By Matthew Denis
The Nigerian Institution of Highway and Transportation Engineers (NIHTE) has inaugurated her 6th National executives to enhance service delivery with adherence to professional conducts for better highways road, bridges construction in the country.
Speaking during his Inaugural speech, the National Chairman of NIHTE, Engr. Francis Oriakhi said ” My executives will continue to push on the Road Bill which is aims to establish a framework for the development, management, and maintenance of Nigeria’s road network for better society.
Recall that key provisions of the Road Bill proposes the creation of the Federal Road Authority, which will oversee the management and maintenance of federal roads, introduces a new classification system for roads, categorizing them into federal, state, and local roads and the bill proposes the establishment of a Road Fund, which will provide a dedicated source of funding for road maintenance and development among others.
He stressed that the Road Bill is a significant step towards addressing Nigeria’s road infrastructure challenges and promoting sustainable development.
The Chairman stressed that the Institution has continued to evolved in exponential growth and development in which his administration is happy to build upon and consolidate it.
He said “My administration agenda will embark on promoting professional and career development through strengthening our affiliation like International Road Federation among other reputable local trainers for members capacity building .
” We will focus on highway pupil engineers monitoring to partner with government MDAs with the view to explore experiences of engineers in terms of knowledge sharing and closing the gap.
On his part, the Chairman of Inauguration Planning Committee and Deputy National Chairman of NIHTE, Engr. Dr. Bola Mudasiru said the theme “Emerging Trends and Technologies to Drive Nigeria’s Transportation Sector” is timely and reflects their commitment to exploring innovative solutions that will transform Nigeria’s transportation landscape, enhancing efficiency, sustainability, safety, and economic growth.
Dr. Mudasiru outlined that at NIHTE, their vision is to advance the science and practice of highway and transportation engineering in Nigeria, promoting excellence, innovation, and professionalism among our members.
He said “Today’s program will delve into the latest developments, challenges, and opportunities in transportation infrastructure. We will share knowledge, experiences, and best practices, fostering collaboration and networking among participants.”
The Keynote speaker, Engr. Sylvester Jijingi decried on challenges like inadequate funding on the part of government on projects execution and unnecessary bureaucracies in the system thereby hampering engineering activities.
The Immediate past National Chairman, Engr. Saidu Hassan advised the newly inaugurated executives to continue from where they stopped regarding roads infrastructural development in the country.
He said ” we still have much to be done in the infrastructure development, our roads infrastructure needs more attention to be carry out in the standard that we desire and to ensure collaboration with the National Assembly on road bills by realizing the highway funds, highway authority among others.
