The Special Adviser to Governor Dapo Abiodun on Media and Strategy, Kayode Akinmade has said the inter-state rail system is strategic for the development of the South West region.
Akinmade stated this on Saturday when speaking on the topic ‘Regional Integration and Development: The case of Ogun State’ at the Western Post 2024 annual retreat in Abeokuta.
He explained that the Abiodun-led administration had strategically come up with the idea of speedy development through the concept of a Multi-modal Transport Management System, which connects the state with others in the region through air, water, rail, and road and also gives access to the rest of the world.
Akinmade maintained that with railway interconnectivity, development in the southwest would be faster as the movement of people and goods is made easier.
“The inter-state rail system that cuts across the states in the Southwest has been efficiently explored by Ogun State for effective connectivity in the region. Presently, the state has more rail stations than any other State; there are five different stations within the stretch of Lagos and Ibadan alone.
“With an efficient rail system, an indigene of Ado-Ekiti can secure employment in Ogun State, get to the office every day from Ekiti and return at the closing hour around 5 pm, and before 7 pm he will be back in Ado-Ekiti.
“That is the type of regional integration we are institutionalising in the State so that individuals in any of the States in the region can freely interact, transact and relax in the State without hindrance,” he said.
The Special Adviser stated that oil exploration would soon commence in the state and that it would put the region on a more viable economic footing.
He reassured that the Gateway International Agro-Cargo airport would be inaugurated soon, saying that it would be the best in the West Africa corridor with the largest runway and apron.
Akinmade stressed that the airport would bring great relief to thousands of manufacturers operating in the state to get imported materials with ease and also transport their finished goods to the rest of the world without facing the traffic snarl in Lagos.
The Special Adviser also disclosed that the government had constructed over 500km of roads across the State to make mobility easier and connect other States more effectively, adding that the roads had made regional integration possible considering the strategic location of Ogun State in the region.
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