Lagos-Ibadan Rail To Be Commissioned In June, Project To Be Maintained By CCECC Till 2026

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed plans by the federal government to commission the Lagos-Ibadan Railway by June, 2021.

The Minister disclosed this in Ibadan at the end of the monthly inspection of the project weekend.

He said the contractors, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, has achieved over 90 percent completion, adding that a date would be choosen in the month of June for commissioning.

According to Amaechi, there is maintenance plan between federal government and CCECC within the next three to five years.

“And by then, I would have left government but for me and within the period I am serving as minister, there is an agreement between us and CCECC for the purpose of maintenance.”

Amaechi also ordered the arrest of buyers of vandalized rail track facilities and other equipment.

He said cases of vandalization exists because there are those who have indicated interest in the vandalized facilities.

The Minister also said the rate of vandalism would reduce if the judicial system dispenses justice without delay, adding that state governments need to create more jobs.

He said: “I don’t know why some Nigerians are like the way they are. I have told the Managing Director of NRC to arrest the buyers of the equipment. It is not enough to arrest the vandals.

“It is likened to those who said why should the National Assembly punish those who pay ransom, that law was first passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly when I was a speaker and the reason is, that, when there is no demand, there will be no supply.

“If we don’t pay ransom, they will be tired and they will stop. The same way, if they don’t buy those metals, slippers and others, nobody will steal them.”

He said: “Also, we must approach the Judiciary to have court that can dispense justice readily so that people are sent to jail early enough to deter others and we will also encourage our governors to create jobs.”

The Minister also hinted that some people who have been vandalizing the facilities have been arrested.

Amaechi also said the Lagos-Ibadan project would be commissioned next month after getting approval from the office of the president.

He said: “I hope the Office of the President will approve the commissioning of this project in June. We will communicate the actual date in the next one or two weeks but certainly, I think it is in June.

“We are not 100 percent ready for commissioning but if for nothing, we are 89 to 90 percent ready for commissioning and we are hoping that by the next three weeks we will be ready and by then, they will give us a date from the office of the president. One thing is that by the time they give us a date, we will be ready for commissioning.”

He also said the e-ticketing platform would be deployed to Lagos-Ibadan route in order to manage the envisaged passenger traffic.

“I have directed the MD of NRC to advertise for the e-ticketing and we hope the traffic that we will witness on this axis will be managed with that platform.”