Nigeria needs intermodal transport system for seamless movement of goods from seaports- Bello

The Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, Mr. Hassan Bello, says there is need to develop intermodal transport system in the country to ease movement of goods from the seaports across different locations.

Bello stated this in Abuja on Tuesday during the three-day Second National Transport Summit by the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration,(CIoTA) Nigeria.

He highlighted the need and importance of Nigeria having interconnectivity and modern infrastructure to address most of the challenges facing the transport sector, especially as it affects the seaports.

“Transport infrastructure is as good as integration with other transport infrastructure. As you can see, it needs professionals to direct that.  We don’t build infrastructure just for building sake.

“This infrastructure must integrate. It is not multimodalism that is our problem. It is a lack of intermodalism. They have to come together,” he said.

Bello added that: “Of course, we have a port in Calabar, but once your goods are at the port in Calabar, how do you now move them to Maiduguri and other places? You need high sense of connectivity and modern infrastructure to do so.

“What we are saying is that professionals already have plans, maybe 20 years plans of what transport framework will be. We need different modes of transportation, which must be integrated. So, we are talking of seamless transport system.”

He also talked of the need to integrate electronic commerce, electronic carriage of goods, and paperwork.

For instance, he said there was no point for someone to go to the seaport and start looking for bill of laden, which can easily be transmitted electronically.

He said: “So, transport must be fused with technology. And who will do that? It is the transport person. We need professionalism. This is what we are talking about.