FG to connect Nigeria to other African countries by rail

The Federal Government will soon commence the construction of international rail lines thatll run into other African countries very soon.

This was disclosed by the Director of Media of the Ministry of Transportation, Mrs. Yetunde Sonaike, who was representing the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, at a seminar in Abuja.

While speaking on the strategy being adopted by the ministry in the rail sector, she said that the Federal Government is committed to implementing the 25-year railway plan.

She revealed that the country's poor transport sector is the result of years without a national transportation policy, an issue she assured President Muhammadu Buhari's administration will fix.

In the statement she read on behalf of the minister, she said the government "would complete the total rehabilitation of all the narrow gauge rail lines and put them to use. The Federal Government is currently discussing with General Electric on the concession agreement.

"The government will construct and complete some standard gauge lines in selected corridors across the country, like the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri rail line, and undertake various visibility studies with a view to connecting all state capitals, agricultural and industrial clusters by rail.

"Government will also make provision for some international linkages by rail to our neighbouring nations, thus leveraging the ECOWAS arrangement and other continental protocols."

While speaking about the ministry's approach to revolutionising the sector, she said, "It may interest you to note that the transportation sector, since independence, does not have an approved National Transport Policy to coordinate and drive the growth of the industry.

"We just concluded the 2017 edition of the National Council on Transportation in Sokoto State where two inter-ministerial committees involving relevant stakeholders were set up to handle two pressing issues in the sector."

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She expressed the ministry's belief that the outcome of its plans will enhance the country's transportation sector.