The Minister of Transportation, Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has assured Nigerians that the Lagos-Ibadan Rail line project will be commissioned in June by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Amaechi gave the assurance in Ibadan at the end of an inspection tour.
He said the actual date for the commissioning is yet to be confirmed by presidency, but the necessary approval has been given for the historic event to take place.
Although he expressed satisfaction over the level of work achieved within the last one month, he urged the contractors to employ more hands for speedy completion of the finishing touches before the commissioning date.
On the incessant vandalization of railway infrastructure in the country, the Minister urged the management of Nigeria Railway Corporation to arrest the patronizers and purchasers of vandalized items.
He said the absence of patronizers of the stolen and vandalized items would dissuade the criminals from such activities.
Amaechi charged state governors to create more job opportunities, while urging the judiciary to dispense quick judgement to reduce vandalism in the country.
On the commissioning he said “I hope the Office of the President will approve the commissioning of this project in June. We will communicate the actual date in the next one or two weeks but certainly, I think it is in June.
We are not 100 percent ready for commissioning but if for nothing, we are 89 to 90 percent ready for commissioning and we are hoping that by the next three weeks we will be ready and by then, they will give us a date from the office of the president. One thing is that by the time they give us a date, we will be ready for commissioning”.
He said: “I don’t know why some Nigerians are like the way they are. I have told the Managing Director of NRC to arrest the buyers of the equipment. It is not enough to arrest the vandals”.
“It is likened to those who say why should the National Assembly punish those who pay ransom, that law was first passed by the Rivers State House of Assembly when I was a speaker and the reason is, that, when there is no demand, there will be no supply”.
“If we don’t pay ransom, they will be tired and they will stop. The same way, if they don’t buy those metals, slippers and others, nobody will steal them”.
He further said “Also, we must approach the Judiciary to have court that can dispense justice readily so that people are sent to jail early enough to deter others and we will also encourage our governors to create jobs”.
He went further to say that arrest of some vandals have already been made.
