WANTED: A REGULATOR FOR URBAN HIGHWAY TRANSPORT By Chigozie Chikere
Today
there is no spectacle as ridiculous as the Nigerian motoring public in one of
its periodic fits of anxiety about the near anarchy state of the urban road
transport sector occasioned by the absence of a regulator. Every decade or so,
the government tries to reform at least one sector of the transport industry
and every decade or so one sector of the industry masses its forces to work the
masses into distraction.
Diagnosing
what is wrong with Nigeria’s road transport sector is the easy part. Even
though a large chunk of Nigeria’s economy is spent on the road sector, poor
traffic management, poor road capacity, lack of integration between urban
planning and transport planning, dearth of high capacity public transport
vehicles, weak institutional framework, and absence of a regulatory public
transport framework, still plague the system nationwide with the most evident
symptoms being, arbitrary pricing, fleets of wobbly and unstandardized
vehicles, the menace of touts and the notorious traffic jams found in Lagos and
in most other cities around the country.Meanwhile, because the railway system
which is supposed to complement the road mode is still being repositioned and therefore
conveying a comparatively low traffic, millions of Nigerians have no access to
safe and affordable public transport service.
The Nigerian regulatory regime for
road transport requires a revolutionary measure. The key issues arising are the
need to make regulations for pricing and standards and for externalities like environmental
pollution, noise annoyance, accidents and congestion and the enforcement of
those regulations. Gbolahan Elias and Ukamaka Okoli in their paper: Nigerian
LandTransport Infrastructure Deficits and Regulation,had blamed the
weak regulatory framework of the road sector on the Constitution of the Federal
Republic of Nigeria arguing that the Constitution permits both the Federal and
State governments to own road infrastructure and even regulatory agencies as is
the case in Lagos with Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA),
and as a result there are co-ordination issues inherent in the reality that
Nigeria has a Federal Government plus 36 State governments. However,while road
infrastructure management is entirely different from transport operations
management, what is required on the part of the Federal Government is a strong
political will to address the possible
conflicts of jurisdiction that are present in the current law through amendments.
Incidentally,
the major issue confronting urban road transport sector in Nigeria is improving
their efficiency through the use of traffic management and stricter enforcement
measures. Comprehensive traffic improvement plans involving intersection
improvements,relocation of markets, traffic signal control, one-way streets,
road markings and traffic signals could improve traffic flow in all Nigerian
cities. Certain of these measures would need to be accompanied by stronger
enforcement of traffic laws and of parking controls. Road deterioration and
road safety are also major issues which deserve greater attention at all levels
of government. The main cause of the present untenable traffic management, road
deterioration, and road safety situations is starvation of resources.
Increasing funding and giving priority to these areas over new road
construction should be the corner stones of urban highway policy in Nigeria.
The menace of touts and of transport union
task force members across major cities in Nigeria has become a cause for worry
among transport management experts. Aside from extortions, union members are
known to harass, beat, and inflict injuries on conductors, drivers, and
passengers on a daily basis. Curbing their excesses through legislation has
become much more imperative now that their notoriety for violence is becoming a
serious threat to the industry and to national security as many prospective
investors now look elsewhere while those already in the field get demoralized
to the point of selling off their buses seeing that it is no longer safe and profitable.
Notwithstanding, safety is one of the most important issues in contemporary
transport policies.
On affordability, the situation
captured by World Bank ten years ago in Lagos still exists. According to the
report, the poor have one third of the average income for the city, and then
the average fare, the proportion of a poor working person’s income spent on
transport was over 54 percent and the expenditure of someone on an average
income, was more than 17 percent. These are both very high and reflect the high
fares charged on private bus modes in Lagos. This is a confirmation of
earlier World Bank reports of 1993 and 1997 which affirmed that urban poor in
Nigeria pay a very high proportion of their income for transport services and
spend long periods of time traveling and waiting for infrequent and unreliable
bus services. Till date, in Lagos and beyond, fare regulations are not strictly
enforced and operators tend to latch on every social or political mishap like
fuel scarcity to arbitrarily increase fares.
It is pertinent to note that of all
the trips made by vehicles, 70% were by public transport, which is dominated by
private sector operators. According to Kayode Oyesiku in his paper: City Poverty
and Emerging Mobility Crisis: The Use of Motorcycle as Public Transport in
Nigerian Cities, more than 95% of all urban public transport journeys
in Nigeria are provided by private operators using mainly taxis and paratransit
buses. Interestingly, many of the urban residents are less accessible to these
transport services. Besides, the service delivery of public transport operators
is less satisfactory to the urban commuters in Nigeria. Unfortunately, existing
policies at the state and local government levels on the mode of operation of
public transport services in Nigeria do not consider the quality of transport
services in relation to comfort, affordability, safety and income level, which
are all of paramount importance to mobility pattern of urban residents in any
country of the world.Essentially, public sector investment is necessary but not
sufficient. Private sector investment, both local and foreign, is very much
needed if quality of services must improve. It is unlikely that the volume of
private sector investment that is needed to redress the deficit will be made as
long as the regulatory regime for the road transport sector remains as
poorly-developed as it currently is. Investors like clarity. There is an
urgent need for the regulatory regime to be strengthened.
Of the six transport industry bills
that have been stagnant at the National Assembly, the National
Transport Commission (NTC)Bill is the most important for the transport sector
in Nigeria. Unfortunately, the bill that sets out a commission for the economic
regulatory framework for the transportation of people and goods be it road,
inland waterways, or rail,has been marooned by the National Assembly.An
economic regulator for road transport would ensure that there is fair
commercial operation amidst competitive practices and ensure efficiency in
transport services provision by the operators. Further, the commission is billed to promote
private sector participation in the provision of transport services.
Though
NTC as economic regulator will not deal with technicalities of the operations
of transport, or compliance, it is so far the best news for the road transport
sector.It is hoped that government would see the need to include issues of road
worthiness, standardization, research and development, as core responsibilities
of the commission as time goes on.As experts and stakeholders continue to call
on the presidency to prioritise the development of the transport industry, the
National Assembly should rise to the occasion and do the needful by passing into
law the relevant transport industry bills that have been gathering dust in
their chambers.
Chigozie Chikere
Chartered Member,
The Chartered Institute of Logistics & Transport (CILT) Nigeria
Rector, Emdee Shipping
& Maritime College, Apapa
E-mail: grandefather@yahoo.com
Phone:
08039504536
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