- Transporters Back FG’s Railway Revival Project
Road Transport Employers’ Association of Nigeria says its members are not threatened by the restoration of the nation’s railway system.
The union, which spoke through the Deputy National President (Administration) of RTEAN, Alhaji Musa Muhammed, in Lagos expressed its support for the Federal Government’s railway modernisation projects across the country.
Muhammed, who is also chairman of RTEAN Lagos chapter, said no nation could develop without inter-modal system with the different modes of transportation complementing one another.
He stressed that railway lines could not get to every nook and cranny of the nation, adding that trucks would still be needed to transport goods from railway stations to different destinations.
He particularly described as heart warming the construction of a standard gauge rail line from Lagos to Ibadan, which he said would improve the transportation and the economy of the country.
“Why should we be afraid of railway? We thank President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Government for reviving the railway. Look at the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge which is working perfectly well. For 32 years, the Ajaokuta-Asaba rail was moribund but now it has been revived. You can see what is happening from Lagos to Ibadan. We need to support this government.”
According to him, an effective rail system will address the traffic problem in Apapa as most of the cargoes will be moved by train, leaving the trucks to take care of the intra-city and other short distance trips.
“If there is a rail from Lagos to Maiduguri, the trailers and trucks can move the goods from Maiduguri to any local government. If we have rail from here to Aba, we can deploy trucks to move the goods from Aba to any part of the state,” he said.
He also said RTEAN would support the Bus Reform Project of the Lagos State Government, adding that the association had ordered for new buses, which would be used for the service.
Meanwhile, the leadership crisis rocking the union has been resolved, the deputy national president of the association has disclosed.
Musa confirmed that members of the National Executive Council of the union had unanimously agreed to end the dispute in the interest of the nation.
The association had appointed Osakpamwan Eriyo as its national president while retaining other members of its NEC, he said.
The RTEAN National Secretary, Yusuf Adeniyi, also said that the decision was upheld at the end of an exhaustive deliberation by the national executives of the association.
Musa said. “As I am talking to you, we don’t have any crisis in the association; we are one body now.
“What we need in our organisation now is progress. For that reason, we all decided that we cannot continue to engage in fighting but to work for the progress of the association.”
