RAAMP ADVOCATES NATIONAL POLICY FOR NiRTIMS, CoSMoS
A week-long workshop on the Nigeria Rural Transport Infrastructure Management System (NiRTIMS) and Construction Site Monitoring System (CoSMoS) has ended in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, with a call on all stakeholders to prompt an adoption and integration of the new technology as a national policy for the road sector across the country.
The National Coordinator of the Rural Access and Agricultural Marketing Project, RAAMP, Engr. Aminu Mohammed made the advocacy, while declaring the programme open, describing NIRTIMS as the most recent technology for the development, management and maintenance of roads in the world.
NiRTIMS is a computerized internet enabled system for the comprehensive road database which is used in overall planning and management of transport infrastructure within a Local Government Area, while CoSMoS is a software developed for the tracking of actual progress of work accomplished in a construction site.
Mohammed who was represented by the Lead Infrastructure Engineer at the Federal Project Management Unit, FPMU of RAAMP, Engr. Burka Gana, applauded the Federal Government in conjunction with the World Bank and other stakeholders for their respective roles towards facilitating the operation of NiRTIMS in Nigeria, as the first country in west Africa and called on RAAMP states to take advantage of the technology and implement same in their respective states for others to emulate.
The programme was held at Amu
nice Event Centre, Aka-Itiam street, Uyo between July 15 – 20, 2024 organised by FPMU, with participants drawn from core group team members of NiRTIMS from the State Project Implementation Units, SPIUs of 13 RAAMP states across the country
The programme featured a number of intensive theory and practical sessions – all aimed at expounding participants knowledge on the optimal use of NiRTIMS and CoSMoS technologies for the effective monitoring and reporting of progress of civil works at project sites across the country.
The participant states included Ebonyi, Ekiti, Gombe, Kaduna, Niger and Osun. Others were Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Ondo, Oyo and Plateau.
In his remarks, the State Project Coordinator of AKS-RAAMP, Pastor Gideon Akpan on behalf of the Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Dr. Offiong Offor; the State Project Monitoring Committee, SPMC; the State Project Implementation Unit, SPIU and staff, welcomed the FPMU team; participants from other RAAMP states; and all stakeholders to Uyo, the state capital and hoped that the exercise would realise the primary objectives as envisaged by the project.
He thanked FPMU for bringing the programme to Akwa Ibom, ascribing same to the relative peace and conducive atmosphere currently experienced across the state as a result of the good governance and superlative performance of the State Governor, Pastor Umo Bassey Eno.
