FG to establish first transport databank

The Director-General of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Dr. Bayero Salih Farah, has said the Institute will soon roll out the first smart national transport databank which will boost the economic viability of the sector.

Farah stated this in Abuja on Wednesday at a national conference organised by the NITT on “Developing a Framework for Transportation of Livestock in Nigeria.”

He said, “Work on the establishment of the Smart National Transport Databank is in progress and when completed and operational, the project is expected to boost transport information gathering and sharing, reduce travel time for passengers, goods and services, and identify safe routes, amongst other advantages, especially for road users.

“This is because sections of NITT’s Act mandates it to ‘serve as an information cell for the planning and coordination of transport policies and programmes as well as ‘serve as a Transport Intelligence Centre for all aspects of transportation.”

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“This is what informed our decision, in partnership with Veterinary Teaching Hospital of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, to organise this very important conference with a theme: Developing a Policy Framework for Transportation of Livestock in Nigeria which will take into consideration certain factors like loading and unloading of livestock, overcrowding in confined spaces, extremes of temperature and humidity, and acceleration and deceleration during transit, among others,” he said.

Also speaking, The minister of Transportation, Sen. Sa’id Alkali noted that the transportation of livestock is a crucial component of Nigeria’s agricultural value chain, as it connects livestock producers in rural areas to consumer markets in our cities and beyond.