Naija Philia!

The Federal Government of Nigeria has inaugurated the first movement of cargo on the 157 km long Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line.

Three coaches of 30 wagons were loaded for the inaugural freight movement.

The inauguration was performed on Tuesday 12 September 2023 by the Minister of Transportation, Mr Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali, during his first official tour of the rail corridor.

The minister started the tour at Ebute Meta train station, before going to Apapa for the launching, and then travelled to Ibadan via the rail.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) announced that it will start the freight service with 3 coaches per day, with its Managing Director, Mr. Fidet Edentalen Okhiria, stating that the corporation has the capacity to scale up the volume of cargo.

This effort is expected to decongest the Apapa port, because shippers moved 92.28% of Nigeria’s total exports and 60.77% of imports via the Apapa facility during the first quarter of year 2022.

HISTORY

On 10 June 2021, in Lagos, former President Muhammadu Buhari officially launched the $1.5bn Lagos-Ibadan line, making history as the first double-track standard gauge rail in West Africa.

Thereafter, the NRC commenced full commercial operations on that route on Tuesday, 15 June 2021.

It is anticipated that Nigeria’s national railway network will be able to facilitate movement of more than 3.2 million tonnes of cargo per year.