The Interview Editors
The Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Malam Muhammad Bello, has assured that the FCT Administration will work closely with the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) for the actualisation of the nation’s railway masterplan.
Bello gave the assurance when he received a delegation of the NRC, led by its Board Chairman, Ibrahim Musa, on a courtesy visit to the FCTA, on Tuesday in Abuja.
The minister said that the design of the masterplan envisaged Abuja as the railway hub of the nation with number of rail lines that would eventually crisscross the territory.
According to him, the location of Abuja makes it a natural choice for it to not only hold the position of railway hub; but also the air hub of the nation.
“I wish to assure you that we will continue to work very closely with the Nigerian Railway Corporation to actualise the concept of the railway masterplan that envisages Abuja as the hub, in terms of all the lines that will eventually crisscross here.
” Already, it’s an air hub and it’s only natural that it will also be a railway hub. It’s just the reality of geography.
” By its very location, it’s the natural thing to do and I assure you that we will work very closely with you to make sure that this is achieved,” he added.
Commenting on the resumption of operations of the Abuja light rail, which was suspended at the advent of the COVID -19 pandemic, Bello assured that operations would resume in the future.
” When the Nigerian Railway Corporation reopened their systems we couldn’t and it was simply based on health concerns.
“The light rail system, the way it is configured and even the coaches, the way they are designed are meant to sit very few people and to have almost 75 per cent of the passengers in standing position.
“We realised that there was absolutely no way we could ensure social distancing in that situation.
“Unless that we reach a very wide coverage of vaccination and we have what the medical people call herd immunity.
“There is no way we are going to run the light rail system and ensure that passengers are conveyed in safety. That is the main reason why up till now, we have not resumed operations,” he said
Earlier, Musa commended the minister for his efforts in contributing to President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of revitalising the Nigerian railway sector through the Abuja metro rail system which was commissioned in 2018.
(NAN)
