The Federal Government has announced the approval of charges on the soon to be inaugurated Lagos-Ibadan rail standard gauge, expected to start operations by January 2021.
This disclosure was made by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, during the inauguration of the Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Transportation Administration of Nigeria (CIOTA), in Abuja on Friday, December 3, 2020.
What they are saying
The Minister said that the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) will be charging N3,000 for an economy seat, N5,000 for the business class seat and N6,000 for the first-class seat along the Lagos-Ibadan railway route.
Amaechi stated, “I have received the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the Lagos-Ibadan rail project by January 2021, which will make Nigerians see the way the standard gauge railway looks like.”
“Today, I approved the charges on passengers from Lagos to Ibadan. We just transfer how we charged from Abuja to Kaduna. We charged N3,000 per economy seat, N5,000 for business class and N6,000 for first class, the same is applicable to Lagos to Ibadan. It should have started running by now before Mr President inaugurates it by January.”
What you should know
- The $1.7 billion Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line which is 157 kilometres long is expected to start operations later this month.
- The construction of the project which started in March 2017, is part of the railway modernization drive of the Federal Government.
- The project was slated for commissioning earlier this year, but was delayed due to the disruptions caused by the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
