GRP 104 - INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN GEOGRAPHY II

A. Introduction/Preamble

Transport can be defined as the movement of goods, people, information

and services from the point of Origin (O) to the point of consumption,
usually the (Market) or the Destination (D) for the finished product. In
transport therefore, geographers talk about the origin and destination.
Transport can be regarded as a vehicle and cornerstone to civilization and
development. In other words, without transport there would not be any
form of civilization and development.

In 1922, Frederick Lord Lugard in his book "The Dual mandate" said that
the material development of Africa may be summed up in one word
"transport". In 1954, Ullman succinctly mentioned that "Immobility
perpetuates poverty". In 1968, Mumby, says that "There is no escape from
transport", Filani (1986) in his inaugural lecture posited the question that
"How do we get there from here"? it is a question of transportation.
Mobility in human affairs be it socio-economic, political, cultural and host of
others are essential and necessary for human survival and existence.

B. Modes of Transportation

There are various modes of transportation ranging from viz:-

1. Beast of Burden: Such as the use of animals e.g. mule, donkey, and
horse. This form of mode may sound old fashioned but is still being
used in some societies. As a matter of fact, the mode is being used in
some part of Northern Nigeria.

2. Human Porterage: This mode of transport involves the carrying of

load on the head from the farm to the market. Some society in Suleja
(Niger State) of Nigeria known as Gwari do carry their loads on their
shoulder, because they so much have respect for their heads, and so
they do not carry loads on their heads but on their shoulder. Head

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 loading is rather energy sapping, and laborious. Also, the quantity of
load to be carried is always minimal.

3. Rail Transport: Nigeria railway began in 1892.' The colonial office

commissioned the William Shelford survey to estimate the cost of
railway construction in Nigeria. In 1895, the secretary of state
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approved the construction of 20miles about 32 kilometers of 3 2
inches (1067 millimeters) gauge railway from Iddo to Otta. The year
1896 represented the year when the first railway began from Iddo.
It, reached Otta and Abeokuta in 1898 and finally got to Ibadan in
1901. In 1955 to be precise, the Nigerian Railway Corporation was
established by an Act as a government institution. The old railway
network in the country is made up of 3, 500 kilometers (Eleclii, 1998:
424) of single track route of the same 1067 millimeters gauge which
provides services between Lagos and Port-Harcourt as well as
passenger and freight traffic links between the Northern and
Southern parts of the country. More recently, the Federal
Government launched or inaugurated the Kaduna-Abuja rail-line.
More and more complexes of railways are being built, as some are
being under construction. Over the years, the Nigerian Railways
Corporation has been able to integrate the country, socially,
economically and' politically. Asu (2018) has succinctly described the
construction of Lagos-Ibadan rail' in which 'some parts of Apapa port
'terminals "will have to be demolished to give way for the railway.
One characteristics of the railway network is its North-South
parallelism. The same is true of the road and the pipelines. In other
words, the railway begins from Lagos (South-West) and runs to
Kaura Namoda in the northern most part of the country. On the
eastern part, it begins from Port-Harcourt and runs to Maiduguri in
Bornu State in the North Eastern part of the country. With this
network arrangement, agricultural produce such as groundnut,
cotton, hides and skins, Shea-nuts are moved from the Northern part
of the country to the Southern part most especially the Apapa Port

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 Lagos before they are finally moved or evacuated to Europe. On the
Eastern line, agricultural products are also moved from Maiduguri to
Port-Harcourt for onward transfer to overseas. According to
Onakomaiya (1983) Jos was linked with Zaria in 1912 by a narrow-
gauge line that was designed for the evacuation of Tin from the Jos
Plateau. Onakomaiya (1983) also observed that the conception and
development of the Nigerian Railways were motivated by strategic as
well as commercial reasons.

3.1. Problems Associated with the Nigerian Railway

Perhaps the major problems confronting the Nigerian railway Corporation is

better summarized by Lawal (2006) as those of viz:-

a. Human Resources
b. Engineering
c. Revenue Generation
d. Political Consideration

a. Human Resources

The Nigerian Railway Corporation is one of the largest absorber of labour in

the Nigerian market as it is able to provide employment opportunities to
over 29,576 in 1959/60 of all categories of workers whether permanent,
casual officers and daily paid workers etc.

