Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), has appealed to both the Federal and the State governments to fix access roads that lead to train stations in the country.
MURIC Director, Professor Ishaq Akintola, made this appeal while addressing a press conference at the Moniya Ibadan train station on Sunday.
Akintola regretted that the access roads that led to the train station along the Moniya-Iseyin road was not motorable.
He said that this was making it difficult for hundreds of passengers who wished to board the train to do so.
He explained that he and his members boarded the train from Lagos to Ibadan in order to evaluate rail transportation from Lagos to Ibadan.
Akintola, who described rail transportation as the safest and most reliable form of transportation, however, sobered that many Nigerians were still sceptical to board the trains.
He said one major factor responsible for this was the absence of motorable roads that lead to most of the train stations in the country.
Akintola said, “They have tried within the vicinity of the compound, but outside the terminus, the road to the terminus is rough, it is untarred and people are going to find it difficult to use it, particularly during the raining season.
“We are appealing to the governments, both the federal and the States, there are certain things that the Federal can do, there are some that the States can also do.
“The ones that belong to the States, the State governments should wake up to fix them, the ones that belong to the Federal Government, they should also fix them.
“This is to ensure that more people have access to the train stations, so that when people come here, they leave with smiles, they don’t go with tears and when they come here, they come without difficulties.
“The access roads are important for people to board the trains. But, the access road to this train station is bad. It spoilt the beauty of the whole thing.
“If this road we are seeing remains like this till the next six months, people will not have access to this train station again. They should do something about it.
“A lot of people are still sceptical to board the train. People say that the rail transportation has been revived in the country, but a lot of people are saying no, they are sceptical.
“We decided to embark on this journey so as to interrogate what the government is doing. It is the duty of you journalists, non-governmental organisations and other stakeholders to interrogate what the governments are doing. We all have roles to play to make Nigeria better”.
