OPEIFA AND PRESIDENT TINUBU’S RENEWED HOPE IN RAILWAY TRANSFORMATION

By Gideon Unazi

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope agenda is built around the conviction that Nigeria can make meaningful progress when capable hands are entrusted with critical responsibilities. In the railway sector, one man who represents this thinking is Kayode Opeifa, PhD, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

President Tinubu appointed Opeifa as the substantive Managing Director of the NRC on January 22, 2025, bringing to the corporation a transportation expert whose career has been shaped by years of practical experience in Lagos, Abuja and at the national level.

Opeifa holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry from the University of Ilorin, followed by postgraduate qualifications, including a Master’s degree and a PhD. The appointment was hardly surprising to those who have followed his career.

Although his first academic training was in biochemistry, Opeifa has spent decades building expertise in transportation management, public administration and institutional reform. His experience spans traffic management, urban mobility, public transportation, port decongestion and, now, railway administration. It is this unusual combination of academic training and practical experience that makes his current assignment particularly significant.

His major public breakthrough came in 2007 during the administration of former Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola, when he was appointed Special Adviser on Transportation. Lagos was then dealing with severe traffic congestion, weak traffic management structures, poor coordination among transport operators and the pressure of a rapidly growing population.

Opeifa became part of the team that sought to change the situation by strengthening transportation institutions and introducing better ways of managing movement across the state. One of the notable areas of his contribution was the strengthening and reform of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).

Through institutional reforms, improved enforcement and operational restructuring, the agency became more visible and effective in the management of traffic. His experience in Lagos demonstrated that solving transportation problems requires more than constructing roads; it requires strong institutions, effective regulation, discipline and constant engagement with the people who use the system.

In July 2011, Opeifa was appointed Commissioner for Transportation in Lagos State, a position that further expanded his responsibilities and national profile. He supervised policies aimed at improving public transportation, traffic coordination and urban mobility.

He also promoted the idea of an integrated transport system in which road, rail and water transportation could complement one another. That philosophy remains relevant today as Nigeria seeks to develop a railway network capable of working effectively with other modes of transportation.

Another quality that distinguished Opeifa was his approach to stakeholder engagement. He did not see transport unions, commuters, private operators and civil society groups merely as people expected to obey government directives. He engaged them, explained policies and listened to their concerns.

This helped to reduce resistance to reforms and created greater understanding of the difficult decisions often required to improve transportation systems.
His experience was later tested on one of Nigeria’s most notorious transportation challenges: the Apapa gridlock.

During the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari, Opeifa served as Vice Chairman and Team Leader of the Presidential Task Force on the Apapa Gridlock. The crisis had paralysed movement around the ports, delayed cargo, affected businesses and imposed huge costs on the economy.

Working with relevant agencies and stakeholders, the team introduced measures to improve truck movement and restore some level of order around the port environment. The Apapa assignment was particularly important because it gave Opeifa deeper exposure to freight movement and logistics, areas that are central to the future of the Nigerian railway system.

A properly functioning rail network can move large volumes of cargo, reduce pressure on highways, lower transportation costs and improve connections between ports, industrial centres and markets. His experience in Apapa Port therefore provided him with useful background for the railway responsibilities he carries today.

In 2017, Opeifa was appointed Transport Secretary for the Federal Capital Territory, where he was involved in transportation planning and mobility initiatives in Abuja. He later served as Managing Director of the Abuja Urban Mass Transit Company Limited, gaining further experience in public transport operations, service delivery and administration.

These assignments broadened his understanding of the challenges of managing transportation in different environments and prepared him for the larger national responsibility that eventually came his way.
When President Tinubu appointed him to head the NRC in January 2025, expectations were understandably high.

Nigeria was already making significant investments in railway infrastructure, with the Federal Government placing renewed emphasis on rail transportation as a means of improving passenger movement, freight transportation, economic integration and national connectivity. Opeifa came into the job with a clear understanding that infrastructure alone is not enough; the system must also be properly managed, maintained and made responsive to the needs of Nigerians.

Since assuming office, his leadership has focused attention on operational efficiency, service delivery, cargo movement, customer experience and institutional performance. He has also emphasised the importance of connecting railway transportation with other modes, recognising that a modern transport system must function as an interconnected network.

His approach reflects the broader objective of the Renewed Hope agenda, which implies turning government investments into services that ordinary Nigerians can actually feel and use. The protection of railway infrastructure is another area where the corporation’s leadership deserves attention.

The recent intervention by the NRC and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps at the siding serving the Dangote Steel Rolling Mills in Osogbo, Osun State, where an attempted vandalism operation was foiled and nine oxygen cylinders were recovered, shows the seriousness of the threat facing railway assets. Opeifa described the intervention as another success in the sustained effort to protect critical railway infrastructure from vandals and economic saboteurs.

Protecting these assets is essential because every damaged track or stolen component represents a threat to the huge investments being made to rebuild the railway system. The railway transformation Nigeria desires will not happen overnight, and Opeifa cannot accomplish it alone.

It requires sustained government investment, proper maintenance, effective security, responsible use of railway facilities and cooperation from communities and stakeholders. But leadership remains crucial.

However, President Tinubu has placed an experienced transportation administrator at the helm of the NRC, and Opeifa’s long journey from Lagos transportation reforms to Abuja mobility management, Apapa port decongestion and now national railway administration provides him with a valuable foundation.

And given his sustained emphasis on professionalism, accountability, safety and innovation, Opeifa’s tenure is on course to become an important part of Nigeria’s railway revival and a practical expression of President Tinubu’s Renewed Hope in railway transformation.

*Unazi writes from Abuja