This figure declined to 24, 831 in 1989. The decline in the staff strength
are both caused by the Nigerian Civil War 1967-70 and the old age nature
of the equipments, coaches, wagons under which the staff are operating.
As a result, many of the staff that had been
trained had to be laid off or retired.

a. Bad Administration

The problem of bad administration in the NRC is better summed up in the

word of Abharamwa (2001) "I suspect that the reason for Nigerian railway
has not made any remarkable improvement and impact on the nation's

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transport system in particular and the economy at large is because the
parastatal has been managed by people who do not really understand the
essence or importance of viable railway system".

b. Engineering

Since the advent of the Nigerian railway in 1896, there had been reported
cases of the fact that some of its routes, engines, locomotives, sleepers,
had never experienced proper maintenance. This had resulted in the
wearing out of the engines and other equipments. In the late 1970's, 1979
to be precise, the Rail Indian, Technical and Economic Services (RITES)
was invited to refurbish and maintain the engines, wagons and
locomotives. The narrow gauge and the sleepers have been worn out
considerably to the extent that the old ones are not being replaced.

'After the departure of the Rail Indian Technical and Econo~ic Service
(RITES) in the early 1980's, the Chinese Civil Engineering and Construction
Company (CCECC) were invited to continue with the maintenance job,
which the RITES had abandoned. Coupled with the engineering problems is
the problem of the speed, which has made people to describe the Nigerian
railway to be moving with a "Snail speed". The speed is slow about 50-
60km/h. The latest development in train technology shows that Germany
has the fastest train speed called transrapid which has a speed of over
400km/h. This can serve as an alternative to air travel and has an annual
passenger capacity of 12.2 million (see National Concord Thursday, March
27, 1997, p. 21).

Badejo (1999, p.36) summed up the problem of speed and operational

efficiency as that of contemporary thinking of the world transport when he
said: "The rail transport has been able to attain the velocity of 476
kilometers per hour. Other things being equal in however, the current
operational speed of the Nigerian rail system cannot support the 21st
century, travel needs of the people and that of goods, since the speed limit
is about 50-60km/h and given the single gauge nature of the rail track, it
cannot attain an interrupted travel".

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The Nigerian railway has been competing with other models of
transportation e.g. roads. The speed efficiency of the trailers and trucks or
the road transport is faster than the rail.

c. Revenue Generations

The Nigerian Railway Corporation has so much depended on revenue

derived from the government. The NRC has since independence in 1960,
has not been able to break even. The corporation has been running at a
deficit rather than making a profit. As a matter of fact the NRC has always
been regarded as a social services rather than a profit oriented
organization. This under funding of the corporation on the part of the
government has greatly affected the operation of the corporation.

Asuquo Nuwak (2002) has been able to compare investment in railways

between Egypt and Nigeria. The analysis of this comparison is as
summarized and presented in table 3. The over one hundred years old of
the Nigerian Railway Corporation has been described by Geminiyi (1998) as
a 'sick baby'.

The passengers and freight traffic between; 2002 and 2005 is as presented
in table 4 while table 5 shows the traffic receipts for the NRC within the
period.

d. Political Considerations

The political consideration of the colonial administration shows their desire

to amalgamate the Northern and Southern protectorate together to form
one Nigeria. The colonial administration realized these objectives in 1914
when the North and South were amalgamated, Lawal (2002). As part of
the shortcomings of the Nigerian Railways is the attitudes of the
government and its official in the non-patronage and use of the railways is
better summed up in the word of Otubanjo (1989) when he said:

Part of the problems of the NRC is that our leaders never

used the train and can hardly sympathize with its problems,

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 The trains have therefore become the exclusive preserve of
the poor, the desperate and all those who dread the roads to
the North with all those hair-brained trailer drivers. The
consequence is that the trains are neglected and train
stations are decrepit. If President Ibrahim Babangida (IBB)
has visited a railway station in Nigeria-say Dugbe Station in
Ibadan with its over flowing and smelly toilets and squalid
floors recently, he would have it difficult to believe that the
Victoria Station was not a space station.

