17th September, 2020
By Taiwo Okanlawon
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has urged Lagosians trading along the rail line to move far away from the rail tracks as it is unsafe for them.
The former governor of Rivers State made this call after assuring Nigerians that the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Guage Rail line should be ready by December.
Amaechi was on his monthly routine inspection tour of the project, from Ebute-Meta in Lagos, in company of other management staff of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to Ibadan, Oyo State capital.
According to the minister, a market at Agege encroached into the rail line and started giving way after sighting the rail coming.
“As for people trading along the rail line, please move far away from the tracks. It is unsafe to peddle around the tracks. We saw a market at Agege encroaching into the rail line. As soon as we start running, they have to give way,” he wrote on his Twitter after the inspection.
As for people trading along the rail line, please move far away from the tracks. It is unsafe to peddle around the tracks. We saw a market at Agege encroaching into the rail line. As soon as we start running, they have to give way. pic.twitter.com/De7OiFvmpq
— Chibuike.R. Amaechi (@ChibuikeAmaechi) September 16, 2020
On what next after the project, the minister said that apart from Ibadan to Kano rail line, the ministry had sent to the cabinet for approval of the award of two railway contracts.
According to him, the contracts are Port Harcourt – Onne -Maiduguri; Kano-Maradi Railway and Lagos to Calabar.