NSC, FRSC partner to address transport infrastructure gaps at ports

The Executive Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Shippers’ Council (NSC), Emmanuel Jime, has said the partnership with the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) has recorded great strides in the on-going development and operations of critical transport infrastructure, particularly the Inland Dry Ports(IDPs) and Vehicle Transit Areas (VTAs).

Jime made this known when the FRSC top management led by the Corps Marshal, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, paid a courtesy visit to the agency’s headquarters in Lagos on Tuesday.

The NSC boss confirmed the agency’s collaboration with the FRSC to address the issue of quality of articulated trucks used in the maritime sector to complement the road marshals’ effort to make Nigeria’s highways safer.

According to a statement issued by Head, Public Relations NSC, Rakiya Zubairu, the NSC boss said the council, with the mandate as Port Economic Regulator and Trade Facilitation Agency, identifies critical issues challenging the performance of the nation’s logistics sector and growth of international trade.

Jime stated that the resolutions reached at the meeting with stakeholders in May 2021 have given further impetus to the collaborative partnership between the Council and relevant government agencies and Organised Private Sector (OPS).

The pact is expected to drive the development of a structural and sustainable haulage system and standardisation of trucks as it concerns the implementation of Road Transport Safety Standardisation Scheme (RTSSS) and Inter-State Road Transit (ISRT) Scheme.

He said further that the other areas include a joint awareness programme for truck owners and drivers on the use of reflective tapes.

Speaking on the occasion, the FRSC Corps Marshal, Dr. Boboye Oyeyemi, decried the continuous breakdown of trucks on port access roads, adding that it was one of the issues causing congestion.

Dr. Oyeyemi said the FRSC wants all vehicles causing congestion in Apapa and Tin-Can Island Port to be removed from the roads as this is at the detriment of other road users.

The Corps Marshal stressed that it is gratifying that his agency is working with the NSC on the RTSSS and supporting the development of the council’s transport infrastructure projects in the Inland Dry Ports and Trucks Transit Parks, as well as sensitisation/enlightenment programmes for truckers, among others.