Rotimi Amaechi, the Minister of Transportation, has vowed to seek clearance from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for the opening of the Ibadan Dry Port by the end of May.
Amaechi revealed this on Monday when he paid a visit to Oba Olalekan Balogun, the recently crowned Olubadan of Ibadan, at his Alarere Palace in Ibadan, as part of consultations for his presidential bid to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
Senator Kola Balogun (PDP-Oyo South Senatorial District) has requested that the Ibadan Inland Dry Port be completed, and Amaechi made the commitment in response.
The project’s bottlenecks have been eliminated.
The minister stated that all hurdles causing the project’s delay had been overcome, assuring Olubadan and the general public that the project will go live once approved by the FEC.
He also promised the Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes (CCII) that a railway station would be named after an Ibadan native, however it would not be part of the Ibadan Railway route.
If given the chance to become president, the APC presidential candidate claims to have all he needs to make Nigeria a better place.
As a true believer in the Nigerian project, Amaechi said he was a detribalised Nigerian, adding that his cabinet as Governor of Rivers contained a substantial number of non-indigenes and that he did not belong to any geopolitical bloc in terms of his presidential ambition.
What you need to know
The N43.2 billion Dry Port project, which was conceptualized by the Federal Leadership during the administration of the late former Governor of Oyo State, Abiola Ajimobi, has been beset by delays, which some stakeholders blame on the state’s change of government and relocation.
Following the formation of a new government under a different political party in 2019, the negotiations and discussions for the project, which was originally envisioned as an Inland Container Depot (ICD), had to start over.
In a meeting with Oyo State Governor Seyi Makinde in May 2021, Amaechi urged the state government to either build infrastructure for the Inland Dry Port in Ibadan and access roads to service the dry port and the Moniya train station, or relinquish the project to another state along the route.
He voiced his disagreement to the Oyo state government’s demand for equity in the Dry Port project in exchange for infrastructural support.
