Opeifa’s appointment better deal for Nigerian railway, says TCAN

Opeifa’s appointment better deal for Nigerian railway, says TCAN

The appointment of Dr Kayode Opeifa as the managing director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a positive development for nation’s railway sector.

Transportation Correspondent Association of Nigeria (TCAN) gave this position in a statement hailing the appointment.

Describing the appointment as a square peg in a square hole, TCAN said it would mark the beginning of better deals not only for the nation’s oldest public corporation but for the burgeoning railway sector.
In the statement signed by the Chairman, Adeyinka Aderibigbe, and General Secretary Fidelis Ugbomeh, TCAN said Opeifa, a one-time Commissioner for Transportation in Lagos State, has all that it takes to sustain the good work of his predecessors in the corporation and continue to push the operation that would see all the nation’s state capitals connected by rail in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.
TCAN said Opeifa played a pivotal role in transforming Lagos transportation sector, leading to a phenomenal transformation.
“His forward thinking initiatives in public sector transportation were instrumental in the sustenance of the Lagos State’s dynamics of the city’s mobility and traffic management, setting a model for other sister-states,” the statement stated.
TCAN said Opeifa is well prepared for the task ahead as the helmsman of the railway corporation, not only because he was a one-time Commissioner for Transportation under Governor Babatunde Fashola, under whose administration the state’s Strategic Transport Master Plan (STMP) took off, but was also appointed the Vice Chairman of the Lagos Ports Access Road Decongestion, spearheading initiatives that restored discipline on Apapa Ports access roads.

He is credited to have put an end to the decades long gridlock that made the nation’s busiest seaport a nightmare.
After the completion of that assignment. Opeifa, TCAN recalled, was also appointed a member of the Board of the Nigerian Railway Corporation by the former President Muhammadu Buhari after the completion of his term as the Transportation Secretary at the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA).
A former Chairman, Conference of Transportation Commissioners of Nigeria, Opeifa is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration (CIoTA), with a doctoral degree in Logistics and Transport Planning from the Lagos State University in 2022.

TCAN said his rich profile would help to ensure the delivery of new railway lines in line with the visions of the Tinubu administration, as he works at retooling the sustenance of the Nigeria’s Railway master plan, which runs its full course this year.
TCAN urged the new managing director to continue to partner with all critical stakeholders in order to achieve the mandate of Mr President in repositioning of the Nigerian railway and ensuring that Nigerians get a better deal in public sector transportation where the railway plays a major role.