Senate Committee Expresses Delight with Lagos-Ibadan Railway Modernisation Project

Members of the Senate Committee on Land Transport and Foreign and Local Debt have expressed delight with the progress of the Lagos-Ibadan railway modernisation project.

They stated this during their recent oversight visit to the Agege, Lagos section of the rail line. The National Assembly recently approved the federal government’s request of a $1.4 billion loan to complete railway projects in the country.

In his remark, the Chairman, Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Gbenga Ashafa, said: “We have been mandated by the Senate to go to the site and look at how far the work has gone.

We are here today and we have seen for ourselves that indeed there is progress. “We’ve been given a deadline of which to report back to the Senate so that other conclusive parts of the foreign loan agreement can be sealed. And that is taking our own report to the Federal Executive Council for them to prepare the signing of the loan agreement with the China Exim Bank.”

Ashafa also observed that the contractors- China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), are complying with the local content clauses in their contract with the Nigerian government.

According to him, “We have also confirmed that on ground, the local content factor of the loan agreement is being adhered to strictly; that is, the purchase of some of the raw materials needed from local sources. We confirmed that they are getting their sand locally, from the riverine areas in Lagos, Ogun States and sometimes Oyo State, for the gravel.

“Again, they’ve confirmed to us that labour, which forms part of the dividends of having this kind of project on ground will be sourced locally; at least about 70per cent will be Nigerians. At the end of day, when this project is about to be completed, we will have about 7,000 fresh employed Nigerians. If you marry that to the infrastructure development and the essence of having a modern rail project, you will see that we are moving forward in ensuring that the promise of the President Muhammadu Buhari administration is being achieved gradually.”