By Lucy Ogalue
The Federal Government has signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Mota-Engil Group on the construction of 1.959billion dollars Kano-Maradi Standard Gauge Railway lines.

The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, in a statement by Eric Ojiekwe, Director Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, said the project was aimed at linking the whole country by rail.

Amaechi signed the MoU on behalf of the Federal Government while the Managing Director, Mota- Engil, Antonio Gvoea signed on behalf of the contracting firm.

According to the Minister, the new railway corridor which is to be located in northern Nigeria will run through Kano, Jigawa and Katsina and through Niger Republic territory as far as Maradi.

He said other cities such as Danbatta, Kazaure, Daura, Mashi, Katsina and Jibiya would also be affected by the rail line in Nigeria.

The minister said the 283.750 kilometre rail line would help develope freight and passenger transport as it would be integrated with road transport.

He added that it would contribute greatly to the local economy as well as the nation’s social sector.

According to Amaechi, the duration for the project is 36 months and the contract type is Engineering, Procurement and Construction.

The signing ceremony was witnessed by the Ministry’s Permanent, Dr Magdalene Ajani, the Director, Legal Services, Pius Oteh, the Managing Director, Mota-Engil Group, Antonio Gvoea and Head of Legal, Mota- Engil Group, Cameron Beverley.

It was also witnessed by Magajin Garin Kano, Muhammad Wada, Director, Mota-Engil Group, Kola Abdulkarim, Vice President, Mota-Engil Group, Mohammed Abdul-Razaq, among others.

He added that the Nigerian Ambassador to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar and the Managing Director, Nigerian Ports Authority, Hadiza Bala-Usman among other diginitaries also witnessed the signing.

By Lucy Ogalue
Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi has said that the inauguration of the Lagos-Ibadan rail line has been put on hold due to the upsurge of COVID-19 in the country.

Amaechi, who disclosed this in Abuja, said that over 60 staff on project site have been infected by Covid19 while trying to complete the project.

“First let us admit that over 60 of our staff, not ministry of transport staff, but the staff working on the rail project have been infected by COVID-19. Luckily nobody has died and I pray nobody will die, but you see the kind of sacrifice everybody is making to get the rail to function.

“They are people sacrificing their lives to get to that point, we are of the view when we made that decision that Nigeria will not say 2020 was a bad year, so remove one year and add another year to Buhari administration.

“As far as we are concern, we need to learn how to leave with COVID-19, I really want to congratulate those that achieve that feat, we were to inaugurate first week in January. We had to stop those doing minor completion because of the rise in COVID-19 transmission.

“The timeline for inauguration will depend on COVID-19. If COVID-19 stop today or reduces we will commission the project.”

Amaechi further stated that the train services on all route might stop if passengers do not adhere to COVID-19 protocol.

“We will allow the train to run but if we see that we are conveying passengers who have Covid from Lagos to Ibadan, we will stop it. Just like we are threatening to stop Kaduna-Abuja if people don’t comply with the COVID-19 Protocol.”

He said that the Abuja-Kaduna route convey about 4,000 passengers daily, stating that if anyone transmit COVID-19 onboard it would be a serious challenge.