Federal Government approves N236 billion for the execution of Lagos-Ibadan rail

The Federal Executive Council (FEC), on Wednesday, approved $1.488 billion (about N236 billion) for the execution of the Lagos-Ibadan double track railway line modernisation project.

Minister of Information, Labaran Maku, revealed this while briefing journalists on the outcome of the weekly FEC meeting presided over by President Goodluck Jonathan. He said the approval followed a memorandum presented to the Council on the railway modernisation project.


According to Maku, the rail project was in 2006 awarded to CCECC Ltd, a Chinese company, but could not be completed due to paucity of funds. He said that the project would now be executed in six phases, saying that the project would cover 2,733 kilometres.

“One major decision we made today was the modernisation of the Nigerian Railway system,” he said. “For quite a while, Mr President has given a lot of attention to the transport sector, particularly the development of the railways. The projects in the railways took off with the rehabilitation of the existent old rail line system. Today, we took a major step to build a modern rail line between Lagos and Ibadan.