Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed (middle); Special Assistant 1 to the President on Information and Culture, Mr. Segun Adeyemi (left) and the Secretary Transport Secretariat of the Federal Capital Territory Administration, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, during a facility tour of the Abuja Light Rail Project by the minister on Thursday.
About 10,000 Nigerians were
employed during the construction of the Abuja Light Rail Project,
which was recently commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, while
100,000 more will be directly or indirectly employed when the project
begins full operation.
The Chief Resident Engineer for
the Abuja Light Rail Project, Mr. Anthony Agbakoba, disclosed this on
Thursday while briefing the Minister of Information and Culture,
Alhaji Lai Mohammed, who took journalists on a tour of the project,
which is now being test-run.
Mr. Agbakoba said that in
addition, 68 highly-skilled personnel have been trained in Malaysia
and China on Railway Operations and Management in order to build the
required technical capacity needed to run such a modern rail system.
“FCTA
(Federal Capital Territory Administration) and Nigeria now have
capacity to supervise similar railway construction projects from
start to completion within 3 to 4 years of conception,” he said.
While conducting the Minister
and his team round the train stations, the Secretary of
Transportation in the FCTA, Mr. Kayode Opeifa, said the present
administration inherited the Abuja Light Project at 53% completion
stage and delivered the project within 18 months.
He said the project is the first
integrated mode of Transportation in Africa that connects the
railways and the airport in order to ensure seamless movement of
passengers.
Mr. Opeifa said a desk will be
assigned to the Federal Ministry of Information and Culture at the
Airport Station to showcase the nation's rich cultural heritage and
tourism attraction, adding that the station itself is a tourist
attraction.
He said although the Abuja Light
Rail is currently on a test run with 3 coaches, contract for the
construction and supply of 48 additional coaches has been awarded,
with the coaches expected to be delivered in batches.
In his remarks, The Minister of
Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, said the Buhari
Administration is building a legacy of enduring infrastructure for
posterity.
“This
administration is not looking for quick fixes because quick fixes
don’t work. We are laying a foundation for an enduring
infrastructural development. We are painstaking and very transparent
and we remain focused and committed,” he said.
Alhaji Mohammed expressed the
confidence that Nigeria possesses the required technical competence
to manage the Light Rail Project and turn it into a huge success.
“Some
of the key personnel, who have worked in virtually major rail
companies in the world, are actually anchoring the programme. Some of
them have been trained in the best schools in the world for
transportation and so we are confident of the expertise and
experience of the personnel that are handling the light rail and the
regional rail,” he said.
The Minister said the level of
successes being recorded by the present administration, in its key
priority areas, has left the opposition in shock, hence their resort
to fake news and hate speech.
The 45.2-kilometre Light Rail
Project, which is divided into six lots, comprises 12 stations, 50
culverts, 13 railway bridges, 9 pedestrian bridges, 15 flyovers, and
a 21-building Rolling Stock Depot.
Since kick-starting the
nationwide tour of Federal Government projects in May 2018, the
Minister has inspected eight Federal Government projects, including
the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail Line, Lagos-Ibadan, Oyo-Ogbomoso
and Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressways, and the Second Niger Bridge.
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