Evaluation Of Rural Transportation And Its Environment

Evaluation Of Rural Transportation And Its Environment

Abstract

The study examined the pastoral transportation system in Epe and its terrain in Lagos State, Nigeria. The study made use of applicable and expansive review of literatures grounded on experimenters ’ and scholars ’ opinions. The descriptive exploration check was used in order to assess the opinions of the repliers using the questionnaire. Grounded on the data analyses and the conclusion reached in this study, the ensuing recommendations were made The authorities, policy makers and transport authorities should carry out the entourages recommendations. enhancement in pastoral confluent roads This would reduce vehicle operating cost and increase savings from transport service delivery, Proper surfacing of the confluent roads using bitumen or asphalt in order to give time–round access to the pastoral communities, commission of Grass root Government– The need to empower the Grassroots government is of consummate significance owing to the fact that the construction and recuperation of utmost pastoral roads fall within the governance of the original government.

Chapter One

Preface

Background of the Study

Moving goods and people from one place to another is critical to maintain strong profitable and political ties between regions in the same state. With a land area of 910,768sq. km, population estimate of 150 million people and GDP- growth rate of 6 per annum( 2006 est), the centrality of effective public transportation in Nigeria is readily seen. Nigeria ‘s transportation structure is in a dismal state and falls short of the countries it would like to be compared with. It’s inadequate to meet the metamorphosis docket of the current administration, as a tool for achieving rapid-fire profitable growth and development( Walker, Gilbert James).

Encyclopedically Nigeria ranks downward in the quality of its structure which impacts the ease of doing business. Low investments in transportation have redounded in the current infrastructural deficiency. crucial challenges include shy investment and poor operation of transport structure – which have created a huge infrastructural deficiency.

The government has espoused the use of Private Public action in alignment with global trends in transportation structure development. Development of road structure via the PPP model remains in the child stages while that of rail is still in the generality/ design phase. Only one successful illustration of concessioning exists in the Nigerian Aviation assiduity. Concession of seaports has been the most successful when compared to other modes of transportation in Nigeria. An enabling frame is critical to the success of the PPP models in transportation structure backing and development.

South Africa ‘s transport sector is a crucial contributor to its competitiveness in global request and is decreasingly being seen as a pivotal enabler of profitable and social development. South Africa ‘s transport structure is vastly more advanced than that of Nigeria, evolving over the times into what we can see as a transport sector that surpasses others in the Africa ‘s sub region. Although the public sector is still the primary source of finances, South Africa is decreasingly dependent on PPPs to finance the transportation structure development. The PPP approach to structure procurement and delivery entails a shift from the traditional government procurement model with emphasis placed on private sector– grounded service delivery and application of PPPs in procurement of structure, indeed when government backing is needed. Despite the picture painted, South Africa isn’t without its transportation challenges.

Comparing Nigeria ‘s backing and procurement model to South Africa, there exists crucial differences and identifiable gaps in the Nigeria ‘s model and therefore applicable recommendations to ameliorate performance. What pretensions should Nigeria set for its transportation structure? The unborn state of transport system is anticipated to be effective, affordable, acceptable, safe, well-conditioned intertwined and environmentally sound. In line with the realisation of these prospects and fancies, specific pretensions should be set for transport mode. Implicit investment openings for roads, rail, aeronautics, seaports and aqueducts must be effectively exercised if our vision of achieving meaningful rapid-fire profitable growth and development is to be realised.

