Passengers travelling to Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos will soon have a rail alternative to the road after the design of a monorail linking the airport to the city’s existing Red Line network received official approval.
No construction start date or completion timeline was provided alongside the announcement.
Aviation Minister Festus Keyamo disclosed the approval in a post on Tuesday, October 20, following a review of the design alongside the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Aviation, the Managing Director of the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, and engineering teams from both agencies. The session was a formal appraisal, not a preliminary discussion.
“We appraised and approved the design of the Lagos Airport monorail that would take commuters and the flying public from the Ikeja Railway Station (where the Lagos Redline terminates) to the terminal point at the new Murtala Mohammed International Airport (MMIA) Terminal 1 that is now being reconstructed,” the minister wrote.
The five proposed stations along the route are Ikeja Station, Domestic Airport Station, Beesam Station, Toll Gate Station, and MMIA Airport Station. Each stop marks a distinct point along the corridor between the Ikeja interchange and the airport’s international terminal.
The planned rail connection forms part of the wider modernisation of MMIA, where Terminal 1 is undergoing a comprehensive overhaul to improve passenger processing, infrastructure, and airport operations, with FAAN’s Managing Director Olubunmi Onabanjo-Kuku saying the reconstruction would focus on improving immigration and customs facilities, increasing service-counter efficiency, and introducing modern technology rather than expanding the terminal’s physical footprint or overall capacity.
Reconstruction work is continuing while international flight operations are maintained through temporary arrangements. