The Minister of Transport, Yusuf Suleiman, has said that the development of an intermodal transport system is imperative for national development.

Yusuf, stated that for Nigeria to achieve remarkable socio-economic progress, there was need for all means of transportation to be integrated.

The minister stated this in Abuja while receiving members of the Board of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, led by its President, Professor Michael Filani.

Yusuf, who disclosed that bids for the establishment of coastal rail lines which would run across the Niger Delta states are presently being evaluated in the ministry, added that the various on-going projects which includes: the rehabilitation of the railway, and dredging of the lower River Niger, are geared towards reducing pressure on the country's roads.

He however, expressed worries over the traffic situation around Apapa Port, Lagos, saying that most Nigerian roads collapse not due to use of inappropriate materials or poor construction works, but because the integrity of the roads have been compromised through abuse, resulting from overloading.

"The roads are designed to carry specific tones of goods, but because other transport modes are not functioning optimally, the burden now lies on the road, leading to collapse. The only way the country can develop is by integrating all these transport modes in order to have an effective transport system," the minister stressed.

Earlier, president of the Institute, Prof. Michael Filani, stated that the lack of national transport policy has been the bane of the nation's transport sector, urging the federal government to develop a national transport policy for effective administration of the sector.

Filani, who commended the minister for setting up a committee to look into the establishment of a National Transport Commission, which would serve as a transport regulator in the country, maintained that no nation could develop its transport infrastructure without a well articulated transport policy.