Human rights activist Omoyele Sowore has criticized Lagos State Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for the launch of the state’s Red Line rail service, stating that its fares are unaffordable for average residents and civil servants.
Sowore pointed out that Lagos State’s newly approved N85,000 minimum wage is incompatible with the N1,500 per trip fare for the state’s Red Line rail service. According to Sowore’s analysis, workers and residents who earn the minimum wage would spend approximately N60,000 per month on rail transportation alone, which accounts for over 70% of their monthly income.
Taking to his X page, Sowore wrote, “Yesterday the Lagos state Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu launched a Redline train with fanfare, it costs N1,500 per trip, N15,000 per week, N60,000 monthly.
“Also, he launched Lagos’s minimum wage at N85,000 per month. If workers take the redline to work, then?”
Governor Sanwo-Olu had on Tuesday announced the launch of commercial operations on the red line rail, a project President Bola Tinubu inaugurated February 29.
The governor in a statement said the train service is projected to move about 500,000 Lagosians daily on the corridor, adding that the commercial operations will run from Agbado to Oyingbo, and that the government will continue to ramp up the schedule.
The governor also on Wednesday, during an interview on Channels TV tagged “One-On-One with Babajide Sanwo-Olu,” announced that his government plans to pay workers a minimum wage of N85,000.
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