safety and security on the road network by introducing Intelligent Transport System(ITS) where possible, and expanding and increasing our surveillance of noncompliance with traffic rules and regulations. Of course, Ogun State is the industrial hub of Nigeria attracting a good number of businesses and commercial activities in our zones. All those businesses are regional and international in character; they serve markets in Lagos and other parts of Nigeria. So, their own requirements are much more cargo-based, where produce and raw materials are transformed into finished products, which also have to get to market. So, the budget proposal that we have approved allows for us to out in place infrastructures and services that will help industries in their logistics and movement of raw materials and finished products across Nigeria and indeed internationally.
*What is ITS transport system all about?*
The ones that you are familiar with is the traffic lights, but ITS is to manage traffic lights at junctions. When you have traffic lights at the junctions, it replaces human function factor. These days, we have police and TRACE officers controlling the traffic and they are prone to errors and mistakes from time to time and sometimes the junctions are too big for them to handled and manage, but one way of dealing with that is to introduce the ITS. In the areas of enforcement, if you go to Lagos State nearby, you will see their cameras all over the place tracking their officers to go along. So, if your vehicle is not properly registered and your number plate is not visible, they can pick you up easily. So, all these are ITS that can help with security and safety.
*Are you taking away the job of Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Corps(TRACE) in Ogun State?*
In Ogun State, we have about 800 TRACE officers for a state that is about almost 180km to West and 90km North to South compared to Lagos, which have about 5000 LASTMA officers. Basically, the point I am making is that we don’t have enough TRACE officers to cover the entirety of the state, so anything we can do to reduce their work load will be positive.
*What is the cost of extending the Red and Blue Rail from Lagos to the state?*
Our budget recognises the financial cost, basically, infrastructure, projects of those sizes usually you spread them over a number of periods and the budget we spoke about is usually the medium term expenditure framework which covers this year, next year and a year after. So, our budget is spread across to allow us to implement this programmes. Both, blue and red lines are different stages of maturity. The red line is more mature in Ogun State in comparison to blue line. Therefore, the needs and requirement for them are quite different, but the hope and expectation is to take advantage of them and extend to Ogun State and we have budgeted for them accordingly.
*Most of these taxi and commercial drivers have not transited from petrol to Compressed National Gas (CNG) powered vehicles. What is the state government doing to enable transporters leverage on CNG?*
Government is a regulatory and facilitating institution and it is to create an environment where individuals, families, businesses and industries thrive. So, what we need to do is to make sure that the infrastructure is in place, the access to gas is in place, the opportunities for investors to come to the space of converting petrol engine vehicles to gas is in place. In Ogun State, we have about three organisations that are involved in converting vehicle engine from petrol, either hybrid or complete CNG and the reason for low take up is the fear and the concern about access to the fuel but the case for conversion is clear, everybody understands and appreciates that it is far more economical to use gas. But if you look at the fuel stations across the state, Ogun State alone has the largest number of fuel stations in the country, more than 2000. So, access to a fueling station is ready and available. Within about 2 to 3 kms you will find yourself in a fuel station but the density of gas fueling stations is not as much yet and that has to be ramped up; again the job of the ministry or government is to create an environment where people or entrepreneurs will see the opportunities that is there for them to replace petrol stations with gas stations or for them or to include gas dispensing in their own infrastructure and that is what we are doing.
*So what advice do you have for motorists and commercial drivers for conversion of their vehicles?*
The commercial drivers should get good condition vehicles and convert them to hybrid vehicle. So that it can use both petrol and gas and that will give you the comfort that incase you are unable to get access to gas you can still fall back on your petrol. So, the idea of CNG was to reduce the cost of transportation. As a private user, if I have the opportunity to use the CNG I will use it, because it is cheaper untill CNG station spread across the state.
*What is the update about the Olokola Deep sea port?*
The deep sea port is a major infrastructure project situated within the free trade zone area and there are two aspects to it. One is the port itself and the accessibility to the port. The deep sea port is not a one year or two years project. It’s like a five or ten year project and it is not something that will happen overnight. So, the first step is that we have willing partners and collaborators. We want to partner with the government to develop the deep sea port and negotiations are ongoing. Negotiation will identify the obligations of all parties involved, the government obligations and the private sector obligations , which we expect their obligations to provide accessibility to that port either by road or railway and provide other infrastructure like power, drainage system et.c which will support the free trade zone and the deep sea port and attract investors that will concentrate on developing the port, managing and operating it, but we are negotiating.
*Any development on the Dry Port recently unveiled at Papalanto area of the state?*
That one is similar to the deep sea port. We are at advanced stages of negotiations, discussion with our private sector partners and infact we met them with the Governor last night. There is a lot in terms of project(dry port) implementation in comparison with deep sea port. We are talking to Nigeria Federal Blue and Marine economy and everybody wil come on board and very soon you will see actions on that site. But, first we have to develop that site, we have to undertake a road connecting in that site, you have to build a train station and warehouses with the site, is a lot of work.
*What advice do you have for Ogun citizens on transportation system in the state?*
There are many challenges that we face with transportation in Ogun State, especially because the state is the gateway state. But I want the people to be patient with the government and the reason is because there is a lot of emphasis on this administration towards improving the economic activities within the state and this is what creates jobs and opportunities for people. Once the industries are coming in, a lot of activities would be going on. As you know, we are the industrial hub and also the headquarters of churches in the country, All these generate business activities and with these activities come jobs! with these jobs there are benefits that will begin to flow in, and for these investors to come into Ogun State, the transport system has to be of national and international standards. So, a lot of efforts are going on.
