The Federal Government has inaugurated the first cargo movement from the Lagos-Ibadan rail corridor after initial concern raised by stakeholders over the under-utilization of the standard gauge rail line two years after its commissioning.
The Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, performed the inauguration during his first official tour of the rail corridor, which was flagged off at the Ebute Meta station before proceeding to Apapa for the launch and subsequently travelled to Ibadan using the 157 km rail corridor.
The three coaches of 30 wagons were loaded as the inaugural freight movement was kicked off at the Ebute Meta rail station.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) indicated that it would start the cargo services on the rail with three coaches per day.
Commenting on the feat, the Managing Director of the corporation, Mr. Fidet Okhiria, said it had the capacity to scale up the numbers and will do so volume of cargo justifies the need.
Analysts believe that the flagging off of the cargo services on the Lagos-Ibadan rail corridor will help to gradually decongest the Apapa port.
Available data on cargo movement through the port indicated that the port accounted for 92.28% of Nigeria’s total exports and 60.77 percent of imports in the first quarter of 2022.
