By Leonard Okachie
Gov. Alex Otti of Abia has appealed to the residents of the state to exercise patience with the Federal Government over the delay in reconstructing the Umuahia-Aba railway tracks.
Otti made the appeal on Thursday night at the Government House, Umuahia, during the October edition of his monthly media chat.
He spoke against the backdrop of the stalled work and inactivity on the Aba-Umuahia-Enugu section of the railway corridor.
He disclosed that he had already intervened by meeting with the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr Kayode Opeifa.
He said that both of them inspected the ongoing rehabilitation of the railway tracks at the Umuahia station.
The governor said that NRC was working to revamp the railway tracks in Umuahia as part of a broader effort to restore the Eastern railway axis.
“I actually thought that by now the new line would have passed Abia.
“The last time I checked, I think there was paucity of funds,” he said.
Meanwhile, in a recent interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Station Manager, NRC, Umuahia, Mr Joseph Odoh, confirmed that “the railway was not abandoned or completely forgotten as speculated”.
According to Odoh, it is in the process of being revitalised by the Federal Government.
He said: “I’m looking forward to seeing a functional railway system, where a train would run within the Eastern corridor down to the North.
“The Federal Government is doing everything possible to revamp it through the effort of our managing director and his team.
“They are working round the clock to ensure that the Eastern railway axis is restored.
“The rail tracks were removed because they were outdated, but the government wants to revitalise it with modern narrow gauge.
“The Port Harcourt-Aba axis is already revamped and functional, we are hoping that it will be extended to Umuahia and the entire Eastern corridor soon.”
Odoh said that the last time train moved through Umuahia was in July 2019.
(NAN)
