Recalls that the pictures of the First Lady sitting in one of the cabins of the Kaduna to Abuja rail line, were all over the media on Friday morning, including some major national dailies, leaving many of those conversant presidential travels wondering.

Providing an explanation into the circumstances responsible for the First Lady’s joining the train, Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Office of the First Lady, Aliyu Abdullahi, said she did it to encourage patronage for the railway service system in the country.

Abdullahi, who explained that the First Lady intended to interact with ordinary Nigerians while on the journey, said she also planned to show Nigerians that travelling by rail is safe and effective, adding it also showed that she is proud of the achievement’s of her husband’s administration.

Meanwhile, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said he needs $36bn to connect the entire nation by rail.

Amaechi said this on NTA’s ‘Good Morning Nigeria’ programme, which was monitored by WEEKDAYS on Friday.

According to him, railway is capital intensive and this has made it difficult for private firms to invest in the sector.

The River state former governor said the reason the Nigerian government had been borrowing funds from overseas was because only the government was able to come up with the needed collateral to take such loans.

When asked why the Kaduna-Abuja railway had not been linked to Lokoja, Amaechi responded, “If we had money, I would want to be the minister that initiated and completed the linking of Nigeria. All I need is $36bn. With $36bn, all of them (will be linked).

“The project from Itakpe to Abuja is $3.09bn. If we have that, we will start it tomorrow morning.”

Amaechi said President Muhammadu Buhari had done exceedingly well in the area of infrastructure but said he feared that the gains of the Buhari regime would be reversed if the Peoples Democratic Party takes over in 2023.