Nigeria is taking another step towards building a smarter transport system, as senior government officials visited Egypt to move the Smart National Transport Databank Project forward.
The project is expected to help Nigeria collect better transport data, improve road safety, support driver training and make transport planning easier across the country.
Nigerian Transport Agencies Represented in Egypt for Smart Transport Partnership
The delegation was led by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Abbas Tajudden. It also included the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC) corps marshal, Shehu Mohammed; the director-general of the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology (NITT), Bayero Salih Farah; and the permanent secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, Olufunso Olusesan Adebiyi.
The visit comes after NITT signed a memorandum of understanding with Asia Arab Investment in Abuja on June 15. It now moves the partnership from agreement to action, as both sides work through the key details needed to bring the project to life.
FRSC spokesperson Osondu Ohaeri said the meeting in Cairo would help clear up grey areas around the project. He said the visit also showed Nigeria’s commitment to building a safer and more technology-driven transport system.
The Smart National Transport Databank Project is designed to create one major database for transport information in Nigeria. This will help government agencies get more reliable and timely data for road safety, transport planning, infrastructure development, regulation, crash analysis and policy decisions.
The project fits into the FRSC plan to use technology to reduce crashes and save lives on Nigerian roads. With better transport data, agencies can understand road problems more clearly, respond faster and plan better for the future.
One major highlight of the visit was the proposed Driver Training and Development Centers, which ARCORP Egypt plans to establish across Nigeria. The centers will be run in partnership with FRSC and NITT through a public-private partnership.
The centres are expected to improve driver education, raise professional standards among drivers, support capacity building and help reduce road crashes across the country.
Nigeria’s Transport Databank Push Puts It in Line With Global Digital Mobility Systems
When Nigeria completes the Smart National Transport Databank Project, it will join a growing list of countries using national transport data systems to improve mobility planning, road safety and public infrastructure decisions.
Countries such as the United States, France and Germany already use national transport data platforms to organize mobility information, support policy decisions and improve transport services. In Africa, Kenya has used its Transport Integrated Management System, while South Africa continues to build public transport data systems and digital transport standards.
Nigeria’s own project aims to close long-standing gaps in transport data by creating one national platform for road, rail, aviation, maritime, inland waterways, pipeline and logistics information.
Under the plan, the Federal Government will deploy 250 solar-powered smart gantries at strategic locations across the country. It will also set up traffic management centers in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, develop a central national data center, and introduce RFID-enabled smart e-tags for vehicle identification and monitoring.
The project will run through a public-private partnership arrangement. Its pilot phase will cover Kaduna, Lagos, Nasarawa, Borno, Enugu and Edo states, as well as the FCT.
