The Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, embarked on his inaugural tour of the Lagos-Ibadan rail corridor on Tuesday, September 12, marking a historic moment as the first cargo movement commenced.

Minister Alkali initiated the rail corridor tour, commencing at the Ebute Meta station and later proceeding to Apapa for the official launch.

Subsequently, he traveled to Ibadan via the 157 km rail corridor, overseeing the loading of three coaches consisting of 30 wagons to mark the commencement of freight movement.

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The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) confirmed that it would initially begin with three coaches per day, with plans to potentially increase this capacity in the future, according to the Managing Director of the NRC.

This development is expected to alleviate congestion at the Apapa port, where a significant proportion of Nigeria’s exports and imports, 92.28 percent and 60.77 percent respectively, were handled during the first quarter of 2022 (Q1’22).