President Muhammadu Buhari, on Saturday, appreciated the effort of his predecessor, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, in the revival of infrastructural projects in the country as he approved the naming of the Agbor Railway Complex after him.
The Special Assistant to the President on Digital and New Media, Tolu Ogunlesi, disclosed this on his Twitter handle on Saturday.
“President @MBuhari has approved the naming of the Railway Complex in Agbor, the operational hub of Itakpe-Warri rail line after President Goodluck Jonathan. It will be known as the Goodluck Jonathan Railway Station and Complex,” he tweeted @toluogunlesi.
Meanwhile, following the completion of work on the Itakpe-Warri standard gauge rail line by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government; a test-run of coaches on the route commenced yesterday.
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed this on his Twitter Handle @ChibuikeAmaechi. “Today, we started test-run of the newly delivered coaches on the completed Itakpe-Warrior standard gauge rail line,” he wrote.
The test-run earlier slated for April had to be suspended owing to the coronavirus pandemic which also led to the temporal stoppage of rail transportation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation, (NRC).
The 276 km rail line links Warrior in Delta and Agenebode (Edo) to Ajaokuta in Kogi state, work on the rail line started in 1987 in the military administration of General Ibrahim Babangida, but was abandoned by successive administrations owing to the paucity of funds.
In 2009, the then government of President Umaru Yar’ Adua, reactivated the project at a cost of about $200 million (N72 billion).
The project in 2019 was extended to the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, as the Buhari-led government signed an N1.4 trillion ($3.9 billion) contract with the China Railway Construction Corporation to connect the rail line to the nation’s capital.
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