By EmekaNze
Delegates at the National Conference yesterday overwhelmingly supported a motion for the dredging of River Niger to make room for navigation activities on the river all year round.
Contributing to the debate on the report of the conference Transportation Committee, the delegates also expressed support for the linking of all airports with a rail network so as to reduce congestion on the roads.
A delegate, Onyema Ugochukwu on the Federal Government nomination said the Niger is one of the greatest rivers in the world but carries the least traffic apart from the few canoes that ply the waterway.
According to Ugochukwu, the port on River Niger has never worked because the dredging work has never been completed. He proposed that an authority should be created and given powers to keep the river accessible at all times.
Ugochukwu argued that the powers of the Federal Inland Water Way are so enormous; states are being disallowed to use it to their advantage.
He called for the creation of the Eastern railway line just as it has been done in the West.
In his contribution, the former governor of AkwaIbom state, Obong Victor Attah said the recommendation that all airports be linked to the rail line was not feasible.
He said that Akwa Ibom Airport was meant to carry out repairs with facilities and asked that if the state government is unable to construct the airport to meet the required standard, the Federal Government should assist.
He said the Federal Government has been unable to maintain roads and therefore, should be reverted to the states.
He also called for appropriate transportation within cities in the country especially in mega cities.
Lawrence Ekpebo said regulating seaports concurrently by the state and federal government was laudable.
He said seaports must be made to assist in the evacuation of products from the refineries and also called on the dredging of River Niger and the rivers in the Niger Delta region.
He also called for the completion of the East West and similar roads all over the country to aid development and mobilization of resources for the benefit of all Nigerians.
Former President of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ)Mallam Sani Zoro harped on the need to revive the railway sector.
He proposed that in view of the critical need of the railway to development, billions set aside under the Sovereign Wealth Fund be repatriated for investment in the sector.
He said keeping the funds away was beneficial to foreign interest.
Mallam Zoro further added that the current migration of Northerners to the Southern parts of the country and their arrest on suspicion that they are extremists could have been contained if the railway was functional.
