Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi has come out to say that more than 20,000 workers were involved in the ongoing construction of the Lagos-Ibadan rail project.

He revealed this in a recent statement released to members of the public.

According to him, the workers were engaged in compliance with the local content law inherent in the 1.6 billion dollar contract agreement between Nigeria and China.

He added that most of the materials for the project are also locally sourced, except for those that were manufactured outside Nigeria.

His words, “There are over 20,000 Nigerian workers employed for the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan railway project, only 560 of the workers on that project are Chinese.

“Most materials for the project are also locally sourced, except for those that were manufactured outside Nigeria.

“We have over 150 Nigerians being trained as Engineers in China. The Chinese has also built two training institutions for us, one at Idu and the other one is the Transportation University in Daura, Katsina State.”

“Mr Chairman, there is no 33 billion dollar contract in the Ministry of Transportation.

“What we have is 1.6 billion dollars awarded by this government for Lagos-Ibadan, for which the Chinese government is providing 1.2 billion dollars and we are providing the remaining 400 million dollars.”