Nigeria must undertake a comprehensive overhaul of its transportation system to unlock economic growth, improve safety, and enhance efficiency, a Professor of Logistics and Transport at the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), Mobolaji Stephens, has said.
Stephens made this assertion while delivering the institution’s 195th inaugural lecture on Tuesday, March 24, 2026, at the Obafemi Awolowo Auditorium. His lecture, titled “Transportation Systems and Infrastructure in Nigeria: Transport Management Approach to Enhancing Efficiency, Safety and Sustainability,” examined the central role of transportation in national development.
He noted that persistent inefficiencies in Nigeria’s transport infrastructure continue to constrain economic growth and compromise safety standards. According to him, challenges such as poor infrastructure maintenance, weak policy implementation, traffic congestion, and safety lapses cut across road, rail, air, and maritime transport systems.
“The current system is plagued by inefficiencies, safety risks, and infrastructural deficits that hinder its full potential,” he said, adding that Nigeria’s transport network comprises four major modes—road, rail, air, and maritime—each facing distinct operational constraints.
Stephens advocated a transport management approach anchored on planning, coordination, monitoring, and data-driven decision-making as the most viable pathway to reform. He described transport management as the systematic planning, coordination, control, and optimisation of transport infrastructure, services, and user behaviour to achieve efficiency, safety, sustainability, and economic productivity.
He explained that such an approach integrates logistics systems, regulatory frameworks, intelligent transport systems (ITS), and multimodal coordination to ensure seamless mobility, in line with global best practices in demand management, supply optimisation, policy harmonisation, and technology integration.
The professor further emphasised that transport management promotes intermodal connectivity, ensuring seamless links between road, rail, maritime, aviation, and non-motorised transport systems. This, he said, would address Nigeria’s longstanding issues of inefficiency, poor connectivity, safety deficits, and sustainability gaps while improving cost, travel time, reliability, and environmental performance.
On technology adoption, Stephens stressed that modern transport systems rely heavily on digital tools for automation, congestion management, regulatory enforcement, and safety improvements across roads, seaports, and inland waterways.
Describing transportation as the backbone of economic development, he called for integrated transport policies that align infrastructure expansion with sustainability goals, noting that efficiency and safety must be pursued alongside environmental considerations.
Stephens also urged FUTA to establish a Centre for Integrated Transport and Logistics Analytics (CITLA) to serve as a real-time transport data hub. He said the centre could collaborate with agencies such as the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN), and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) for data sharing and research.
At the federal level, he recommended the issuance of a National Multimodal Integration Directive (NMID) by the Ministry of Transport to mandate integration across all federally funded urban transport projects, including unified ticketing systems, common data standards, and operational coordination.
He also proposed the introduction of a Federal Road Safety Performance Contracting framework and a Transport Research and Implementation Grant (TRIG) to drive innovation and accountability in the sector.
At the state level, Stephens advised the Ondo State Government to establish an Ondo Metropolitan Transport Authority (OMTA), modelled after the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, to regulate and coordinate multimodal transport services within the Akure-Ondo-Owo corridor.
In her remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of FUTA, Professor Adenike Oladiji, represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Development), Professor Sunday Oluyamo, commended the lecture, describing it as a critical contribution to addressing one of Nigeria’s most pressing developmental challenges. She praised Stephens as a distinguished scholar whose work continues to add value to the university.
