Mutiu Idris, Director of Operations at Geofocus, has reignited hope for Nigeria’s future by highlighting the transformative potential of the Federal Government’s Lagos-Abuja Super Highway and High-Speed Train projects to reshape the nation’s socio-economic landscape.
Accoding to punchng.com Idris expressed the strong confidence in the initiatives and their capacity to transform Nigeria’s economy. He agreed that with the two, Nigeria is poised to unlock her unprecedented economic potentials in alignment with President Bola Tinubu’s vision for a prosperous, modern and efficient transportation sector.
He is banking on the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model to drive the Lagos-Abuja High-Speed Railway and Super Highway as a key economic game changer to be led by the AEC-Geofocus consortium.
Without mincing words, it is an incontestable fact that tackling Nigeria’s infrastructure deficits, particularly in road and rail transport, is an irreducible essential condition for driving economic growth, wealth creation and sustainable development in Africa’s largest economy.
On a closer examination, the Lagos-Abuja corridor spans over 500 kilometers and the speed train initiative will course through Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Kwara, Kogi, and Niger states before hitting Abuja, the Nigeria Capital under a design model of Build, Finance, Operate, and Maintain (DBFOM).
Returning to Idris again. By his revelation, AEC-Geofocus, a consortium of engineers, planners, and investors, has successfully attracted $16 billion from Middle Eastern investors, with additional interest from European financial institutions and the World Bank.
The financial framework will minimise government expenditure, safeguard public funds and prevent cost overruns through an efficient risk-sharing mechanism while the high-speed train component itself has a double-gauge rail line capable allowing speeds up to 250 km/hr, with two main stations in Lagos and Abuja as well as 11 intermediate stops.
A bullet train traveling at 250 km/hr, will slash Lagos-Abuja travel time from 10 hours by road to just 3 hours by rail. The Super Highway will cut travel time to 5 hours between Nigeria’s two key cities – Lagos and Abuja.
Beyond transportation, there are plans for ten smart cities, one million housing units and an independent power plant along the project’ corridor, thus, positioning it as a transformative initiative for Africa.
READ: Africa: Trains to reduce travel time from Lagos to Abuja within 8 hours in next 5yrs, says NRC
The grand project flag-off will happen soon this year, perhaps this February 2025 just as Nigerians look forward to AEC-Geofocus delivering world-class infrastructure and revolutionise Nigeria’s transportation sector and economy.
Globally, the world records for top operating speeds bullet trains go to China’s Shanghai Maglev Train with a top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph) and CR400 Fuxing Hao at 350 km/h (220 mph). The two are closely followed by France’s TGV Duplex and Japan’s E5 Series Shinkansen. Both have maximum operating speeds of 320 km/h (200 mph) for commercial services, according to the Wikipedia.
The driving distance between Lagos and Abuja is put at 748km. It takes an approximated 9 hours and 52 minutes to drive from Lagos to Abuja or vice versa. The Lagos – Abuja Super Highway is projected to slash it to 5 hours or less while the Speed train(bullet) will crash the riding time to between 2.5hrs and 3hrs. And working at full capacity, bullet speed train transports between 850,000 to 1,000,000 people per day.
The bottom line is: the project has set off new economic hubs. Ogun, the Gateway State with her strategic location, is host to this emerging economic hub along the project corridor, especially the Kobape-Siun-Sagamu-Interchange road and aligning axis. Multinational companies are berthing and ready for business on that stretch as investors continue to consider Ogun State as their first destination of choice.
The Abeokuta-Sagamu-Interchange road is the ceremonial route to the Gateway State capital, Abeokuta, linking it to the bustling Lagos-Ibadan expressway, Lagos-Benin and by extension, the South-Eastern and northern parts of Nigeria.
A year ago, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment at the time, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite, and the Governor of Ogun State, Prince (Dr) Dapo Abiodun, commissioned two new factories and extension of the Tropical General Investment Group (TGI) at the Sagamu Interchange boosting the 36-kilometre long corridor as host of a vast number of government acquired lands guided jealously by the Ogun State government, which going by the government’s Master Plan is projected to be the Dubai of Nigeria in no time as it is expected harbour big conglomerates, skyscrapers and the best of technology – driven housing schemes.
Economists are already projecting that Ogun State corridor of the Lagos-Abuja Super Highway and High-Speed Train initiative coupled with the wave of industries berthing located along the
Kobape-Siun-Sagamu-Interchange
stretch it, will witness an economic burst with potential to engender millions of direct and indirect jobs opportunities as people of different skills, vocations and expertise gravitate towards the emerging economic hub.
The unfolding scenario will create an immediate short and medium term housing gaps necessitating other businesses such as real estate agencies to follow the factories to address the pressing housing needs of the workers and expatriates. This will in turn create opportunity for more jobs and more demand for housing.
Interestingly, this is where Pelican Valley Nigeria Limited, the Nigerian top – notch real estate firm fits in perfectly.
The multiple awards winning Pelican Valley is the brain behind three modern estates – Pelican Brief Estate, Pelican’s Ecostay Apartments and the Pelican’s Greenish Acres Farm Estate situating along the Lagos-Abuja Super Highway and High-Speed Train initiative axis and free from government acquisition.
Ogun state government-owned estates are also on that corridor which is equally hosts the largest brewery in West Africa and some existing multinational companies. The Ogun State Agro Cargo Airport is just a few kilometers away from the axis.
One striking feature about the Pelican Valley estates is its proximity to strategic to key economic indicators in the state and neighbouring states. It is a 45 -minute drive from Ikeja, Lagos and less than 15 minutes from Prof Wole Soyinka Train station, Abeokuta. What does this say? It is that you can now recuse yourself from the hassles and congestion of Lagos life to live in a serene and eco-friendly Pelican Valley Estates in Abeokuta, where the beauty of nature meets luxury.
So, living in Abeokuta while you work any where in Lagos and Oyo States is now an emerging reality with the Speed Train initiative which Mutiu Idris of the Geofocus consortium is talking about.
Ecostay Apartments considered as the flagship of Pelican Valley Limited’s real estate products, was inaugurated last September 11 where a major road leading to this technology – driven eco – friendly and novel habitat was named after former Governor Aremo Olusegun Osoba, to honour him for his exemplary rural development initiatives while in office as Governor of Ogun State.
Interestingly, the Ecostay Apartments started accepting clients for shot let services accommodation early this year and the available facilities have been fully booked by clients till February, 2025 because of the comfort and safety it offers.
UN (POLAC) Ambassador, Dr Babatunde Adeyemo is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Pelican Valley Ltd. gave insight on the magic behind clients’ special interest and influx to the Ecostay Apartments.
Adeyemo said the secret lies in the fact that all the firm’s projects have always been strategy – driven as the firm does not venture into any project without first conducting informed research to determine its viability and market.
To him, the market for the short let service at the Ecostay Apartments is already on ground before the take off.
