MINISTER of Works, Power and Housing and his Transportation counterpart, Mr Chubuike Amaechi will be keynote speakers at an International Transportation Conference kicking off in Abuja on Monday.
The conference is to address issues such as inadequate transportation infrastructure for safe and efficient movement of persons and goods around and across the continent and to x-ray the issues and provide blue print to support government efforts.
Former Minister of Aviation, Mr Osita Chidoka, who is the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Transportation Growth Initiative (TGI), organisers of the event, said the conference would attract experts and key stakeholders from both Nigeria and other continents of the world.
A statement by the Head of Administration, Transportation Growth Initiative, Mr Emmanuel John, noted that Professor Fred Wegman, Professor Emeritus of Transport Engineering at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands who is also the President of International Road Traffic Accident Data Organization (IRTAD) will be one of the keynote speakers at the event.
The statement said: “The TGI 1st International Transportation Conference is holding from 24th to 25th October 2016 at Sheraton Hotel and Towers, Abuja. The theme of the conference is “Improving Infrastructure for Sustainable, Efficient and Globally Competitive Transportation”.
Chidoka, who is also the immediate past Corps Marshal of Federal Road Safety Corps disclosed that TGI an umbrella organization of players in the transportation industry including Government Agencies, Private operators and the academics.
He adde that the Initiative was expected to address transportation challenges of all modes from a unified stakeholder platform through research, networking of professionals and human resource development.
He stated further that the conference was aimed at developing infrastructure improvement blue print to be adopted by the Nigerian Nation and other African countries.
This, according to him, include infrastructure blue prints for Urban Mobility, Airports, Sea Ports, Highways, Railways and in fact the most neglected; Non-Motorized Transportation (Cycling and walking).
The conference would also set out the template for tracking progress in the transportation Industry and provide a platform for exposing transportation practitioners to the rich research work of transport professionals in our universities and research institute.