The minister said this at
the Second Presidential Business Forum, which was presided over by Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa,
Abuja.
The Minister of
Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, on Monday stated that the Federal Government
had released N72bn as its counterpart funds for the construction of the
Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge railway line.
He said the money was
released in full so that there would be no delay in the implementation of the
project.
Amaechi also used the
opportunity to appeal to the National Assembly to approve the $29.9bn foreign
loan request made by President Muhammadu Buhari.
He said, “On the
construction of Lagos-Ibadan railway line, the Minister of Finance has been
kind enough to release the counterpart funding in full. I think in the history
of Nigeria, this is the first time that we are releasing counterpart funds in
full so that there will be no delay since the Chinese loan appears to have been
approved.
“The only thing we need to
do, I thank God there is somebody from the National Assembly here, is to plead
with the National Assembly now that the funds have been approved; then, the
National Assembly should please approve the $29.9bn loan.
“If you don’t encourage the
National Assembly to make that approval, then, the economy won’t be making the
kind of progress we want it to make. So, for me here, I will persuade the
National Assembly to kindly make that approval because it is tied to projects.”
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