Commissioning of Lagos-Ibadan railway in January is a done deal-Amaechi

…700 containers to be evacuated by rail daily

Chidi Ogbuokiri

Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has said that President Muhammadu Buhari must inaugurate the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line in January.

Amaechi who gave this assurance in Lagos yesterday disclosed that the date is official and “President Buhari is aware”.

Reacting to complains from officials of APM Terminals that there are obstacles on the part of the rail track which they do not have the power to remove, he said the date is sacrosanct as he is billed to meet with President Buhari on Monday to brief on the situation on ground and fix the actual day in January when the inauguration of the multi-billion naira standard guage railway.

He said: “That date is very important to me because there is no going back on it as Mr. President is aware of it. What has not been fixed is the exact day in January. There is an answer already as to what will be done, what is left the day in January.”

 He further said that his determination is bringing down the cargo congestion in Apapa port. Once that is done, the gridlock in Apapa will be reduced.”

Also speaking, Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman assured the APM Terminals Management that they have the authority of the Federal Government to remove any obstacle that could delay the pace of work and the commissioning of the project in January.

“The Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is here, you are not being directed, you are ordered to remove any obstacle on the part on the rail track,” she said.

Earlier, the APM Terminals officials had disclosed that when the railway becomes operational, they hope to be evacuating no fewer than 700 containers by rail daily from the Terminal and to the north and parts of the Western part of the country, saying the Terminal will witness increase in operation when President Buhari commissions the rail project.