Public Transportation: The Role Of Government And Private Enterprise

ABSTRACT Transportation is a requirement for every nation, regardless of its industrial capacity, population size or technological development. The Nigerian transport systems, right from inception, were poorly designed and are unable to scale up to meet greater demand, a design flaw which causes traffic congestion on roads, overstressed railways, faltering airfields, and mass-transport blind spots. Overall there appear to be market impediments which operate to limit the extent to which Nigerian entrepreneurs undertake businesses in the transportation sector and their prospects for success. This work discusses the origins of modern Nigerian transportation, problems in its transportation infrastructure and system, and emphasizes the role of government and private enterprise as the strategic instrument for creating an effective transportation system conducive to business and then makes policy suggestions, after considering the potentials. We also recommend a well structured and properly implemented PPP model as one effective way of funding transport infrastructural deficit in Nigeria.
INTRODUCTION The all-embracing phenomenon called transportation is a measure of relationship between places. Transportation performs the role of linking supply and demand. As a means of conveying people, goods and information through places, the provision of transport facilities and services is very crucial to the economic, political, social and cultural life of any country or nation. Thus considered, transport contributes to the overall development of a country since it serves as essential means of collecting, moving, transferring and distributing people as well as goods in from place to place. Importation and exportation depends so much on transportation which provides the movement and logistics for the goods imported or for export. In real terms, transport development is considered one of the greatest technological breakthroughs. This is because man has through this feats recreated the concept of distance and nearness. The socio-political relationship between countries could not have been possible without transport links between them. Transport can therefore be labeled as the catalyst that stimulates and improves human existence on earth and reduces distance for man’s trips in space. It is also clear that through transport, man has been able to move in space, circulate around the urban areas or centres of the world, thereby improving and enhancing his knowledge on planet earth. Akinbami & Fadare (1998). A transportation system can enhance the productivity and quality of life of a community if properly planned and managed. At the same time, development stimulates demand for transport. The rapid urbanization around the world means that more people will be making more trips in urban areas. Since, transportation is the life wire of any urban society; it could make or mar the environment depending on the interactive measures and degree of responsiveness to transport planning and management in urban development. Transportation is the life-wire of any urban environment. It is central to the flow of knowledge, information and commercial goods. The type of available transport, and how they are used, tells a great deal about a society and its values. (Oni 2003).