Another problem is that the frustration of the railways to enhance transfer

of merchants. This is due to the competition, which the railways have to
face with the trailers. The trailers have been known to perform efficiently
than the railways as there are little or no delays in the delivery services by
the trailers.

Strategies and Stratagems on How to Revitalize the Nigerian

Railway

 The monopoly enjoyed by the NRC over the years should be broken. In
this regards, the railways should be decentralized and privatized. In
such a decentralization the local, state and federal government should'
be able to procure their own rails like the United Kingdom where we
have the British train, the Silver Link and a host of others.
 The time is now ripe for the NRC to deeply and critically of acquiring
high speed train with electronics and highly computerized
communication gadgets in order to operate effectively and efficiently.
Also, adequate funding should be made available to enable the NRC
carry out or execute their projects. The metroline idea for cosmopolitan
and metropolitan cities like Lagos, Ibadan, Kaduna, Enugu and
PortHarcourt cannot be over-emphasized. Lagosians are 'patiently
waiting for the completion of these metrolines.
 Also, the construction and the use of underground tubes for cities like
Lagos, Ibadan, Osogbo, Aba and a host of other cities should start in

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 earnest, as the country is ripe enough to start the use of tubes. From
the fore-going discussion, Nigeria needs the railway as one of the
modes of transportation in the country for her social and economic
development and growth. There is no doubt in the fact that the
presence of the railways in the country would integrate the North and
the South together both socially and politically. Every effort should be
made therefore to avoid the "demise" of the railway in Nigeria.

4. Pipeline Transport

Pipeline has been variously defined, Robinson and Bamford (1978) defined
pipeline as "A line or conduit of pipes of varying diameter and length but
sometimes hundreds of kilometers long which are traditionally used for
carrying a liquid or gas from the point of supply to the point of
consumption". Murray (1975) defined pipelines from its functional
perspectives as "a steel metal with diameter capable of moving oil and
natural gas from the heart of the continent to the parts as in the case of
the North America and this has
1
accounted for about 5 th of the inter-city freight - ton kilometer".

Alderman (an Economist) 1974, viewed pipelines in terms of its monopoly

when he said "A pipeline may be a decreasing-cost industry and only if it is
an industry entire to itself, if the market is so small as only to permit one
or two to exist".

In Nigeria, a pipeline is defined under section II (2) of the 1965 OilPipeline

Act "as a system of pipes for the conveyance of anything other than air,
water, water vapour, or steam and not being a drain, a sewer or pipes for
heating, cooling or for domestic purposes". This definition is similar to that
of Bamford (1978) already provided 'above.

The Oil Pipeline Act of 1965 also simplifies the procedure and also
determines the conditions under which pipelines are constructed in Nigeria.
Briefly, the Act has four main objectives

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 Authority is vested on the minister of mines, Power and Energy to
control
development in the public interest and sets up machinery for objections
and local enquires.
 The Minister is also charged with the power of regulation, construction,
operation and maintenance of pipelines in the interests of safety.
 Municipal authority is vested in the minister or matters that are related
to land acquisition through eminent domain and payment of
compensation or some kind of assistance is offered to displaced families
and damaged crops etc.
 The minister also has the authority to establish that pipelines are
rateable.

On 23rd December, 1955, Nigeria opened its first pipeline to crude oil to link
Oloibiri Oil Field with Kugbo Bay, over a distance of eleven (11) kilometer
in the then Rivers State.

Advantages of Pipeline

Efficient, safe, fast and dependable, cost efficient, greater degree of

connectivity, reliable, steady, secured. Cheapest form of overland
transportation, fixed route; pipelines has definite maximum capacity. It has
a high cost' of installation. Pipeline can be used for collection and removal
of wastes (Sule, 1979: 576).

4.1. Evolution of Pipeline .

Chronologically, the history of oil transportation began with oil shipment

across the Atlantic. Elizabeth Watt was the first ship to carry a full cargo of
oil across the Atlantic in 1861 (Baptist, '1980: 1). In 1865, another ship
called Gluckauf was built in the River Tyne, specialty for carrying oil and for
the first time the hull/the bottom part of a ship was used as a container for
free liquid, instead of as a box to hold barrels. Gluckauf according to King
(1975) has a carrying capacity of about 2,300tons.

