By Richards Adeniyi
An efficient transportation and logistics infrastructure are crucial to the economic development of any nation, Dakuku Peterside, director-general of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), has said.
Peterside stated this in Port Harcourt during his inauguration as chairman, Governing Board, Centre for Logistics and Transport Studies (CELTRAS) of University Of Port Harcourt.
He said raw materials in Nigeria and the rest of Africa would not have value without transport and logistics to take them to where they were needed.
“If there is one enabler for economic development, it is transport and logistics because we are in a world where demand and supply that are in different locations need to meet.
“So, transport and logistics are the link between where raw materials and finished goods are produced to where they are in demand,” he said,
According to Peterside, anyone that embarks on research in the area of transport and logistics is contributing to the development of the society.
“I’m assuring us that the new board will not disappoint in contributing to bridge the gap between knowledge and what is needed in the society in the area of transport and logistics.
“We will serve as a critical link between what the industry needs and what the centre can provide. We will play our own role by sharing experiences with those working at the centre,” he added.
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The new board chairman said that they would try to shape the policy background of the centre and also do whatever they could to attract funding to the centre.
He stated that there was no knowledge-based research centre that could perform optimally without proper funding.
“The centre is positioned to play a catalytic role in what is expected of society today,” he said.
Peterside pledged that the new board would be alive to its responsibilities by ensuring that they make an impact that would move the centre to the next level.
Earlier, Prof. Ndowa Lale, Vice Chancellor of UNIPORT, said that he had confidence in the members.
Lale said that the institution was ready to provide the needed assistance to drive the vision of the centre because transport and logistics were critical to the economy.
He stated that no economy could survive without a well-organised transport and logistics sector.
Dr. Gladys Emenike, Acting Director of CELTRAS and member of the board, said that the centre was one of the foremost institutions of supply chain management, logistics and transport management in Nigeria.
Emenike stated that the relevance of the programme was in its ability to combine logistics requirements and transport demands, to critical specialisations that is the pivot of any thriving economy.
She said that CELTRAS offered the desire to improve on the general absence of proper planning, coordination and efficient management of logistics and transport activities of the economy.
Members of the board include Dr. Ibrahim Jibril, Mrs Lizzy Ovbade, Prof. Henry Alapiki, Prof Anthonia Okeregwo, Dr. Austine Odili and Prof. Kinikanwo Anele.
Others are representatives of both Federal and Rivers Ministries of Transport, Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), Nigerian Shippers’ Council and Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology (NITT).