The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation Dr Kayode Opeifa has tasked the Legacy Museum, the custodian and preserver of the nation’s rail relics to do more in attracting tourists to visit railway artifacts scattered across railway compounds in the country.
Opeifa stated this while playing host to the Board of Trustees and Management of Legacy Museum of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, led by the President of the Museum, Mr Taiwo Olaniyi, in his office on Tuesday.
For instance, Opeifa said, the Museum could deploy a tourist bus that would be dedicated to taking visitors (tourists), round the railway headquarters compound and some of the stations within Lagos State.
He also advised the Museum to consider the production of a comprehensive documentary detailing the rail monuments, especially residential buildings and railway station buildings, adding that this is the only way to draw the Federal Government’s attention towards Legacy Museum.
He expressed the readiness of the Corporation to collaborate with the museum especially through the expansion of their programmes in order to attract more tourists and boost their revenue for the sustenance and maintenance of their service.
Earlier, the President of the Museum Mr Olaniyi, said Legacy Museum had come not only to welcome the Managing Director, but to inform him that the Museum, otherwise known as the Jakeal House, has been in the business of preserving Railway artifacts and relics for over 30 years.
He went further to inform the Managing Director that the Museum is a hub for the pursuit of knowledge especially in architectural designs.
“Many students from the University of Lagos and other institutions of higher learning within the state have been coming to the Museum to learn about the architectural designs, many of which are still preserved in their colonial state,” Olaniyi said.
He said that the Museum occasionally interact with the Goethe Institut of Germany and the British High Commission and is partnering with Oxford University, England, in the preservation of the nation’s railway relics.
He went further to appeal to the NRC Management in preserving most of the old structures that are located in the various railway compounds across the country from being either demolished or outrightly remodelled.
In a related development, one of the NRC’s business partners, Ojez Entertainment said they would be looking forward to deepening the business relationship with the Nigerian Railway Corporation.
Ojez Entertainment Chairman/Managing Director, Mr Joseph Odobeatu, who led other members among them Nigerian Music star, Sunny Nneji, on a courtesy visit to the NRC Managing Director, Dr Kayode Opeifa, said the entertainment hub is ready to collaborate with the NRC.
Opeifa, commended Ojez Entertainment for the smooth business relationship between them and the NRC.
He lauded Sunny Nneji, for his favourable comments on his experience riding the Lagos Ibadan Transport Service, from Lagos to Ibadan for the first time recently, which according to him, Nneji described as “a complete comfortable ride.”