With respect to road trip, it’s important to estimate the extent and quality of the road network. In terms of the extent of the road network, the civil government has done much in the last fifteen times to ameliorate the content of Nigeria ‘s road system. One outstanding illustration is the work of the Directorate of Food, Roads, and pastoral structure( DIFFRI), which in the late 1980 ‘s embarked on a crusade to construct roughly 60,000 kilometers of new pastoral roads. As can be seen from a stint of pastoral areas, numerous roads that have been constructed are in a terrible state of seediness( Walker, Gilbert James). As with so numerous effects inpost-oil-boom Nigeria, numerous pastoral( and civic) roads haven’t entered acceptable conservation. inadequately– maintained roads are particularly problematic in the stormy season( roughly March to October). In fact, some pastoral areas are only accessible by auto in the dry season( Gumel,H.A.). July field passages on Epe proved these points well enough. numerous pastoral roads in the Plateau region can not be safely travelled at pets exceeding 25 to 30 long hauls per hour( Drummond- Thompson, Phillip,). The slow rate of trip is necessary given the large and frequent potholes that mark the numerous pastoral roads. Certain stretches of pastoral roads are so bad that motorized vehicles have bypassed the original thruway to form new dirt tracks. Other portions of pastoral roads have been reduced to one lane. The road network of the Epe is reflective of the poor state of conservation of numerous pastoral roads. Indeed though a good network of social– period roads was( incompletely due to the intensity of mining exertion on the table), numerous of these roads haven’t been maintained in thepost-independence period. Proper conservation is critical because downfalls can be extensively violent. therefore, small areas of road decay can veritably fleetly expand under the forces of corrosion and riding in the stormy season. important of the problems associated with the corrosion of highways are compounded by the lack of acceptable drainage structure( which also makes driving dangerous during heavy rains). While Nigerians aren’t forced to address conservation problems deduced from intermittent freezing and thawing( like temperate areas of the United States), they do have to deal with violent seasonal rain.

Although civic roads are in better condition than utmost pastoral roads, conservation of roads is also a problem in the metropolises. Since the collapse of oil painting prices in the early 1980 ‘s and perpetration of a Structural Adjustment Program in 1986, state budgets have been extremely tight. financial austerity has also been aggravated by loose military administrations that have channeled state earnings intonon-productive systems( frequently contracted to enterprises possessed by military leaders) or foreign bank accounts. Although nearly all civic roads are paved( Nigerians frequently say” tarred”), numerous have large pot holes or large sections where pavement has been eroded. An intriguing scene in the megacity of Ibadan is the exertion of informal road form crews. youthful men can frequently be seen filling megacity pot holes with dirt and jewels. In return for their unasked service, road druggies frequently cock these unofficial public workers. The work of these stalwart conservation crews notwithstanding, Nigerian civic roads can still be veritably rough. The important point to note is that away from trip, poor civic roads can beget backups in business and contribute to business traffic( Walker, Gilbert James).

dominant fishes of Epe and Badagry waters, Lagos State, Nigeria as well as the

socioeconomic conditions of artisanal fisherman folks in Lagos State were studied and anatomized.. Fishing conditioning within the community were set up to be profitable. still, the fairly large family size maintained by utmost of the fishers portend adverse effect ontheir profitable growth and standard of living.

Provision of acceptable credit installations, social and fishing amenities including preservation and transport installations in addition to enlightened fisherman folks would enhance the socio profitable status of the artisanal fishers in the study area.

In the once three decades, the force of fish in the Nigerian requests is steadily on the decline. This is largely due to the low catch situations of the traditional fishing ways and other affiliated factors.

Fish is a precious source of complete protein with the most balanced amino acid profile( Olawusi- Peters, 2008,). The meat of fish is analogous to that of meat in structure, but contains a lesser chance of water. He further notes that fish is more fluently digested than meat. Adeyemo( 2003) also reported that fish and fish grounded products give cheap but high quality protein compared to backcountry meat, flesh, pork or

beef. piecemeal from protein, fish also contains a wide variety of vitamins which include vitamins A, B( thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinic acid) C, D andE. Fish respects meat as the cost of the ultimate is beyond what utmost Nigerian can go( Adedokun, et al, 2006, Oladimejiet.al, 2013). In Nigeria, the artisanal fishery covers operation of small motorized ornon-motorized canoes by fishers in the littoral areas. This provides jobs for over 400,000 fishers in the littoral areas and members of their

families( Akegbejo- Samsons, 1997). Quite a sizeable proportion of the Nigerian population depends on fishing as a source of income. piecemeal from being an income earner to numerous Nigerians especially people in littoral, riverine and lake areas of the country, people earn their living from fish processing and marketing while others engaged in fisheries exploration( Soyinka and Kusemiju, 2007; Bolarinwa, 2012).

