Giving this indication in Abuja, the Convener, Railway Committee of
Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P), Mr. Chike Churchill Okogwu,
said the little delay on the project arose from a discovery that some
areas along the corridor were flood-prone areas. So, a serious attention
is being paid to ensure that solid work is done to resist any flood.
Also, there was security challenges that led to the death of some workers on the site by some insurgents.
“Now when we talk about lapses, I can give two unique examples. When the job was being scooped and put together and awarded, there was no security challenge in Nigeria. But at some point in Haipang area, for example, one of the contractors lost workers including expatriates.
They delivered material on site and went into a restaurant to have dinner and insurgents came in there and executed about 10 of them. If you were such a contract, what will you do? Will you go back on that site? No. That, of course, took a while to convince them to go back to site.
“You are also aware that two, three years ago we did not have problems of flooding. So, when the job was being scooped, serious attention was not paid to the areas. As a matter of fact, some places have just been discovered as flood-prone areas.
And having seen what happened to us last year, what SURE-P decided to do with the team is to be proactive because we have been forewarned that going further in future, some areas that never used to be flood-prone have become flood-prone because of global warming and climate change. But nonetheless, we are not going to go beyond 2014. That I can assure you,” he said.
Okogwu also gave the indication from August 23, that containers would begin to run on the western line from Lagos to Kano, adding that more employment would be generated through that operation.
“Since Friday, August 23, 2013, containers have started running on the western line from Lagos to Kano. And that is another level of employment coming in because as soon as the containers get to the train stations, they need human beings to go to the cargo from the trains.
The ones that will be handled by machines will be done. But it is more employment and commerce, more trading, more excitement,” he said
Also, there was security challenges that led to the death of some workers on the site by some insurgents.
“Now when we talk about lapses, I can give two unique examples. When the job was being scooped and put together and awarded, there was no security challenge in Nigeria. But at some point in Haipang area, for example, one of the contractors lost workers including expatriates.
They delivered material on site and went into a restaurant to have dinner and insurgents came in there and executed about 10 of them. If you were such a contract, what will you do? Will you go back on that site? No. That, of course, took a while to convince them to go back to site.
“You are also aware that two, three years ago we did not have problems of flooding. So, when the job was being scooped, serious attention was not paid to the areas. As a matter of fact, some places have just been discovered as flood-prone areas.
And having seen what happened to us last year, what SURE-P decided to do with the team is to be proactive because we have been forewarned that going further in future, some areas that never used to be flood-prone have become flood-prone because of global warming and climate change. But nonetheless, we are not going to go beyond 2014. That I can assure you,” he said.
Okogwu also gave the indication from August 23, that containers would begin to run on the western line from Lagos to Kano, adding that more employment would be generated through that operation.
“Since Friday, August 23, 2013, containers have started running on the western line from Lagos to Kano. And that is another level of employment coming in because as soon as the containers get to the train stations, they need human beings to go to the cargo from the trains.
The ones that will be handled by machines will be done. But it is more employment and commerce, more trading, more excitement,” he said
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