Hon. Ibrahim Bio is a man of many parts. The pharmacist, who started his political career as a councillor, was the Minister of Transport under the late President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, before President Jonathan reassigned him to the Ministry of Sports. In this interview with RUTH CHOJI, the former Speaker of Kwara State House of Assembly says there is the need to expand Nigerian ports, amongst other important issues.

What would you say were your major achievements while in the ministry of transport?
After we were inaugurated, Mr. President and his economic team's emphasis was that transportation was one of the main agenda of his administration. Most particular to him was the dredging of the River Niger and the railway, because of its multiplying effects on the economy. I took the challenge very well. The dredging of the River Niger had been pending for over 45 years, but I made sure that it was actually started. We only had issues at a point from Lokoja to Bwari.

Then, we were faced with how to tackle the railway project. Before the late Yar'Adua took over, President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded the contract for the modernisation of the standard gauge railway from Lagos to Kano to the Chinese. I took over that project. The President asked me to study the project and report back, and after doing that, he gave us the permission to go ahead.

The project was to cost $8.3 billion and Mr President said he could not bring out that kind of money at once; and if he was able to bring out $3 billion in the first four years, because he was of the desire that it should be segmented. He said if we are able to do the work to an extent in the first term, then when he is able to come for the second term, he can pursue it vigorously. We were also faced with the controversy of the old narrow guage.

Do we just scrape it off and lay a standard gauge, or we still use that? After consultations within and outside, it was decided that it should be rehabilitated within one year tofive years, but it should be dedicated for haulage of goods only. That is what happens in developed countries. Some of them are used for bringing raw materials, goods and other heavy duty materials.

This is because the Nigerian transportation system depends on only two modes of transport; the air and the road. And that is one of the reasons why our roads don't last. You will see heavy vehicles on our roads without knowing how old the road is, or the weight of load that the road can carry. If we are able to finish the narrow gauge, we can make policy that will enforce compliance, such that heavy trucks carrying cements and other raw materials will be transported by rail.

By so doing, our roads will last longer, and the carnage on the roads will reduce. And the multiplier effect is that, it is cheaper to transport by rail than by road. Before the former president died, the rehabilitation from Lagos to Lokoja had been  completed, except for a place in Niger State which was completely washed off, because the place is like a fadama. It needed special people to handle it.

The Chinese were given the first contract, and another company which was not able to meet up with the challenge. President Jonathan continued with the work after Yar'Adua died, by giving it to the Chinese. We also divided the standard gauge into segments, because of the financial challenges. From Lagos to    Ibadan was Sector 1, Abuja to Kaduna was Sector 2, Ibadan to Minna was Sector 3, Minna to Kaduna was Sector 4 and a track was linked from Minna to Abuja. What informed the selection was population of people.

So, somebody can leave Lagos and be in Kano in four hours, because the trains can move at 250 kilometres per hour. Lagos-Ibadan was chosen because it will reduce the problem of Lagos population. People can stay in Ibadan and work in Lagos, because it is about 188 kilometres. So, if you board a train that moves within those kilometres, you can make it in less than 40 minutes. And because Abuja is also becoming like Lagos, it was decided that Kaduna to Abuja, which is about 200 kilometres be a priority.

One can stay there and work in Abuja. Then, the other sectors will follow. I can safely say that the contract was signed and awarded. The memo for Ibadan was cancelled when the council was dissolved. But eventually, it was  taken and approved, and a contract has been signed and the work is ongoing. The old narrow gauge has been completed by President Jonathan-led administration, and now, the train moves three times a week from Lagos to Kano. As far as I am concerned, there has been successful implementation.

What will it take to get the Nigerian railway functional and compatible with other nation's rail-lines?
It will take resources and capacity, and above all, commitment. We need to know why the railway was not functional for 35 years, and the multiplier effects of railway system. It went moribund, because the commitment was not there.

But now that people are beginning to see the importance of the railway – like  now, if you are travelling to Ilorin by first class in train, you will pay N2,000. I moved some of my medical supplies from Lagos to Ibadan with the train, which cost me a mere N57,000; where as, I would have used four trailer loads to get them there, and I would have paid much more. If I can move my goods and it costs me four times cheaper, it can also happen to a man who has cattle and wants to move them.

The world is moving away from locomotive to high speed train, don't you think by using the types of train we use, we are not moving forward?
Not quite. We are faced with that challenge when they were talking about the standard gauging. The type of locomotive we have are dual-driven locomotive. They use diesel and electricity. You know that we have challenges with electricity, but they cannot use them, not to have problems on the way. Until our electricity supply improves, then, we can adopt electricity. The standard gauge locomotive are different and the Chinese have not created a train that can move fast. We have to go according to our developmental pace.

