Senate urges Nigerian govt to upgrade eastern rail line

The Senate on Wednesday urged the Federal Government to upgrade the Eastern Rail Line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri from narrow to standard gauge.

This followed the adoption of a motion presented by Senator Victor Umeh and co-sponsored by 31 others at the plenary in Abuja.

Umeh, who led the debate on the motion, said the eastern rail line passed through four zones – South-South, South-East, North-Central, and North-East in the country.

He noted that a functional railway system in the country would reduce the pressure on roads and save them from constant dilapidation.

The lawmaker said: “This runs from Port Harcourt through Enugu, Markurdi, Jos, Bauchi, and Maiduguri, which is the longest and one of the oldest rail lines in Nigeria.”

READ ALSO: Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line to reactivate economic activities in eastern corridor – Buhari

“Not only that the project fail but the Chinese contractors partnering with the Federal Government on the project who were expected to provide 85 percent of the expected funding program, abandoned the project without injecting any funds.”

On his part, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe said the discussion on the eastern rail line was not new.

“This has been here since the 8th Senate.

He said: “One of the biggest problems that we had was that no transport minister has been able to give a reason why in the modernisation of rail lines built by the colonial masters in Nigeria, only the eastern rail line has been ignored.”

In his remarks, the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, said the motion was one that the federal government would take seriously.

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