With recent report from the minister of transport saying that the commissioning of the rail project will be put on hold, due to the upsurge of COVID-19 in the country for now.
With Over 60 workers who were working on the Lagos-Ibadan rail show that they where tested positive for coronavirus while trying to complete the critical part of the project as stated by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
The Minister further disclosed this on regular Nigeria Television Authority (NTA) programme, Good Morning Nigeria.
It was also noted that the rail project which was delivered recently for use and had since been in use is noted as the second rail project completed in 2020 with ” The Itakpe-Warri”seen as the first and was commissioned on September 29, 2020.
According to the minister who disclosed at the inauguration of elected members of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIOTA) that the Lagos-Ibadan rail will be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, in January 2021 if all rule are obeyed by the parties involved.
Quoting the minister in his own worD saying “First, let us admit that over 60 of our staff, not the ministry of transport staff, but the staff working on the rail project, have been infected by COVID. 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.
he went further to say that “They are people sacrificing their lives to get to that point.
“As far as we are concerned, we need to learn how to live with COVID. I really want to congratulate those that achieve that feat. We were to inaugurate the first week in January. We had to stop those doing minor completion because of the rise in COVID transmission.
He also said that the train services on all routes might stop if passengers do not adhere to the 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 Protocol.”
He categorically stated that the Abuja-Kaduna route conveys about 4,000 passengers daily, stating that if anyone transmits COVID-19 onboard, it will be a serious challenge for Government for now