The current minister has been trying to decongest our ports, what will it take to make the ports free for business?
As a nation, we should be able to have developmental plans – long, medium and short. That was one of the biggest challenges I had as a minister. We had the Apapa Ports as a colonial port. Since that time, 1960, the ports have not been given any consideration, except the Onne Port which is dedicated to oil and gas. We have cocoa port which has potentials, but it is not being developed. We also have Calabar Port, though small, it will also serve.

There is a port being developed, called PPP, in Lekki. By now, they are still trying to get it to a deeper draft, like to 12-14 draft. Before now, it was shallow. Another problem is that, the port has no place for expansion. People have encroached into the port. So, instead of expanding, it is shrinking.

And it is also only Nigerian ports that do not operate 24 hours. A port is supposed to operate for 24 hours. If you work from 8am and close by 5pm, what happens to the ship that was supposed to berth in the night? It will have to wait until morning, and if that ship does not berth and discharge its cargo, no ship can berth there.

So, they have to be waiting. So, we need to expand our ports and build more. We need to also inject discipline, and we need rails that will go right into the port. As you are off-loading your container, you can be loading straight into a train that will take it to its destination. The other ports should be functioning and be linked with the railway.

Coming back to politics, what is your take on the current crises rocking the PDP?
There are so many issues happening in the party. One is that, the party is so large, and two, the party has divergent interests. What happens now is that, there was a shift from how party politics is supposed to be. Right from when the PDP was born, previous parties were formed by politicians. But for PDP, it has lots of politicians and retired generals, mixing military and civilian democracy.

That is the initial malaise of the party. Going down memory lane – the NPN of 1979 – then, the party was distinct from government. But here we are today, party politics and government are the same. It is a problem. Party must be separated from government. Let people running party oversee government, and let government know that somebody is overseeing them. But today in PDP, the people running government are the ones running the party. Nobody is overseeing government.

During the NPN days, when the party was having a meeting, the man who presided and sat on the high table was the chairman, and the President came to the Secretariat for the meeting. The vice president, Senate president, senators, representatives  and key leaders of the National Assembly and governors would all be in attendance. Whatever decision they took would be binding on the members at all levels.

For instance, what we had this year, the controversy over the benchmark, PDP has the majority in the Senate and the House. It is the Federal Government. The benchmark should have been agreed at the party level before it got to the National Assembly. If this was done, there was no way it would have brought controversy.

But now, the state party machineries are operated by governors, the national party is answerable to the President, so who tells the President he has gone wrong, or who tells the National Assembly, they are going wrong? There must be party manifesto that everybody should follow. During the NPN, the main focus was agriculture and mass housing.

UPN was free education at that time. But I don't know whether the PDP has any manifesto that government should follow. If the party has a manifesto, no matter who becomes the president or governor, they will work with the manifesto of the party.

What we have today is that, when a governor comes today, he brings his manifesto like education for example; another will say, I will pursue transportation, and so on. So, there is confusion, and that is why we have legislators insisting on constituency projects, because there is no trust between them. It is the party that is supposed to ensure that all these things are put in place. So, if we want to resolve crisis like this, the party must be supreme, and government must hand over the control of the party to those elected to do so.

What is your take on the plans to grant Boko Haram amnesty?
I am of the opinion that we have a national crisis, and we are in the stage of war. Whatever can be done to solve the problem should be done – whether it is amnesty or dialogue. Apparently, if Yar'Adua did not give a try to the Niger-Delta militants, maybe the situation would have been worst.

But don't you think this is becoming a trend, and others could take a cue from it and start their own crises?
It is becoming a trend, but it is a drastic problem, and it needs drastic solution. For instance, during Obasanjo's administration, when the crises started in Zaki-Biam and Odi, and he took drastic actions. Nigerians should have supported him, but instead, he was condemned. Some are still condemning him. So, we need to be supporting our leaders when they take decisions, as this can serve as deterrent to others.

Some are of the opinion that the crisis will cease if the President comes out to declare that he won't contest the 2015 presidential election. What is your view on this?
The President is a Nigerian, and the constitution allows everybody to contest. If the conditions are favourable and he thinks he can present himself, why not? But I think the crisis is an issue of Presidency, not President Jonathan. I think it has to do with long years of frustration, collapse system, bad roads, lack of good medical care, unemployment and so on.

I think people are now venting their anger on the system. If you look at countries that have this trend, like Palestine, you will understand with them. But I didn't known that young Nigerians can indulge in such acts. It is still strange and new for us, and that is why, it is a bit overwhelming.