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Oil transportation by sea was closely followed by pipeline transportation
(Jones 1975) because it has proved to be one of the most reliable and
economic means of transporting oil and oil products in that it provides a
continuous process and not a batch process, as compared- with Ships, or
Road, or Rail vehicles.

Pipelines constitute a specialized transportation system for the movement

of crude oil, gasoline, and other liquid products of petroleum and natural
gas. Besides, pipelines are used for the movement of Water, Oil, Gas
Pipelines which are used for long distance transport of chemicals, liquefied
coal, which is otherwise known as "Stabilized Slurry" - in which the
percentage composition of coal to water are in the proportion of 65% coal
and 35% water.

Pipelines are known to carry 30% more coal than the existing method of
transmissions. The slurry can be burnt as a liquid fuel and thus requires no
de-watering plant (see Manners, 1962; Forster, 1969 and Robinson et-al.
1970).

Pipelines have been successfully been used to transport milk in the Alpine
parts of Switzerland (Mountjoy, 1959; Manners, 1962). v ,

4.2. Evolution and Development of Pipelines

Pipelines as a mode of transport have existed for over a century', and their
development has been closely connected with the expansion and growth in
the use of automobiles. The use of pipelines antedates the Christians era,
when water supplies are known to have been piped over long distances
since very early times. Bamboo pipes were being used in China
around/about 5, OOOBC Pipes made of clay or stone were widely used in
the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Mesopotamia and Rome. There was a
record of a long distance pipeline made out of Ox-hide Sewn together
which was laid out across the desert to supply water to the Persian forces
when Cambyses invades Egypt in 525 B.C. Until a little more than a century
ago, the chief purpose of a pipeline was 'to convey water from reservoirs

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to consuming areas. The discovery and use of petroleum however, ushered
in a new era in pipeline usage. The first crude oil pipeline constructed or
made of wood was
laid down in the United States of America in 1861.

The first modern oil pipeline was built in Pennsylvania in 1865 by S.P.
Karns. Karns proposed to lay a 6 inch (about 15.24 centimeter) line from
his well at Burning Springs to the rail head at Parkersburg. But before he
could start construction, the civil war broke out and he left to join the
Union Army.

Hermus James, a neighbor of Karns in Western Virginia who moved to oil

creek after the outbreak of war planned a 4 inch (about 10.2 centimeter)
wooden line from Tarr farm to oil city in November 1862. When Hermus
James failed to secure a charter' from the Pennsylvania legislature he
abandoned the project.

Commenting on the current states of the gathering lines, the, Titusville

morning Herald declared on April 21 S\ 1866 that "This process of moving oil
has entirely superseded the oil method of hauling oil in barrels from
Benehoff to Sheffer". The following September, the scientific American
announced that "Because of the innovation, oil that was 600 feet
(182.9metres) below the surface of the earth reaches Jersey city a distance
of over 400miles (643.7 kilometers) without having been touched by hand
of man".

4.3. Pipeline Trend in the World

The United States of America has the largest pipeline network in the world
with a total of 434,000 kilometers network in 1955. This was increased to
569, 000 kilometers in 1970 arid increased to 687, 540 kilometers in 1980,
showing an increase of 31.2 percent within the first fifteen years (1955-
1970) and another increase of 20.7 percent within a ten years period
(1970-1980).

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Following the United States of America is the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics (USSR) with a total natural gas pipeline increasing from 111, 700
kilometers in 1977 to 144 000 kilometers in 1983, representing an increase
of 28.9 percent. Mellor (1982, p.167) succinctly observed that pipeline
transport accounts for about a fifth of all transport in the Soviet Union.
Robinson (1979) noted that one of the most recent oil pipelines and the
longest built so far is the 4, 800 kilometers "Friendship Pipeline" which
carried crude oil from Ural/Volga Oil Fields in the Soviet Union to the
communist satellite countries of East Europe as well as to West Germany,
France and Italy.

In Britain, the history of pipeline development dated back to 1940 during

the W.W. II, when: gasoline supply became inadequate in terms its
distribution. Undersea pipelines were built from Liverpool to the South
Coast of England which ensured saved shipping protection against bad
weather and enemies. The increasing demand for oil and oil products
coupled with the discovery of natural gas in the North Sea, led during the
1960's to the development of oil and gas. The U.K. pipeline had gained in
the percentage share of transport volume of refined products at the
expense of practically all other competing modes. The share of pipeline
increased from 8.8 percent in 1967 to 15.7 percent in 1973 and 18.7
percent in 1976 respectively.

