A week-long workshop on the Nigeria Rural Transport Infrastructure Management System (NiRTIMS) and the Construction Site Monitoring System (CoSMoS) concluded in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, with a call for the adoption and integration of these technologies into a national policy for the road sector across Nigeria.
Engr. Aminu Mohammed, the National Coordinator of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project (RAAMP), made this advocacy while declaring the program open. Represented by Engr. Burka Gana, Lead Infrastructure Engineer at the Federal Project Management Unit (FPMU) of RAAMP, Mohammed described NiRTIMS as the latest technology for the development, management, and maintenance of roads globally. NiRTIMS is an internet-enabled system for a comprehensive road database used for planning and managing transport infrastructure within a Local Government Area. CoSMoS is a software for tracking the progress of work at construction sites.
Engr. Gana applauded the Federal Government, the World Bank, and other stakeholders for facilitating NiRTIMS’ operation in Nigeria, the first country in West Africa to adopt it. He encouraged RAAMP states to implement this technology for others to emulate.
The workshop, held at Amunice Event Centre in Uyo from July 15-20, 2024, was organized by FPMU. It included participants from the NiRTIMS core group team members from the State Project Implementation Units (SPIUs) of 13 RAAMP states: Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Kaduna, Niger, Osun, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, Oyo, and Plateau.
The event featured intensive theoretical and practical sessions aimed at enhancing participants’ knowledge on the optimal use of NiRTIMS and CoSMoS technologies for effective monitoring and reporting of progress at project sites across the country.
Pastor Gideon Akpan, State Project Coordinator of AKS-RAAMP, welcomed the FPMU team, participants from other RAAMP states, and all stakeholders to Uyo on behalf of the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Offiong Offor. He expressed hope that the workshop would achieve its primary objectives and thanked FPMU for choosing Akwa Ibom as the venue, attributing this choice to the state’s peace and conducive atmosphere under Governor Pastor Umo Bassey Eno’s leadership.