Skilled manpower critical to railway modernization – NITT DG

The Director-General of the Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, Dr Bayero Salih-Farah, in this interview speaks on efforts to sustain the rail revolution in Nigeria, innovations at the Institute, and how to address the skills gap in the transportation sector, among others. Can you give us a rundown of your training facilities across […]

The Director-General of the Nigeria Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Zaria, Dr Bayero Salih-Farah, in this interview speaks on efforts to sustain the rail revolution in Nigeria, innovations at the Institute, and how to address the skills gap in the transportation sector, among others.

Can you give us a rundown of your training facilities across the country and the key capabilities you provide?

We have training capabilities in all the six geopolitical zones of Nigeria. We have established outreach centres in the zones, and some of them have been fully completed and equipped to provide training for Nigerians in the transport and logistics sector of the economy. The outreach centres are in Kano, Gombe, Ebonyi, Lagos, Abuja, Katsina, Benue, and Ekiti, to provide training, acquisition of skills, professional training in the transport sector, as well as other opportunities for technical learning. We have facilities like welding and fabrication workshops, fuel emission laboratories, soil and pavement laboratories, simulation workshops, car simulators, forklift and crane simulators, vehicle paint boots, and so on and so forth. We also have accommodation facilities for participants: hostels, classrooms, sporting facilities, clinics, cafeteria, gyms, etc.

The centres are ready to train available persons. So I encourage state governments, transport companies, individuals or participants under government empowerment learning schemes to take advantage of the opportunities being offered.

What were the key submissions at the recent National Council on Transportation?

Our presentations highlighted the relevance of the institute in our training activities and research capabilities. We presented at least five memos on key contemporary issues that are affecting the transportation sector, ranging from the need to develop and deploy facilities in the states for the development of mass transportation, the effects of pollution and emissions of vehicles on the environment and the need to streamline and sanitise the operations of the commercial motor drivers and the management of motor parks in the states.

From your research, what would you say are the dominant challenges of the transport industry?

We are trying to address the predominant challenge, which is providing the manpower for the various modes of transportation. Definitely, we have shortages, and in some cases, rundown infrastructure that is key to the transport system. But it can be seen that the present government is doing a lot to upgrade infrastructure in Nigeria by constructing new roads, upgrading the existing ones and providing critical infrastructure across the various modes of transportation. But these transportation facilities also need humans to operate them, and this is where NITT comes in to provide the necessary training and to conduct research on key problems in the country so that policies are arrived at based on informed decisions based on research activities.

In the railway sector for instance, we have noticed a lot of unprecedented infrastructure development, and this is a sector where we don’t have quite a robust skilled manpower.

There are fears that Nigeria may not be able to manage the railway facilities after the Chinese go. Are you also training technical manpower in the railway sector?

We are training engineers and managers in the rail transportation sector as well. So there should be no fear. Even after the Chinese leave, Nigeria will still have enough capacity to manage the rail system. We are proving capacity in the railway sector, as well as skilled manpower, as they are critical to rail sustainability.

NITT has several ongoing innovations, when will these be in the market?

We are still working on most of them. We developed the electric Keke (tricycle) and we are improving it to the level that it can be used commercially. We are also working on the electric car. We have a team of engineers working on the various elements of the electric car in different parts of the country. So in the near future, we will have a breakthrough and we will eliminate vehicles that run on fossil fuel.