Remarks Delivered At The Ground Breaking Ceremony Of Lagos – Ibadan Railway Project With Extension To Lagos Port Complex, Apapa Railway Modernization Project Held At Nigerian Railway Corporation Complex, Ebute Metta, Lagos

The government and people of Lagos State are delighted to witness this historic ground breaking ceremony of the Lagos – Ibadan Railway Project by His Excellency, the Acting President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo. This ceremony marks a new dawn in the transformation of our transport infrastructure.

We are excited about this project because it will further open up the economy of the South-West and facilitate regional integration and growth. The agricultural sector will receive a long awaited boost as this rail line will be a fast and convenient means of transporting farm produce from the hinterlands to the city thereby increasing the economies of these places.

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 In addition, our proposed Red Line will breathe a new lease of life into our roads and highways. A direct benefit of this project is that containers and goods from the Apapa Port will now be transported by rail thereby reducing the number of trailers and other heavy duty vehicles on our roads.

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A direct consequence of this project will be less productive man hours wasted on the roads as a result of traffic gridlock and bad roads caused by these heavy duty vehicles. In addition, we expect government to expend less resources on road repairs and maintenance once the rail line takes off and eases the pressure of articulated vehicles on our roads.

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We thank the Federal Government of Nigeria under the leadership of His Excellency, President Muhamadu Buhari, for prioritizing this landmark project which will greatly complement our efforts to deliver a transport system that is befitting of a modern City State.It is also important to note that the Lagos State Red Line Rail shares the same corridor and right of way with the Lagos – Ibadan rail line.

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As we thank the Federal Government for granting approval of right of way for the Lagos State Red Line Rail Project, I want to use this opportunity to implore the Federal Government particularly the Nigerian Railway Corporation to cooperate with us during the construction of the Red Line as we work with them to make Lagos -Ibadan Rail a big success.

Thank you and God bless you all.

Itesiwaju Ipinle Eko, Lo Je’Wa Logun.