The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr. Kayode Opeifa, has called on the Ogun State Government to partner with the Corporation in developing mass transit train lines.
Dr. Opeifa believes these new rail lines can help address the mobility crisis facing people living in the border communities between Lagos and Ogun States.
He stressed that the narrow-gauge rail infrastructure already in place offers an opportunity for the state to quickly and cost-effectively implement an expanded public transportation system.
Dr. Opeifa spoke when he hosted the Ogun state Commissioner for Transportation, Gbenga Dairo, who led a top management team from the Ministry on a courtesy call at the NRC Headquarters, Ebute Metta, on Thursday.
“The narrow gauge offers the governor a huge political mileage and high revenue at the least cost because you would be making use of the infrastructural facility of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, just as the Lagos State government is doing on the Lagos Red Line Mass Transit Train.
“Luckily, Ogun State has the best opportunity to operate the narrow gauge to a wider section of her population because a larger portion of our rail operation is in your state.
“We can assure you that whatever you need, we can give you at no cost because it is in the national interest that all states which has train network commence commercial operation just as Lagos State is doing.
“The current administration under President Bola Tinubu under the Renewed Hope Agenda is determined to encourage all states willing to develop and deepen rail infrastructure and mobility sector to do so. What is left for us at the corporation is to cascade the federal government’s investments at the states down to the states to provide an opportunity for the states to own and operate mass train services for their people,” he said.
Opeifa informed his guests that he was actually proposing to pay a visit to the Ogun State Governor, Dapo Abiodun, to inform him of the corporation’s readiness to work with him in whatever area was needed to bring the dividend of rail down to the people.
He said the corporation is already working with Bauchi, Borno, Plateau and Nigeria States and urged the state to make use of the opportunity to explore the potentials of the narrow gauge in transportation here by providing an affordable alternative to the people of the state.
He informed the Ogun State team that the corporation is already refurbishing a locomotive needed to enable it to expand its service to Kajola – Oyingbo line, as it is looking forward to introducing a 2pm line for the benefit of traders and other artisans working around the area that commutes daily to Lagos on the Mass Transit Train.
Besides the 2pm line, he said the corporation also plans to reactivate the Idogo line, which would help to move agricultural products from the farms in the rural areas to the market in Lagos, thereby reducing food inflation in the country.
Earlier, the Director of Transport policy and Coordination, Tosin Akinleye, had presented a well-documented programme laid out by the Ogun State Government to maximise the standard gauge services for its people across the six zones in the state.
Akinleye, who spoke of the robust Transport Oriented Development programme said the state has developed a master plan to take the Blue Line from Okokomaiko to Agbara, Lusada industrial axis, while the Red Line, he said, would be taken from Agbado to Ijoko and to Kajola, where the government is already constructing an Inland Dry Port (IDP), while it also has land to take the proposed Purple Line of the Lagos State government to the Ogun Aerotropolis, around the Sagamu/Remo axis of the state.
He said the government also has a plan to connect the standard gauge to areas such as Lusada, Obada, before Papalanto, to Osiele, Odeda and Olodo to cash in on the huge population around the axis.
Responding to the beautiful plan of the government, Opeifa urged the Ogun State Government to consider deepening its involvement in the narrow gauge, adding that this is cheaper than the investments that would go into the standard gauge option.
In his remarks, the Ogun State Commissioner for Transportation, Gbenga Dairo, said the government would be guided by the MD’s appeal and review its transport development plans with the mind of being intentional in building narrow gauge activities into its plans.
He looked forward to working with the corporation’s engineers in delivering the best and most affordable alternative transportation to the people of the state.
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