Amid concerted efforts at tackling the anomalies that kept the Nigerian ports system in shambles for decades, the current management of the Nigerian Shippers Council (NSC), a federal government agency saddled with the responsibility of managing the entire transportation chain from door to door, is presently engaged in the onerous task of ending the bloodshed caused by heavy duty-vehicles used to transport cargo on Nigerian roads through the establishment of Truck Transit Parks (TTPs).
Over the years, the prevalence of road accidents in Nigeria has been described in horrendous terms. Some have tended to describe it as fatal. While some choose call it is disastrous, others prefer to use the word lethal. Whichever diction one prefers to the other, the issue at stake is the extent to which road accidents have claimed the lives of innocent Nigerians.
From available statistics, the highest fatality had been caused by accidents involving articulated vehicles and other heavy-duty trucks. To underscore how deadly these articulated vehicles are on major roads across the country, newspapers have always published stories with sensational headlines like, ‘Trailer From Hell’, to describe the gory situation in Nigeria.
Amusingly, whenever these deadly auto-crashes occur, Nigerians quickly blame them on black magic or, worse still, the ‘demons’ of accidents on the roads. But whether or not these convoluted tales of people concocting evil spells and invoking voodoo powers right from their villages to kill people in road accidents in cities are true, the fact remains that fatal car accidents in Nigeria are caused by human, mechanical, and environmental factors.
While human factor accounts for up to 90 per cent of accidents, mechanical and environmental factors share the remaining10 per cent. Human factors in this context include visual acuteness, driver fatigue, poor knowledge of road signs and regulations, illiteracy, health problems, excessive speeding, drug abuse, and over-confidence while at the steering wheel.
Among the mechanical factors that lead to fatal car accidents are poor vehicle maintenance, tyre blowouts, poor lights, un-roadworthy vehicles, and broken-down vehicles on the road without adequate warning. These are all linked to heavy-duty trucks whose drivers are notorious for recklessness.
How did it all begin? Road accidents became a regular and re-occurring phenomenon in Nigeria as a result of the lethargic attitude of past administrations towards infrastructural development. Although both the developed and developing nations of the world have suffered from varying degrees of road accidents, the developing countries clearly dominates, with Nigeria having the second highest rate of road accidents among 193 ranked countries of the world.
NSC’s Truck Transit Parks to the Rescue
Determined to execute the change agenda of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC) under the leadership of the incumbent Executive Secretary, Mr. Hassan Bello envisioned the Truck Transit Parks (TTP) project.
As an agency of the Federal Ministry of Transportation responsible for the coverage of the entire transportation chain from door to door, the NSC saw the need to provide a coordinated and conducive parking facilities for truck drivers at selected locations across the nation’s busy corridors.
The Truck Transit Park (TTP) introduced into the country’s transportation lexicon is an ultramodern, facility, off the highway where truck drivers can conveniently park their vehicles, get accommodation, fuel, food, drinks, restrooms, showers and other basic supplies like oil and spare parts as well as servicing of their vehicles.
Standard Truck Transit Parks will have the following facilities: Gas Station, Hotel and Motel, Restaurants, Mechanic Workshop, Fire Station, Police Post, Weight Bridges, Automated Cargo Tracking System etc.
Predominantly fashioned for short-term safety breaks, the parks are also long-term parking services in high-use corridors, which when fully operational, will provide security and easy tracking of cargoes along the transport chain.
The NSC said the TTP project will directly address aspects of transport infrastructure deficit in the country by providing short-term resting place for truck drivers on long distance travels and reduce loss to life and cargo caused by accidents arising from fatigue.
TTP and the PPP Model
The NSC felt it was necessary to involve the private sector through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to ensure that the Truck Transit Parks are delivered on time and within budget. The PPP is a model adopted to attract expertise and capital investment for infrastructure and service delivery improvements.
For effective coverage of the entire country, the Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi sponsored a feasibility study for the establishment of TTPs in seven (7) locations. The seven approved locations of the TTPs which will be concessioned to private sector operators are Lokoja ( Kogi State); Obollo-Afor (Enugu State); Jebba (Kwara State); Ore (Ondo State) ; Ogere (Ogun State); Porto Novo Creek (Lagos state); Onitsha (Anambra State) and Mararaban Jos (Kaduna State).
The market analysis as well as the business and operating models conducted by the Nigerian Shippers Council under the supervision of the Ministry of Transportation addressed the supply gap for a modern TTP.
The financial models evaluate the economic viability of the project and strongly indicate that the project is worthwhile under different financing options. Indeed, it found out that Truck Transit Parks could be a viable business in any high volume road corridor in any part of the country.
Already, the Council is collaborating with ECOWAS Bank for Investment and Development, AFRIEXIM Bank, Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC) and other key industrialists to midwife the establishment of the Truck Transit Parks. Indeed, only penultimate week, the Council brought together all the stakeholders at a round table in Lagos, the nation’s commercial capital where lenders expressed readiness to invest in the venture because of its potentials for revenue generation and job creation.
What Nigeria Stands to Gain
The gains of the Truck Transit Parks (TTPs) to the Nigerian economy are immense. For instance, neigbouring landlocked countries that rely on the Nigerian seaports for its imports and exports will benefit enormously from the operationalisation of TTPs. With the atmosphere conducive for business to thrive, Nigeria will make huge revenue from the trade with landlocked countries.
The TTP will also contribute tremendously to the economy of Nigeria both in terms of the amount of revenue that the country can rake in and the volume of direct and indirect jobs that would be generated once the TTPs scattered across the length and breadth of this commence operations.
TTPs will also ensure safety breaks for truck drivers, thereby reducing fatigue and accidents on the highways, as well as promote safety and security of cargo and haulage vehicles while in transit. Besides, cargo owners will also have cause to smile, as the facilities will also afford the means to monitor the movement of cargoes through a cargo-tracking system that would be installed in respective TTPs.
Rest Stops, as TTPs are also called, will reduce pilferage and theft while on transit since trucks would no longer park on road shoulders and access ramps, as is currently the case.
––Gambari is a transport sector analyst
