The Federal Government on Thursday told the newly inaugurated governing board members of the Nigeria Railway Corporation that it (the board) cannot and should not slow down the construction of railway projects by the government.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed this at the headquarters of the Federal Ministry of Transportation in Abuja when inaugurating the 20 governing board members of the NRC.
He said, “You know when you have a board where there are too many brilliant people, ideas conflict. If this happens, you won’t see me. The only person that you will see will be the chairman. But I hope you will be able to work together and not slow us down.
“I won’t allow anybody to slow me down, even the President knows that. Anyway, it’s just that the cabinet is coming to an end and by May 29, nobody (ministers) will be in office again no matter what you do, until you are appointed or reappointed by the President.”
The minister added, “So, whoever becomes the Minister of Transportation, don’t slow him down with railways for they require intensive action for us to move ahead. Currently, we are doing Lagos-Ibadan and our plan is that by the end of May we should have finished the track up to Ibadan.”
Amaechi noted that after the track laying on the Lagos-Ibadan rail project, work would commence on the stations, adding that the government’s target was to connect the seaport in Apapa by rail before the end of 2019.
He said, “After completing the tracks, we will begin to build the stations and communication facilities and we are hoping that by the end of the year, we should be at the seaport in Apapa.
“Through that, we would have solved the problem of the gridlock once and for all, because you will be able to move your goods from the hinterland through the rail.”
