Senate Lauds Railway Modernisation, Optimisation Process Across Nigeria

Sunday Okobi

The Senate yesterday lauded the Nigerian Railway Cooperation (NRC) for optimizing and modernising the country’s rail transport system.
Meanwhile, the Upper Chamber of the National Assembly also promised to ensure that every legislative process is right for the corporation so that NRC can achieve its mandate on railway modernisation.

While speaking to journalists yesterday in Abeokuta, Ogun State, after a facility tour of communities on the railway facilities along the Lagos-Ibadan rail corridor, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Adamu Aliero, expressed optimism on the modernisation process of the rail facilities, which he compared to those in Western and Arabian countries.

He said: “We are impressed with what we have seen so far from Lagos to Abeokuta and even up to Ibadan, as we have been reliably informed by the acting managing director of NRC of the efforts made towards complete optimization of the facilities.

“What we have seen today is of an international standard like we see in Europe, United Kingdom, United States of America, and other part of the world.

“It is laudable that the rail line is now working from Lagos to Ibadan, and have ensured the rail lines have been linked to the seaport, which is very important particularly to the Nigerian economy. And we have equally been told that the Nigeria Railway Corporation is providing 14 freight and passengers’ services across Nigeria.”

Aliero, who was accompanied on the tour by members of the committee, including the Vice Chairman, Benson Friday Kombowei; members, Sharafadeen Alli, Tony Nwoye, Kelvin Chukwu, Plang Dicket and Clerk of the committee, Solomon Jokotoye, said the committee is committed to making sure that the NRC meets its mandate by providing all the legislative support which would give the corporation an edge in the process.

He added that recently, the supplementary appropriation bill was brought to the National Assembly, “and in that bill, which the National Assembly, passed into law, we had over N530 billion, which is meant to be counterpart funding for railway modernisation and rehabilitation in Nigeria.”

According to him, “85 per cent of the funding is going to be sourced from outside the country- from China Exim bank or from IFC or from African Development Bank (AfDB).

“Just last week, we were at General Gowon’s lecture for his 90-year birthday celebration and the President of the AfDB told us that $350 million will be released to the Federal Government of Nigeria.”

The senator also said that President Bola Tinubu was in China recently for negotiations for the construction of railway between Kano and Maradi.

Aliero, however, enjoined state and local governments across the country to tap into the modernisation programme of the railway by providing accessible roads that would link railway stations in their territories.

He added that since the constitution has been amended, the NRC Act of 1958 has been added in the concurrent list, which has now empowered state governments to build railway lines and facilities in their various states, as well as run train services to ease the burden on Nigerian roads, and for job creation.