60 workers working on Lagos-Ibadan rail tests positive for coronavirus
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed that over 60 workers, who were working on the Lagos-Ibadan rail, tested positive for coronavirus while trying to complete the project.
Penpushing reports that Ameachi made the disclosure on Monday, adding that luckily non of them die of the virus and prayed that, non of them will die, pointing out that sacrifice being made towards realization of the project will not be in vain. .
“First, let us admit that over 60 of our staff, not the ministry of transport staff, but the staff working on the rail project, have been infected by COVID. Luckily, nobody has died and I pray nobody will die, but you see the kind of sacrifice everybody is making to get the rail to function’.
“They are people sacrificing their lives to get to that point. As far as we are concerned, we need to learn how to live with COVID. I really want to congratulate those that achieve that feat. We were to inaugurate the first week in January. We had to stop those doing minor completion because of the rise in COVID transmission.
Penpushing further reports that, the Minister however, said the commissioning will be put on hold, due to the upsurge of coronavirus in the country disclosing at the inauguration of elected members of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA) that the Lagos-Ibadan rail will be commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari, in January 2021
The Minister said that the train services on all routes might stop if passengers do not adhere to the coronavirus protocol, adding that the Abuja-Kaduna route conveys about 4,000 passengers daily, stating that if anyone transmits coronavirus onboard, it will be a serious challenge.
“The timeline for the inauguration will depend on COVID. If COVID stops today or reduces, we will commission the project. We will allow the train to run but if we see that we are conveying passengers who have COVID from Lagos to Ibadan, we will stop it, just like we are threatening to stop Kaduna-Abuja if people don’t comply with the COVID Protocol.”
Penpushing reports that, the rail project, which was delivered recently, and had since been in use, is the second rail project completed in 2020, while the Itakpe-Warri was the first and was commissioned on September 29, 2020.
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