The 2015 election had done what many thought impossible. An opposition coalition had defeated an incumbent government for the first time in Nigeria’s history. But winning power was only the first test. Governing was the harder one.
The new administration did not move quickly. For nearly six months after inauguration, there were no ministers in place. Ministries were run by permanent secretaries, decisions slowed, and expectations began to build. It was not until September 2015 that President Muhammadu Buhari forwarded his ministerial list to the Senate, with appointments taking full effect in November. By that time the President had earned the moniker ”Baba Go Slow.*
Among the nominees was Rotimi Amaechi, one of the most visible figures behind the APC’s rise to power. At the Senate, his screening became one of the most contentious of the entire exercise. A committee declared him ”unfit,” because of allegations from a Rivers State panel of inquiry into financial mismanagement. But on the floor, Amaechi pushed back, insisting it was a politically motivated and that he had not been indicted by any court of law.
In the end, the Senate overruled the committee and confirmed him.
It was from that position, late into the administration and under scrutiny, that he assumed responsibility for a transport sector that had been in decline for decades.
When Rotimi Amaechi became Nigeria’s
Minister of Transportation on November 11, 2015, he stepped into a sector that had deteriorated for decades. The country’s railway system had largely collapsed.
Ports were congested and dependent almost entirely on trucks. Offshore, piracy in the Gulf of Guinea had turned Nigerian waters into arguably the most dangerous shipping routes in the world.
The challenge was not simply to start new projects. It was to rebuild the systems that move people, goods and trade across the country.
Amaechi approached the ministry with three priorities that worked well together.
Revive rail transport. Improve port efficiency. Strengthen maritime security.
The railway revival began quickly.
One of the earliest signals came from the eastern corridor. When Amaechi took office, the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway, Nigeria’s historic Eastern line, had been moribund for years. Within months, the Nigerian Railway Corporation restored train services between Port Harcourt and Aba, reconnecting the South South and South East by rail.
He also went ahead to secure Federal Government approval for the reconstruction of the entire eastern narrow-gauge corridor, which runs from Port Harcourt through Aba, Umuahia, Enugu, Makurdi, and onward to Maiduguri.
Alongside this rehabilitation, the ministry also secured approval for a parallel standard-gauge railway along the same corridor, a long-term project estimated at $11-$12 billion that would modernise the entire eastern rail route.
While Amachi pushed the eastern corridor forward, the first modern railway to begin operation during his tenure was the Abuja-Kaduna line.
Construction had begun before he became minister, but the project had struggled with delays. Amaechi imposed a strict completion timetable, conducted repeated site inspections and pushed the contractor to accelerate work. By July 2016, less than nine months after he entered office, trains were running between Abuja and Kaduna.
The railway quickly became Nigeria’s busiest passenger rail route. Travel time between the two cities dropped significantly, and during periods of insecurity along the Abuja-Kaduna highway it became the safest route between the capital and northern Nigeria.
Within a few years the line had carried over seven million passengers.
That success would later be tested. On March 28, 2022, terrorists attacked the Abuja-Kaduna train, derailing it with explosives and abducting passengers. The incident shocked the country and exposed the security vulnerabilities around critical infrastructure. Amachi responded by pointing to earlier requests for surveillance and security systems that had not yet been approved, highlighting a broader conversation about infrastructure protection.
If Abuja - Kaduna proved modern rail could work in Nigeria, the Lagos - Ibadan railway demonstrated the scale of the country’s rail ambitions.
The 157-kilometre corridor linking Lagos to Ogun and Oyo states was successfully executed and completed during Amaechi’s tenure. Construction began in 2017 after the federal government secured financing through the Export-Import Bank of China.
When commissioned in June 2021, the line became West Africa’s first modern double-track standard-gauge railway. It included ten stations, major bridges and viaducts, and an 8.7-kilometre extension into the Apapa Port complex, allowing containers arriving at Nigeria’s busiest seaport to move inland by rail.
Another milestone was the Warri-Itakpe railway, a 326-kilometre line originally conceived to support Nigeria’s iron ore industry. Construction began in 1987 but stalled for more than thirty years. Amachi revived the project and pushed it to completion. Commercial operations began in September 2020, reconnecting Delta, Edo and Kogi states.
Work also progressed on several other corridors, including the Ibadan-lorin-Minna-Kano standard-gauge line, while construction began on the Kano-Maradi railway, an ECOWAS project designed to strengthen trade links between northern Nigeria and neighbouring Niger Republic.