The use of pipeline according to Emerson (1950) is not peculiar to the

United States of America alone but is equally used abroad wherever there
is an economic justification. For instance, pipelines have formed an integral
part of the crude oil producing activities in Venezuela and Columbia's
where they are used to bring crude oil from the interior to the sea coast for
trans-shipment vessels.

In Canada, Latin America, the Middle East, and North Africa, pipeline is
best developed as a result of the development of several oil wells. For a
developing country like Nigeria, the pipeline is as much a pioneer of
transport facilities as are roads, or railways or aircraft (see Manners, 1962).

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4.4. General Characteristics of Pipelines

Rigidity, flexible, low operating cost, can easily adapt to any environment,
more economical than other modes, pipelines are the best means of
transporting bulk materials.

Schatzl (1969) remarked that pipelines undoubtedly the best means for the
bulk transport of crude and natural gas in Southern Nigeria because of
their great reliability, easy adaptation to the country side, their almost
unlimited capacity and the simplicity of construction and manner of
operation.

Hubbard (1967) compared the costs of oil transport to and within Europe
and found that increasing quantities and distance has very little effect. The
competitiveness of pipelines vis-a-vis tank (rail) cars and tank trucks which
according to Osayimwese (1986) is derived from the fact that pipelines
tend to achieve greater connectivity.

4.5. Some Recent Changes in Pipeline Development

The greatest changes that have occurred in pipeline development in recent

years are these of that have occurred as a result of the emergence of the
OPEC-Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries in which oil has been
discovered and produced in large quantities in these countries and the
technology of pipeline development had to be used in the system of
distribution of oil and its products from the oil fields to the refineries and
depots, Liquefied Natural Gas and other petroleum products have also
been transported by the use of pipelines.

OPEC was actually formed as a permanent Inter-Government Body at the

end of Baghdad conference of September 10-14, 1960 by Iran, Iraq,
Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela (known as the five founding
members). The history of OPEC dates back to 1949 when: through
Venezuela, a consultative meeting of the oil producing countries, met for
the first time to discuss the need for closer communication. At the
moment, the members of OPEC are thirteen (13) in numbers. Apart from

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the five founding members earlier mentioned, other members include
Algeria, Ecuador, Gabon, Indonesia, Libya, 'Nigeria, Qatar and the United
Arab Emirate (UAE) (see Nigerian Oil Directory, 1993).

More recently, the Nigerian pipeline network has been put at 5,000
kilometer with diameters ranging from 6 11 and 1611 (15 to 40 centimeters).
The Non-OPEC nations also make use of pipelines in the distribution of
petroleum products and gas. Information in the relative use of pipelines by
these non-OPEC nations are not available for this study.

4.6. Evolution of Pipeline Development in Nigeria

The history of pipeline according to Harper (1978) is as old as the oil

industry itself. The popularity in the use of pipeline is now gaining ground
in Nigeria with increase in oil production, consumption, transportation and
distribution of petroleum products from refineries 'to depots. The general
focus on pipeline recent development in Nigeria shows the importance of
pipeline in Nigeria oil industry.

For about one hundred and eleven years (111) since 1907 to be precise
and later years, kerosene and other motor spirit that entered the country
and other West Africa territories were received in packed tins, drums and
cases, stored in small lots In the stores of the trading company. Since
1960, however, the trend has been modified by improvements in both rail,
roads and truck transportation. Larger quantities of bulk products can now
travel more economically in single loads over greater distances. The
refineries have been linked together with the seventeen depots by these
networks of pipelines. More pipelines are being proposed, some are being
vandalized and some are under construction and reconstruction to facilitate
both the movement of crude oil, refined products as well as Liquefied
Natural Gas (LNG) from the points of production to the consumption
centers.

In Nigeria, a pipeline is defined under section eleven 11 (2) of the 1965 Oil
Pipeline Act as "a system of pipes for the conveyance of minerals, natural

13
gas, and their derivatives or components, and also any substance
(including steam and water) production or refining or conveying of
minerals oil, natural gas, and any of their derivatives or components".

