Letter to Tinubu: Accelerate the Lagos to Calabar railway project

Your Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, I am writing to you today to ask for your urgent intervention in the Lagos to Calabar Rail Project. 

This project has the potential to completely revolutionize the economy of the Lagos to Calabar corridor and help quicken the industrialization of the Nigerian Coastal economy. 

According to a 2021 Report based on research carried out by the Railway Industry Association (RIA) of Great Britain in partnership with Oxford Economics, a consulting arm of Oxford University’s Business School, “for every £1 spent on rail, £2.50 of income is generated in the wider economy”. 

This means that the Lagos to Calabar Rail Project could generate billions of Naira in economic activity for Nigeria.

In addition to the economic benefits, the Lagos to Calabar Rail Project would also have a number of social and environmental benefits. 

It would create jobs, improve connectivity, and reduce pollution.

 It would also help to promote regional integration and trade.

I urge you to accelerate action on the Lagos to Calabar Rail Project. 

This project is too important to be delayed any further. It has the potential to transform the economy of the Lagos to Calabar corridor and help to create a more prosperous and sustainable future for Nigeria.

Efficiently connecting people and places brings a range of additional benefits and will help to decongest cities like Port Harcourt and Lagos by allowing population spread across and along rail corridors. 

Communities along the routes and rail corridors will experience improved Labour market outcomes when this project is completed. 

The Lagos to Calabar Railway project like all railway travel, will make employment possible for hundreds of thousands of people, as it will also facilitate access to education and skill development, sports, leisure , culture etc, reducing the social isolation that may be responsible for the increase in insecurity and poverty experienced in certain parts of Nigeria. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Sincerely,

George Kerley, 

Convener, Enterprise Delta, 

Port Harcourt.