We’ll start running Apapa/Lagos-Kano freight train next month – Minister Alkali

We’ll start running Apapa/Lagos-Kano freight train next month – Minister Alkali  

 

Minister of Transportation, Senator Saidu Ahmed Alkali, has said freight train from Apapa in Lagos to Kano will commence operations by the end of the this quarters.

He also said construction of standard gauge rail line from Ibadan to Abuja would start soon.

He spoke in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital when he paid a visit to the state governor Dapo Abiodun.

The minister accompanied by states commissioners of transportation were in Abeokuta for the 18th edition of the National Council on Transportation.

Alkali said the Nigerian Railway Corporation had started the movement of 90 containers daily at the APMT terminal Apapa to Ibadan.

He said that the ministry was currently in high-level discussions with foreign investors to see how the transportation sector could be fixed.

“In December last year, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu directed the Vice President to lead a delegation to attend a conference in Beijing.

“The Vice President was privileged to hold a bilateral discussion with the Chinese President, among the issues raised was in respect of our railway modernisation project.

“The project was segmented initially. From Lagos to Ibadan was completed and put into use, and Abuja to Kaduna, Warri to Itakpe. We are looking at the possibility of continuing the project from Ibadan to Abuja and from Kaduna to Kano,” he said.

The minister commended Governor Abiodun for the great work in the transportation sector he had started in the state.

The governor responding said plans by the Federal Government to connect industrial zones in the country through rail lines would reduce pressure on the highways and prolong their lifespan.

The governor also noted that the resuscitation of the narrow gauge from Ibadan to Abuja, when completed, would give investors the opportunity to wheel cargo all the way from Lagos to Kano State and improve trade and commerce.

A statement from the state government House on Friday said the governor commended the minister for the bold steps being taken to reposition the transportation sector of the country.

He noted that the plan by the Ministry of Transportation to resuscitate the Kaduna to Kano rail line would further open up the country for commerce.

“I am very glad about the laudable achievements under your watch. The initiatives that you’re championing, the intervention you have sought from the Chinese to resuscitate the Kaduna to Kano line so that you will now have the connection all the way from Lagos, Ogun, Ibadan, Abuja, Kaduna and Kano.

“You admitted to me that you are thinking of how to connect our industrial zones together so you can deemphasis vehicular transportation whilst connecting the Badagry Port to the rail line that will connect with the Lagos to Kano line, also thinking of a line that will go from Lekki port to Ijebu-Ode and connect to Kajola.

“This is indeed very laudable thinking. This is what you see when you put people who have the requisite experience and capacity in position of authority, ” he said.

The governor added that his administration, upon realising the importance of the transportation sector, quickly created a ministry that would see to the running of the sector in the state.

“We understand the importance of the ministry of transportation when I assumed office. We didn’t have that ministry in Ogun State. We had the Ministry of Works, and for some strange reasons, my predecessor assumed that the Commissioner for Works can carry out the responsibilities of the Commissioner for Transportation.

Abiodun said his administration was committed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s vision of Renewed Hope, adding that the state under his watch would continue to put the people first.