Impact of Credit and Financial Services in Transport Management in Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1    Background to the Study

The administration of urban transportation in Nigeria follows the structure of government administration, that is, the three-tier form (Oni et al, 2006). This system manifested in form of serious expectation gap between citizen minimum expectation and the actual road construction delivery. In 1998, Nigeria needed N300bn to fix dilapidated roads and N54bn subsequently every year for maintenance and rehabilitation (National Policy on Transport, 2010). In spite of diagnosing the problem, the federal government failed to invest the required amount because of budget constraints and corruption in the execution of the road contract award process. The Federal Ministry of Works is the arm of government that awards contracts on roads.

According to (Kalu,2014), ‘’The desire for transportation infrastructure repositioning compelled pioneer leaders to design developmental plans which allocated significant capital expenditure on transports infrastructure’’. But what do one sees at the end, the money goes out of government purse but the job is either not done at all or haphazardly done. This happens always because funding of project is provided from the government purse as against having a contractor to construct the road and later recoup from tolls collection later. National Transport Policy (2010) recognized this system of contract award but no federal road is presently tolled.

Public Private Partnerships are an innovative financing models being used by advanced economies notably, Germany and America. It generally takes the form of a legal contract between the public and private entities which sets a framework specifying the roles, responsibilities and financial contribution of each, but can also be cooperation without binding contract (Broadus et al, 2013).

Lagos state government used the PPP method in Lagos Epe road since five years past and toll is being collected from motorist to pay back the concessioner for money spent. Of all the states in Nigeria it’s widely believed that Lagos state is the best in transportation facilities ‘’it  becomes imperative that state planners and policy makers must lend ample consideration to the means and modes of both human and material mobility (Akwara, 2014). It is of course when the roads are provided that the vehicle will be able to ply seamlessly without accident.

The Nigerian Transport Policy (2010) observed that the accident rate in Nigeria is 28 deaths every day of the year. Therefore a resident in Nigeria has 47 times chance of having motor accident that of a British resident.

The Nigeria Railway has been in existence since 1898 and its existence was given legal backing through an act establishing the Nigeria Railway corporation in 1955 (Akwara et al 2014).  Akwara further explained that the result of the trend was the near- comatose state the rail system finds itself in Nigeria. It will not be out of place to straightway say that the railway system had stopped serving its purpose for the past 30 years in spite of various government revival packages.  (Akwara 2006) exclaimed that a catalyst that can catalpult the Nigeria transport to where it rightly belongs in the development process of this country, is improved funding in the railway and aviation subsectors.

National Transport Policy (2010) recognizes that railway can provide the most cost-effective, affordable, energy saving and environmental friendly form of transport when traffic densities are high. The Nigerian experience is a very bitter one. From 1955, there has been no visible addition to the rail tracks that simply runs from South-west to North and from there running to the South-east. It is most unwise to journey Lagos to Port Harcourt by rail when the road transport is there. In general the railway has ceased to be economically viable in Nigeria for the past 30 years. The attempts by subsequent governments have not reinstated railways to its 1960 level.

In the maritime sector, government is still proposing to create enabling environment for indigenous private shipping companies to acquire fleet of vessels so as to partake effectively in the booming shipping business that is presently over 60% dominated by foreign companies. National transport policy (2010) recognizes that though Nigeria has a great potential for buoyant marine industry the Nigerian ports system needs to operate efficiently. The problem here therefore is that adequate credit lines (domestic and foreign) will require the government input even when the cabbotage law is implemented. The NTP (2010) also recognizes that employers in shipping industry must learn to imbibe the culture of financial discipline to enable them meet up the requirements for credit lines needed to build up fleet capacity that will compete with foreign ships that are presently eating away good businesses In our territory that rightly belong to the local ship owners.

The story of Nigeria air transportation started in 1908 with the first commercial flight in 1935. The Nigerian airline industry enjoyed rapid growth following the boom in 1970 (Amwe, 2013). The problem faced by Nigeria Airways was mismanagement and corruption to the extent that the company could not meet its financial obligations and had to close down. According to central Bank of Nigeria 2006 statistical Bulletin vol.16 domestic passengers dwindled from 1.3m in 1986 to a mere 70,000 in 2001. This may partly be due high operational costs, accidents recorded and haphazard organization of the services. According Godday Odidi (2012) there were 38 accidents between 1969 and 2012 on the Nigerian airspace, most of the time killing all the passengers on board.