RTEAN calls for creation of bank of transportation

From Okwe Obi, Abuja

The Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN) has urged the Federal Government to establish a specialised bank of transportation to provide financial backing for operators across the sector.

RTEAN National President Musa Maitakobi, in a communiqué released at the end of an event yesterday, said the demand followed wide consultations across its units, chapels, state, zonal and national structures.

Maitakobi said the ongoing economic and infrastructural reforms under Tinubu’s administration, particularly those affecting transportation, have repositioned the transport sector as a strategic pillar of national development.

He argued that the transport sector requires a dedicated financial institution to enable operators access affordable credit facilities for fleet renewal, infrastructure development, safety improvements and sectoral expansion.

He said, “We are writing to the government for the government to consider establishing a bank of transport, as there is a Bank of Industry and Bank of Agriculture.

“Transport cuts across land, sea and air. The sector needs a structured financial institution that understands its peculiarities and can provide the necessary support for sustainable growth.

“So we are demanding the federal government to look at our demand for them to consider to give us bank of transport.”

He noted that the present government’s reform efforts emphasise structure, coordination, accountability and long-term planning.

According to him, these principles are consistent with RTEAN’s own organised framework nationwide.

He added that transportation is no longer being treated as a peripheral service but as a central component of economic planning, with direct implications for productivity, trade and citizens’ welfare.

“When transport works, the economy moves, and when the economy moves, the people prosper. This administration understands that transport is critical to national growth and economic stability,” the communiqué stated.

He also said Nigeria can no longer afford the politics of improvisation, stressing the need for organisation, policy clarity and institutional strengthening to sustain development gains.