This was part of the outcome of a meeting between the management of the NRC and the Ogun State government, whose Commissioner of Transportation, Gbenga Dairo, led a top management team from the ministry on a courtesy visit to the NRC Managing Director, Dr Kayode Opeifa, in Lagos.
The commissioner highlighted Ogun state’s ambitious rail development plan, emphasizing its commitment to integrating rail transportation as a core component of its infrastructural strategy under the ISEYA development framework.
He underscored the willingness and readiness of the state to align its transportation goals with the Renewed Hope Infrastructure Development Plan of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, with the NRC playing a key role in driving the vision.
“A significant aspect of the plan revolved around Ogun State’s long-term objective of leveraging Standard Gauge Rail to enhance the movement of goods,” Dairo said.
The commissioner stressed that the state government envisioned a rail system that would facilitate seamless cargo shipments from Ogun to various parts of the country, boosting commerce, trade, and industrialisation and fostering greater economic integration.
The Director of Transport Policy and Coordination, Tosin Akinleye, presented the Ogun State’s Transport Initiatives Activities aimed at maximising integrated transport initiatives across the state.
Akinleye said the state has developed a master plan to take the Blue Line from Okokomaiko to Agbara, Lusada industrial axis, while the Red Line, he said, would be taken from Agbado to Ijoko and to Kajola, where the government is already constructing Inland Dry Port (IDP), while plans are in place to take the proposed Purple train that would land at the Redeemed Camp from Ojo to the Remo Aerotropolis.
The NRC Managing Director commended the Ogun State Ministry of Transportation for its foresight and strategic alignment with the Federal Government’s infrastructural development agenda.
He encouraged the state to key into NRC’s Rail in the State Initiative, an ongoing programme in which the corporation seeks to support state governments in developing the capacity to develop and manage viable rail transportation networks.
The initiative, he added, is gaining momentum, with Plateau state set to launch its rail integration in the coming days, while Bauchi and Borno states are also in advanced discussions on their rail projects, he said.
He urged the Ogun State government to explore and optimise the existing Narrow Gauge corridor within its territory in addition to its extensive plan to connect all the rail initiatives coming from the Lagos State government, such as the blue and red lines further into various parts of the state for more connectivity and to lay a solid foundation for a fully standardised and robust rail network.
He assured of the corporation’s commitment to providing full technical and operational support to the government in positioning Ogun state as a model for rail-driven economic transformation.
“We can assure you that whatever you need, we can give you at no cost because it is in the national interest that all states which have train networks commence commercial operation just as Lagos State is doing.
“The current administration under President Bola Tinubu under the Renewed Hope Agenda is determined to encourage all states willing to develop and deepen rail infrastructure and mobility sector to do so. What is left for us at the Corporation is to cascade the Federal Government’s investments at the states down to the states to provide an opportunity for the states to own and operate mass train services for their people.
“By working closely with the Ogun State government, the NRC aims to create an efficient and sustainable rail system that will ease transportation, boost economic activities, and improve the overall quality of life for her people,” Opeifa said.
