The Transportation Correspondent Association of Nigeria (TCAN), has lauded President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the appointment of Dr Kayode Opeifa, as the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation.
Describing the appointment as a right peg in the right hole, TCAN, said the appointment would mark the beginning of better deals not only for the nation’s oldest public corporation but for the nation’s burgeoning railway sector.
In a statement signed by the Chairman, Adeyinka Aderibigbe, and General Secretary Fidelis Ugbomeh, TCAN said Opeifa, a one-time Commissioner of Transportation in Lagos State, has all that it takes to sustain the good works of his predecessors in the corporation and continue to push the narrative that would see all the nation’s state capitals connected by rail in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Tinubu administration.
TCAN said Opeifa, a former Commissioner for Transportation in Lagos State, played a pivotal role in transforming the city’s transportation sector, leading to a phenomenal shift in the transportation landscape of Lagos.
“His forward-thinking initiatives in public sector transportation were instrumental in the sustenance of the Lagos state’s initiatives in transportation which has changed the dynamics of the city’s mobility and traffic management setting a model for other sister-states,” TCAN said.
TCAN said Opeifa is well prepared for the task ahead as the helmsman of the Railway Corporation.
After the completion of that assignment, Opeifa, TCAN recalled, was also appointed a member of the Board of the Nigerian Railway Corporation by the former President Muhammadu Buhari upon the completion of his term as the Transportation Secretary at the Federal Capital Territory Authority (FCTA).
TCAN stated that Opeifa, a former Chairman, Conference of Transportation Commissioners of Nigeria, Opeifa, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration (CIoTA), and an alumnus of the Lagos State University, LASU, would ensure the delivery of new railway lines in line with the visions of the Tinubu administration, as he works towards retooling the Nigeria’s Railway Master Plan, which runs its full course this year.
TCAN urged the new Managing Director to continue to partner with all critical stakeholders to achieve the mandate of Mr President in repositioning the Nigerian Railway and ensuring that Nigerians get a better deal in public sector transportation where the railway plays a major role in logistics and passenger transportation across the country.
Besides, Professor of Transport Management, Federal University of Technology Owerri Imo State, Callistus Chukwudi Ibe, said the appointment of Dr Opeifa as the Managing Director of Nigeria Railway Corporation is an appointment well deserved as a transportant.
Ibe said this is one of the best appointments of the government in the recent past, putting an expert in the proper position.
