The Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has apologized to Nigerians over the recent failures of locomotives on the Abuja – Kaduna rail corridor. The Minister who made this known earlier today in Lagos on the monthly inspection of the Lagos-Ibadan rail project in the company of the Joint House Committee members on Land and Marine Transport (Ports and Harbour, Inland waterways and Marine Safety and Education), observed that it is worrisome that brand new locomotives should start developing problems within a short span of usage.
Amaechi further said that he will dialogue with the Chinese company towards having them recall the locomotives as he believes what they ordered for does not tally with recent incidences. He added that locomotives are under warranty and “we have called the Chinese to come back for the locomotives that are bad or have failed while expressing displeasure over the poor performances of the locomotives, Amaechi assured Nigerians that engineers were on top of the situations to forestall future occurrences. The Senate Comm. Chairman on Land and Marine Transport, Sen. Abdulfatai Buhari, on behalf of his colleagues expressed satisfaction with the level of work done. He said the loans which the Senate gave approval is being justified based on what has been achieved & the derivatives it portends for Nigerians on completion.
Asked about his impression of the project, the Director General, Budget Office of the Federation, Ben Akabueze, stated that “until we have a functional system for both moving freight as well as passengers, we will be constraining the capacity of the economy to unlock its potential”.