In Nigeria, the use of pipelines for the transportation of any products other
than water dates back to only during the Second World War (W.W. II)
when a 4.8 kilometers pipeline was built to supply oil to airfield from Kano
rail- road station. The operation of this pipeline according to Melamid
(1968) was based on the principle of joint organizations in which individual
oil companies owned and operated bulk depots and gave through put
privileges to other companies to ease local distribution and retailing of bulk
as well as to ease administration.

The first crude oil pipelines laid in Nigeria were the Shell's - SP 25
centimeter diameter 'pipeline which connected Oloibiri Oil Field with Kugbo
Bayover a distance of (eleven) 11 kilometers. This pipeline was
commissioned on 23rd December, 1955, (Schatzl 1969: 60, Onakomaiya
1978: 36).

Thereafter, the line was extended to Port-Harcourt in 1956 and with the
construction of another 225 kilometers, the total length of crude oil pipeline
in the country then rose to 504 kilometer. The total crude oil transported at
that time was put at 828, 000 tons. Since 1955, more pipeline complexes
have been built to connect the existing oil terminals as Brass, Escravos,
Qua-Iboe, Bonny, Forcardos and Fenington. It should be pointed out that
the development of pipeline infrastructures to the terminals enhanced the
exportation of crude oil, to overseas markets in the late 1960's, 1970's and
even to the present time.

4.7. The Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline (TSGP) and the West African
Gas Pipeline (WAGP)

More recently, Nigeria developed both the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline as

well as the West African Gas Pipeline to move gas from Nigeria to some
African countries before finally getting to Europe. The route for the TSGP

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begins from Nigeria to Niger Republic to Algeria before finally ending up in
Europe. The total length of the pipeline has been put at 4, 400km with
diameter of 56 inches. The pipeline will cover about 1, 000 kilometer in
Nigeria, Niger 800km, Algeria 2, 600km. the project had been estimated to
cost $10 billion.

The project has since been completed in 2015 as stipulated. The TSGP
project was conceived in January 2002 by Nigeria and Algeria following a
series of bilateral agreements. The Niger Republic joined the two countries
as a co-sponsor (see Adeleye 2008). The gas is expected to flow at
18billion cubic metric per year (cmpy) reaching up to 25billion cubic metric
per year from Warri in Nigeria to Benisaf, Algeria and finally to consumers
in Europe.

4.7.1 The Development of the West African Gas Pipeline (WAGP)

The concern in this study is the recent development of gas pipelines along
the coastal areas of West African sub-region which is composed of Nigeria,
Ghana, Benin and Togo. The West African Gas Pipeline has a total length of
678km which links into the existing Escravos-Lagos pipeline at the Nigeria
Gas Company's Itoki, Natural gas Export Terminal in Nigeria and proceeds
to a beach-head in Lagos. From there, it moves Offshore to Takoradi in
Ghana with gas delivery laterals from the line extending to Cotonou
'(Benin), Lome (Togo) and Tema (Ghana). The Escravos-Lagos pipeline
system has a capacity of 800MMscfd and the West African Pipeline
Company W APCO system will initially carry a volume of 170MMscfd and a
peak of overtime at a capacity of 460 MMscfd.

While the Trans-Saharan Gas Pipeline originates from Warri in Southern

Nigeria, it passes through Niger republic to Benisaf Algeria before finally
gets to Europe. On the other hand, the West African Gas Pipelines
originated from Escravos in Warri Southern Nigeria and laid along the
coastal areas of West Africa.

5. The Road Transport

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5.1. Historical Development

In its report "The Economic co-ordination of Transport Development in

Nigeria", the Stanford Research Institute stated that "the economic history
of Nigeria is largely the story of the opening up of its vast areas by various
forms of transport, resulting in economic growth, which in turn, stimulated
the demand for transport", (Robinson 1961: 36, quoted from Onakomaiya
1983).

a. They were meant to extend the commercial hinterlands opened up

by the government railways for the evacuation of local export
products, by linking up the nearest urban centers with the major
railway stations. In this case, Oyo was linked with Ibadan in 1906
by a railway operated road transport service and later, Osogbo
with Ife, Ilesa and Ogbomoso.
b. The second objective was to "reduce the strain thrown on the
inland provinces in the provision of porters" for the British colonial
officials. As of 1975/1980, there are over 100, 000 kilometers of
roads of all classes in the country. There are the three tiers of
roads in the country as we still do have presently today in the
country - Federal, State and Local Governments, all of which have
been giving road development plans and in the annual capital
programmes that have been earmarked for road development by
the federal and state government during the Third National
Development Plan (1975-1980).