To support the growing rail network, Amaechi also established Nigeria’s first railway wagon assembly plant in Kajola, Ogun State, and facilitated the establishment of the Federal University of Transportation in Daura. The university. funded entirely by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) through a Corporate Social Responsibility (CR) arrangement, matriculated its first 478 pioneer students in 2024 to train the engineers and transport specialists required for the rail sector.
Rail development was closely tied to reforms in the country’s ports. For years Nigerian seaports struggled with congestion caused by thousands of trucks waiting to access port terminals. In 2021, the Ministry of Transportation introduced the electronic truck call-up system known as Eto at Apapa Port.
Before the system was introduced, trucks attempting to enter the Apapa port complex could spend up to two weeks waiting along port access roads, paralysing movement in the surrounding area. While the system did not entirely eliminate congestion and faced operational hurdles, it significantly improved the situation; truck turnaround times dropped to about 90 hours, helping restore order to the port corridor.
Improved logistics also coincided with stronger export movement. Between 2019 and 2022, export cargo shipped through Apapa Port increased by about 82 percent.
Amaechi also pursued policies aimed at reviving Nigeria’s eastern ports to reduce pressure on Lagos. Waivers and reductions in harbour charges encouraged shipping lines to use ports outside Lagos, helping increase utilisation of eastern ports from roughly 5-10 percent to about 30 percent, while reducing logistics costs.
Operational activity followed. Calabar Port began receiving container vessels again.
Warri Port was dredged for the first time in decades. Rivers Port handled its first liquefied petroleum gas vessel in 2019, and One Port received some of the largest container ships ever to berth in Nigeria.
Another milestone during this period was the completion of the Lekki Deep Sea Port.
Nigeria’s first modern deep-sea port.
Construction advanced rapidly during Amaechi’s tenure after regulatory approvals and financing arrangements were secured, significantly expanding Nigeria’s maritime capacity.
To complement the seaports, Amaechi also expanded inland cargo infrastructure. The Kaduna Inland Dry Port, commissioned in 2018, became Nigeria’s first fully operational inland dry port, allowing cargo destined for northern Nigeria to be cleared closer to its final destination. The Dala Inland Dry Port in Kano was developed under the same programme.
Security was another major challenge facing Nigeria’s maritime sector.
By 2020 the Gulf of Guinea had become the global epicentre of piracy, with attacks on vessels in the region increasing sharply and shipping companies imposing war-risk insurance premiums on vessels entering Nigerian waters.
Amaechi pushed for a comprehensive response through the Deep Blue Project..
formally known as the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure.
The project did not come easily. President Buhari had the EFCC investigate Amaechi for alleged ties to the contractor and the commission found nothing. There was also resistance within the government over cost, structure, and which agencies would control the assets. Notwithstanding, Amaechi pushed it through, arguing that without security, Nigeria’s maritime economy would continue to bleed value.
Approved in 2017 and launched in 2021, the system deployed surveillance aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles, interceptor boats and armoured patrol vehicles supported by a central command system integrating NIMASA, the Nigerian Navy and other security agencies.
Following its deployment, piracy incidents in Nigerian waters dropped sharply. By 2022 maritime attacks had fallen by more than 80 percent, bringing piracy levels to their lowest levels in nearly three decades.
Nigeria was subsequently removed from the list of countries subject to war-risk insurance premiums for seafarers, improving confidence in the country’s maritime domain.
The impact of these reforms extended beyond the infrastructure itself.
Railways that had been dormant for decades were suddenly popular enough to host wedding and film shoots. Cargo that once depended entirely on highways began shifting gradually back to rail. Ports became more connected to inland transport corridors. Nigeria overcame piracy and security improved along one of the world’s busiest shipping routes.
In May 2022, as the administration approached its final year, Amachi resigned from office to contest for the presidency, in line with the constitution requiring political appointees seeking elective office to step down.
At the APC presidential primaries in June 2022, he finished second with 316 votes, behind Bola Tinubu, but ahead of several high-profile contenders, including the Vice President and the Senate President.
It was a strong showing that reflected both his national reach and the political capital he had built over the years.
Historically, Rotimi Amaechi never entered office under easy conditions, yet he has carved out a legacy defined more by the weight of his achievements than the weight of his challenges.
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Read part five → The Lessons & the Future
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