The fisheriessub-sector of the Nigerian frugality is made up of artisanal, artificial and dressed fisheries. The artisanal covers the operations of small– scale canoes, fisheries operating in the littoral areas, creeks, lagoons, nearshore water and the inland gutters. The artisanal fishery is characterized by low capital disbursement, low functional costs, low technology operation and it’s labor ferocious( Adedokun etal., 2006, Bolarinwa, 2014).

still, Williams( 2006) linked the fisherysub-sector as one of the untapped eventuality in Africa. The bulk of fishery conditioning in Africa and particularly Nigeria are carried out by small– scale fish growers, maybe this made thesub-sector accounts for an normal of4.87 of the Gross Domestic Product between the time 2000 and 2004( CBN, 2004). This development contradicts the fact that Nigeria is blessed with abundant kinds of submarine coffers of several inland and fresh waters, lakes, gutters, wetlands, flood tide plains and so on. It’s inversely against the background that fisheries significantly contributes to the frugality in terms of employment generation of 10 million people in Africa and food for over 20 million people in the world( Williams, 2006).

A major agrariansub-sector where achieving food security has come fugitive in Nigeria is the fish product subsector. Demand for fish in Nigeria stands at about1.5 million metric tonnes per annum while domestic product is just 511,700 metric tonnes. The nation spends about N150 billion(US$ 1billion) annually to ground the gap between force and demand( CBN, 2011).

Accordingly, several policy measures have been put in place to stimulate original fish husbandry. Till date, the results from the colossal investment and policy haven’t yielded the asked results. Recent pitfalls each over the world, point to a decline in wharf for prisoner fisheries, an index that fish stocks have approached or indeed exceeded the point of maximum sustainable yield. From statistical data on fish product in Nigeria, product has declined from 1984 till date to lower than 400,000 metric tonnes when compared with 508,000 metric tonnes in 1982.( FDF, 2008). Again there’s a veritably high demand for fish in Nigeria with increase in population and income but there’s a significant short fall between demand and force to about0.44 million metric tonnes.

Food indeed further than apparel or sanctum is the necessary necessity of humanity. Despite colorful sweats to increase fish product, not much has been done to increase the productivity, profitability, conditioning, and problemsof artisanal fishers in Lagoon water. Increase in fish product will contribute to the well– being of the frugality as a whole as this will ameliorate the nutrition of the nation.

Transportation in Epe Local government is by water through ferry services. Empirical evidences show that ferry service is grossly inadequate, unreliable and irregular in metropolitan Lagos, despite the abundant water ways (Egobi, 1999; Oni, 2004).The farmers transport their agricultural produce to nearby towns through ferry, Taxi/cab, Keke napep.

According to the Lagos State Regional Plan, (2005), travel by non-bus public transport (rail and water transport) has declined to less than 1.0% in Lagos despite their considerable potential. Water transport has a potential to become an attractive modes of transport for certain links.

Another mode of transportation by farmers is through various Trunk B roads maintained by state government which criss-crosses through Epe town to nearby villagesOdomola,Iraye,Poka,Noforija,Erodo,Odoragunshin,Igboye,Ilara,Mojoda

There is alsoTrunk A roads which link Epe town to Lagos; the regional governments were charged with the responsibility of maintaining Trunk B roads that link the divisional headquarters with the regional capitals .The situation in Epe Local Government Area is similar, the local town being Epe. The other settlements are about 311, including Agbowalkosi, Itoiki, Ejirin, Onisawasawa, Ubuja, Ipakodo and numerous others.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Rural transportation in Lagos State is still at the lowest ebb .Lack of maintenance of the roads by Authorities has turned most rural roads to death traps ,largely inaccessible for farmers and small/medium businesses to transport their goods to urban areas. This causes economic inactivity and loss in rural areas. This problem triggers massive Rural-Urban migration and population explosion in major cities like Lagos.This problem is contributory to unemployment problems in the city because would be farmers seek for white collar employment which they are not qualified. Lack of good access road in rural areas bring about poverty and lack of fulfilment amongst the rural populace.

The term rural transport services, has particular attributes that has made it a subject of special interest in research, policy and development planning. For the purpose of this research project, we refer to rural transport services as that continuum of transport activities and operations that connect rural households and farms to primary market centres with secondary rural markets and services centres, such as are found at the divisional administrative centres. Distinguishing features of rural transport systems as compared to urban transport systems is not only their infrequency, unreliability and high/km costs, but also their invisibility to policy makers

The issue of improving rural transport services is intertwined with other development challenges facing rural areas. These include:

Low densities and volumes of economic activities which leads to a weak resource base for financing improvements, Lack of innovation to bring forth new, affordable and appropriate transport technologies that are suited to rural operating conditions,

Absence of decentralized planning frameworks and therefore, weak institutional structures and partnerships for managing development -including transport services-in rural areas. About 60% of the road network is in rural areas, most of it is unpaved and is severely degraded owing to lack of maintenance. The length of roads in poor condition increased from 28% to 42% between 1994 and 1997.

Lack of transport services for the movement of goods and people is frequently identified as an important constraint to agricultural and rural development. Ex-post evaluations on rural road projects in Sub-Saharan Africa indicate a strong positive correlation between feeder roads and agricultural productivity.

An inadequate public infrastructure could result in massive losses to producers.

 1.3 Aims and Objective of the Study

1.     To evaluate rural transportation in,Epe and its environment.

2.     To identify challenges in rural transportation.

3.     To collate Government efforts in provision of affordable rural transportation to rural dwellers.

4.     To synchronize and integrate rural transportation in national transportation grid.

5.     To examine the impact of rural transportation to the economy.

6.     .To explore ways to improve road infrastructure in rural areas

1.4 Significance of the Study

1.     Rural Transport is a crucial factor in improving agricultural productivity, enhances quality of life of people, creates market for agricultural produce.

2.     The study would facilitates interaction among geographical and economic                    regions and opens up new areas to economic forces.

3.     Improved rural transportation will encourage farmers to work harder in the rural areas for increased production, add value to their products, reduce spoilage and wastage.

4.     The study would empower the farmers as well as having positive impact on their productivity, income, employment and reduce poverty level in the rural areas; since, it will be easier to move inputs and workers to farm as well as products to markets and agro-allied industry.

5.     The significance of the study to the development of a country lies in the fundamental fact that mobility and accessibility are essential for economic growth. For instance ,rural transport allows accessibility to agricultural lands, health, education, employment, commence, mineral resource base, forest industries and various activities in a community.

1.5  Scope of the Study

The study is limited to Odo-Egiri in Epe Local Government Area,Lagos State comprisingOdo-Egiri,Odomola,Iraye,Poka,Noforija,Erodo,Odo-ragunshin,Igboye,Ilara,Mojoda.

1.6  Research Questions

1.     What are modes of transportation in Odo-Egiri,Epe?

2.     What are challenges faced by farmers in rural transportation?

3.     What has government done to improve rural transportation in the area?

4.     .Are the efforts of Government in transport infrastructural development adequate?

5.     What are ways to synchronize and integrate rural transportation into national transportation grid?

6.     What are the impact of  rural transportation to the economy?

7.     What are ways to improve road infrastructure in rural areas?

1.7  Research Hypothesis

1.H0:  Improved Rural transportation  do not have positive impact on the  economy

H1:Improved Rural transportation plays positive impact on the economy

2.H0:There is no correlation between rural transportation and the economy

H1:There is correlation between rural transportation and the economy

1.8 Study Area

Epe is a town and Local Government Area(LGA) in Lagos state,Nigeria located on the northside of the Lekki lagoon.At the 2006 Census the population of Epe was 181,409.execute rural.

Epe, town and port, Lagos State, southwestern Nigeria; it lies on the north bank of the coastal Lagos Lagoon and has road connections to Ijebu-Ode and Ikorodu. A traditional settlement of the Ijebu people (a subgroup of the Yoruba), it was established by the mid-18th century as the chief port (slaves, cloth, agricultural produce) for Ijebu-Ode (17 mi [27 km] north-northwest), the capital of the Ijebu kingdom. It later served as the refuge for the forces of Kosoko, the Yoruba king ousted from Lagos (42 miles [68 km] west-southwest) by the British in 1851. In 1892 Epe was the embarkation point for the military expedition sent by Sir Gilbert Carter, the governor of Lagos, to defeat the awujale (the Ijebu political and spiritual ruler) at Ijebu-Ode.

Modern Epe is a collecting point for the export of fish, cassava (manioc), corn (maize), green vegetables, coconuts, cocoa, palm produce, rubber, and firewood to Lagos. Special leaves useful in preserving kola nuts are trucked to Ijebu-Ode, Shagamtowns. Epe is best known for its construction of the motorized, shallow-draft barges that navigate the coastal lagoons. Fishing is the major occupation. The town is served by secondary schools, several hospitals, and a health office. Pop. (2006) local government area, 181,409.