By Yemi Ogunbiyi
• The challenge of a new Nigerian railway
The direct impulse to the writing of this piece came from six separate inspection trips of the new 158.5km, double-track Standard Gauge railway line from Ibadan to Lagos which is about to be flagged off for use in May. Those inspection trips, which were spread out over a one-year period, were in the company of the Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi.
The construction of the rail project itself, with extensions to Apapa Sea Port and associated railway stations, commenced in March 2017. Those inspection trips, taken together, had a tremendous impact on me and opened up for me vistas of new possibilities in my assessment of the future of our country. To fully understand the impact of my experience and put it in proper perspective, we would need to back-step a little into the history of the Nigerian Railway Corporation.
When the British decided in 1898 to construct the first railroad in Nigeria, that is, the…
