Hon. Rotimi Amaechi, transport minister

There are strong indications that Ado Ekiti, capital of Ekiti state, will be connected to Lagos-Kano rail line, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said today as he signed a $6.68 billion dollars contract agreement for the Ibadan-Kaduna segment with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).

The minister who signed on behalf of the Gederal Government said “This agreement is for the Ibadan-Kaduna rail line, which is part of the Lagos-Kano rail line, the completion time of the contract should be between two to three years, depending on availability of funds,”.

Amaechi promised that the ministry would be able to provide its counterpart funding between 2018 and 2019 budget provision, stating that the contract was a fulfilment of Federal Government’s plan to complete the Lagos-Kano rail modernisation project.

“The Ibadan-Kaduna standard gauge line will pass through Oshogbo-Ilorin-Minna to Kaduna, with a single track branch line from Oshogbo to Ado-Ekiti. This contract is in fulfilment of Federal Government’s plan to complete the Lagos-Kano rail modernisation project started in 2006 and broken into segments for implementation. The segmentation phase commenced from Abuja-Kaduna rail line in 2011, which was completed and commissioned into commercial operation by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2016″.

The minister disclosed that Federal Government in March 2017 commenced the second leg of the Lagos-Kano line that is currently ongoing is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018.  He added that the signing of the Ibadan–Kaduna segment contract agreement  concludes all outstanding segments of the Lagos-Kano rail line.