The federal and state government exercise supreme control and

supervision over the licensing of drivers, the importation, registration
and licensing of all types of motor vehicles, and the regulation and
orderly flow of traffic especially in major cities like Lagos, Ibadan,
Abeokuta, Akure, Osogbo etc. these agencies include the Federal Road
and Safety, Corps (FRSC), Lagos State Traffic Management Agency
(LASTMA) etc.

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Figure 1, shows the length of Federal Government roads in the states from
2005-2006 expressed in kilometer these roads that are Asphaltic concrete,
surface dressed, and Gravel or Earthen.

6. Air Transport

6.1. Nigerian Airways and Fleet Strength

The Nigerian Airways was established in October 1958 as a joint venture

between the Nigerian Government, Elder Dempster Lines, and the British
2
'Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) with shareholdings of 51, 32 3 and
1
16 3 % respectively (Stanford Research-Institute 1961). The Airways thus
took over the operation of domestic flights from the disbanded West Africa
Airways Corporation (W AAC) which had been operating commercial
aircraft within the country since 1946. The airline has a monopoly for
providing domestic air services in Nigeria. It is also the national flag carrier
for international services along the West African Coast, Europe and the
United States of America. Along the West African Coast, the airline
operates flights to Accra, Roberts field, (Liberia) Freetown, Bathurst, Dakar
and Abidjan. Routes were also opened to Lome, Niamey, Cotonou and to
Nairobi (Kenya). Filani (1983) described the pooling agreement with the
British Caledonian Airways which had yielded or accounted for over 50% of
Nigeria's international traffic to London, Rome, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and
New York. The Nigerian Airways operated for quite some time, before it's
defunct. More recently, some airlines like Arik, Emirate, Peace Air, Belview,
Delta are operating both domestic and international travels. Figures -
shows the aircraft movement at both the Domestic Airports and
International airports.

7. Fast String Light Rail

This mode 'of transportation has not yet been introduced into the country,
but it is been widely used in the more economically developed nations such
as the United States of America and Europe. More recently, an

17
entrepreneur had advocated for the establishment of fast string light rail
that can travel from Lagos to Abuja within forty-five (45) minutes. Though
the system is capital intensive, but it really worth the construction.

8. Water Transport and Ports

8.1. Water transportation is another mode that is very essential and

critical to economic development of any nation - Nigeria inclusive. The
presence of water transport in any nation has contributed immensely to the
nation's development. The presence of ports in Nigeria have served as the
nation's gateway to the country's development. Goods and services as well
as cargo are shipped from Nigeria to other countries of the world as well as
other countries shipping their own cargo to Nigeria. On a daily basis,
several numbers of ships berth in the Nigerian ports and this has provided
many job opportunities to the operators of the port and the shipping
Agencies such as the shippers councils, the Nigerian Ports Authority, the
Nigerian Customs and Excise which is the agency or the department that
collects taxes on goods bought and sold and on goods brought to the
country and also check what is brought into the country. There are many
shipping agencies that are operating within the ports. The following ports
are present in the country. It includes the Apapa port which is the busiest
port in the country. There is also the Tin-Can Island port, the RORO port -
the Roll-on-Roll-Off. Within the country also are other ports like Warri Port,
Port-Harcourt Ports and the Koko Port.

More recently, the Federal Government of Nigeria inaugurated about six

dry ports to be located in Lagos, Erunmu (Ibadan), Kaduna, Kano and
Warri, so as to reduce the heavy pressure or burden which the Lagos Port
is being observed on frequent basis.

Apart from the ports, the country is also endowed with many inland
waterways as well as rivers. For those people that are living in the riverside
areas, their 'major mode of transportation is the river in which boats;
canoes are the most frequently used mode.

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