A bill seeking to provide for the regulation of railway sector in Nigeria scaled into second reading in the Senate.
The Bill sponsored by Senator Andy Uba (PDP Anambra South) [image above], when passed into law, also seeks to generate 20, 000 skilled jobs and about 40, 000 semi-skilled jobs nationwide.
In his lead debate on the bill, Andy Uba said the new bill seeks to repeal the existing Act and provide the appropriate legal framework for the implementation of Government’s reform programme while providing the platform for introduction of private sector investments and promote competition for the delivery of efficient rail services in Nigeria.
He added that the bill captures a restructured governing board to manage and implement the policies of the corporation, just as it also invokes changes in the extant law, to now provide for effective railway transportation, infrastructural development, railway concessioning and implementation of national rail policy etc.
He said further that one of the causes of damage to our roads and incessant road crashes is the frequent use of the roads by heavy duty trucks, saying ” When a good number of these heavy vehicles are taken off the roads, there is bound to be greater safety on the roads and a reduction in the cost of maintaining such infrastructures”.
However the bill inspite of its passage for second reading will wait till the Senate constitutes its standing committee on Transport for more legislative inputs.
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