Dr. Alban Igwe, Member, United Nations Committee on Trade and Transport Location, says indigenous participation in the transport sector will have a big impact on the economy.
Igwe said this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Lagos.
He noted that transport was under the service sector.
Igwe quoted the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics as saying that, in the third quarter of 2024, the sector recorded 5.19 percent growth, contributing 53.5 percent to Nigeria’s gross domestic product.
According to him, service activities make a developed nation and constitute as much as two-thirds of the gross domestic product of some countries.
He said that, in Nigeria, the majority of service activities came from transport and financial sectors, logistics supply chain, and insurance.
He said that giving more attention to the service sector would grow Nigeria fast.
According to Igwe, Nigeria has a lot of potential in the sector but has not fully utilised it.
“Nigerians are great travellers and businessmen, but the country is losing much of its revenue to China and its trading partners because the transport sector is not indigenised.
“Let us become a shipbuilding nation, a maritime nation, indeed.
“If we cannot manufacture a vehicle, can’t we manufacture a container?
“The other thing is the human being. We have them here—those who have capacity; even where there is less capacity, the government should train,” he said.
Igwe advised that the country should be determined, in 2025, to produce certain things locally as a strategy to support and indigenise the transport sector.
“We import nuts for tightening tires; we should not do that; we can import machines that will mould nuts.
“This can ensure that we create jobs so that everybody will have something to do,” he said.
Igwe also said that Nigeria was centrally located to be Africa’s transport hub.
“What is wrong with Nigeria becoming a hub both for seaport and airport so that airlines going east or west call at Nigeria?” he asked. (NAN)
