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Stakeholders in the African mobility industry will meet next week during the 2nd edition of the Lagos Transport Fest scheduled to take place on December 15-16, 2020. According to Eventhive.ng, a Nigerian PR firm, the annual conference is the meeting place for the transport industry in West Africa.  

Lagos Transport Fest 2020 will hold as a hybrid event, combining a virtual component with a live in-person event. The live in-person event will take place at the Civic Center, Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria. Themed: Building Partnerships for Mobility Growth, the event will provide an opportunity for learning, knowledge transfer, interaction and peer-to-peer networking.

In a statement sent to Financial Nigeria – a media partner for the conference – Eventhive.ng said this year’s event will build on the successes of the maiden conference in 2019. Leaders across the road, rail and port sectors will discuss trends, investment and policy requirements in the mobility ecosystem in West Africa just ahead of the operationalisation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA) on January 1, 2021.

As the industry of transporting people and goods, mobility is indispensable to maximising the potentials of AfCFTA and key to the competitiveness of countries on the continent. At the Nigeria National AfCFTA strategy workshop held last month, experts said investment in efficient transport infrastructure in Africa will help in closing the vast infrastructure gap and boosting trade integration in a continent expected to be the world's largest free trade area with the potential to bring together more than 1.2 billion people with a GDP of over $2.5 trillion.

Major areas of discussion at the Lagos Transport Fest 2020 will include public-private partnerships for financing mobility projects and enabling the equitable movement of people and goods; post-Covid-19 strategies for public and private sector mobility providers; rail system for a connected Africa; and the future of payments and ticketing in West Africa’s mobility ecosystem.

According to the statement by Eventhive.ng, confirmed speakers at the event include Obafemi Hamzat, Deputy Governor of Lagos State; Chidi Izuwah, Director General of the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission (ICRC); Yewande Sadiku, Executive Secretary/CEO of Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC); Maretha Britz, Managing Director, Trapeze South Africa; Justin Coetzee, CEO, GoMetro; Frederick Oladeinde, Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation; and Ziad Hamoui, President, Borderless Alliance Ghana.

Experts have also said mobility is one of the key factors for urban liveability. An efficient mobility ecosystem, especially as urban populations continue to grow, is critical for raising productivity and enhancing economic growth.