By Ignatius Ushie
The Federal Government has approved passengers’ charges on the new Lagos Ibadan rail standard guage which would begin operations by January 2021.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, made the disclosure during the inauguration of the Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIOTA) in Abuja.
The theme for the 2nd Annual Summit is “Building Sustainable Transport Infrastructure in Nigeria: Opportunities, Innovations and Technologies”.
According to the Minister, “I have received the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the Lagos /Ibadan rail project by Jan. 2021 which will make Nigerians see the way the standard gauge railway looked like, adding “Today I approved the charges on passengers from Lagos to Ibadan, we just transfer how we charged from Abuja to Kaduna.
“We charge N3,000 per Economy seat, N5,000 for Business class and N6,000 for First Class, the same is applicable to Lagos to Ibadan. It should have started running by now before Mr President inaugurate it by January.”
The minister said there had been tremendous changes in most of the air terminals saying that the Minister of Aviation would inform the public of the completion of Lagos/Kano terminal.
Amaechi promised that the ministry would collaborate with CIOTA to enable them to achieve their objectives.
He noted that transportation was more than administration but without administration there would be no transportation.
The minister said CIOTA role was critical to the growth of transportation in Nigeria adding that the country had advanced a lot in the area of transportation.
The primary aim and objectives of the Institute is to advance the study, training and practice of transport management and administration in Nigeria regardless of specialization within the industry; and to set standards of practice and determines the knowledge and skills to be attained by persons seeking to become registered members of the Institute and practice as Chartered Transportants, Ameachi stated.
