Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation(NRC) Mr. Kayode Opeifa has assured Nigerians that the Federal Government is ready to transform the rail system across the country.
Speaking at a meeting held in his honour at the headquarters of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in Lagos, Opeifa said plans were underway to fasttrack the various initiative, so that the dreams of the corporation becomes a reality.
He added that rail is the future of Nigeria,as mobility is the number three of the five cardinal points of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration.
He maintained also that Nigerian government had invested so much in building strong relationship with China and other great nations of the world in ensuring a modernized rail system.
“We are ready to transform the rail system.The new initiative is geared towards refocusing our energies on what is realizable in the next few years.That is why we are partnering with top stakeholders in the sector in order to make our job effective and efficient as we support both the local and international trade.
Giving insight into the progress made so far by the NRC, Opeifa stressed the need for proper timing saying the Lagos/ Ibadan, Abuja Kaduna time of take off and arrival time is now perfect, adding that efforts are on to ensure regular movements of cargoes from Lagos to Ilorin and to other parts of the country.
“The transformation in the rail system is about our ability to face the challenges head long.Though the cost of running train is not cheap anywhere in the world,we are making effort to transit from water mode to the rail mode and our train services would continue to be top-notched.
Part of the challenges faced by the NRC ,according to Opeifa, is the activities of vandals that usually remove the clips on the rail track and sell as scraps to the people.
He, however, urged Nigerians not to buy rail track clips as scraps from vandals, adding that the NRC will continue to protect the nation’s property.
The National President of the Chattered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIOTAN), Prince Segun Obayendo, said he was impressed by the new initiative of the NRC, adding that CIOTAN will continue to support the leadership of the corporation by involving in national transport policy.
Obayendo restated the need to be professional in driving this initiative, maintaining also that the bottom-up approach of leadership will spread from the National to states and to the local government level, which he said, is the grassroots.
“We are very delighted to be part of this new initiative.As stakeholders in the transport sector, we are going to support the leadership of the NRC in ensuring that the goal and the transformation agenda of this administration is achieved.
“The idea of involving the private sector in driving this new initiative is geared towards building a strong synergy and we are going to be part of this laudable ideas, he said.
Professor Odewunmi Samuel,Professor of transport and logistics, Lagos State University, said rail system will soon become the solution to the problems of the the transport sector, adding that the global community is transiting to the new world of rail transportation and Nigeria cannot be left behind in the transformation.
Restating the need to add value to the system, Otunba Jeff, an engineer from the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) said the new idea is to make rail system the best in Nigeria and that his team will surely be part of the new innovation that will bring the needed transformation to Nigeria’s rail system.