By Christel Odili
Leadership comes with lot of tasks and challenges, and so, a good leader must be able to demonstrate good leadership traits to confront these challenges
which are mostly visible in the life of the people that they lead.
Minister of Transportation Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi’s quest to better the lots of Nigerians with the position he occupies presently has endeared him to pursue massive infrastructural development particularly in the Rail sector to alleviate the suffering of the people, and good enough, the people are now reaping the benefits.
For Amaechi, 2017 is a year to be reckoned with in terms of his concrete achievements as the Minister of Transportation. Amaechi briefed the Online media and reeled out his achievements, according to him, more rails will be constructed in the country before 2020.
Ameachi disclosed that the rail from Lagos to Ibadan will be completed by December this year. He stated that the two locomotives and fourteen seat couches has been added to the Abuja-kano rail, he said this will enable more efficient travel and also a larger capacity of people. The minister who gave credit to previous administrations said they laid the foundation for rail stations and hopes to complete them.
He noted that the Federal Government is also working to commission two railway projects in 2018 but funding has been a great challenge, adding that if the sum of $40 billion which is requested by the Ministry is put on railway, it will make the work faster and create employment.
The Minister stated that, between 2000,5000 or even 7000 workers were employed daily, during the railway project, adding that the local workforce is 99 per cent with many Nigerian engineers working in most construction sites and the Chinese government doing the work of supervision.
According to him, “work is slow due to lack of funds, if there was enough cash, most railway lines would have been under construction at the same rate. If we have funding, the number of years it will take us from Lagos to Ibadan will be the same from Ibadan to Ilorin. We have that cash problem, we want to influence the economy
While speaking on the improvements in the aviation sector especially the completion of the Abuja runway which was done in record time, he disclosed that control unit has also been equipped with new technologies to ensure safety of passengers and smooth flight
The Minister also said there has also been some renovation at the Abuja airport, and plans are being made to ensure adequate maintenance of the airport and train stations