Maybe one way for President Tinubu to kickstart the Nigerian economy is to attract massive foreign direct investment into the transport sector. Given the size of our population, mass transit is a licence to print money with a policy that looks like this

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Nigeria will have a high speed rail network that will be constructed across the country over the next 20 years linking all 36 states and 774 local government areas to a national network

[2] Road maintenance is to be given back to the states. The Federal Ministry of Works will ensure funds are disbursed to state governments to cater for stretches of so-called federal roads that fall within their domains

[3] From henceforth, the Federal Ministry of Works will only be responsible for road construction. Once the road is commissioned, maintenance will be handed over to state governors

[4] We will establish a Nigerian Waterways Management Agency that will be responsible for marine transport. They will dredge the Rivers Niger and Benue and all adjoining rivers such as River Kaduna and create a national maritime network

[5] All states will be required to establish a state-wide bus service in which the state government will hold a minority stake

[6] The federal government will hold a 20% stake in the national railway, maritime, coach and bus services

[7] Currently, 90% of journeys in Nigeria are carried out by road. By 2040, we hope to reduce this to 40% by moving passengers on to trains and waterways

[8] All freight operators who move their goods on to rail and waterways will get a 20% discount over the next 10 years

[9] Any urban centre with a population in excess of 2m people will be compelled by law to establish a light railway network at the very least

[10] A national travel card scheme will be launched, which enables users to travel on state and federal coaches, buses, trains and marine transport

ayoakinfe@gmail.com