Minister of Transportation Senator Saidu Ahmed Alkali has said the federal government would take advantage of the numerous bilateral and multilateral agreements between Nigeria and other countries on trade, commerce, technology transfer, construction engineering services and others to facilitate the ongoing multi-billion dollar development of the rail transport sector.
He explained that the rail sub-sector remains one of the catalysts the country can take advantage of to operationalise such international agreements.
Senator Alkali spoke Wednesday during his visit to the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Headquarters in Ebute Metta, Lagos, as part of his familiarisation tour of the Lagos-Ibadan and Kano-Maradi railway modernisation project.
Managing Director NRC Engineer Fidet Okhiria, who received the minister, told him that the corporation was facing challenges in recent times, some of which include security threats and vandalisation of critical infrastructure, and commended the various security agencies for securing the NRC facilities.
In his remarks, the minister expressed satisfaction with the visit, saying it afforded him the opportunity to discover a number of challenges deserving urgent executive action.
The minister said the objective of his visit was to assess and evaluate the performance of the corporation in relation to the management, coordination and implementation of rail projects and services within the South West axis that extends to other parts of the country.
Speaking of his plan to address some of the identified challenges, the minister said: “I am assuring you that through personal contact in official capacity and using administrative machineries, I will reach out to the Controller General of Customs and the Chairman of the National Salaries, Income and wages Commission to facilitate the removal of the Customs building at APMT, Apapa and ensure speedy implementation of the Presidential approval of increased special allowances for the Nigerian Railway workers.”
The minister said the rail wagon assembly plant in Kajola, Ogun state, should be expanded to include the assembling of containers to boost economic activities, especially with the expansion of the rail project services across the country.
While assuring the NRC management of his support and that of the ministry, he called on contracting companies with ongoing projects across the country, the corporation and other stakeholders vested with monitoring and compliance jurisdiction, to wake up to their responsibility.
The minister requested the NRC Property Limited MD to provide a comprehensive data of the corporation’s data of its real estate including their numbers, location, description, legal status and other information that would assist decision making towards their effective utilisation in the interest of the corporation and national economic development.
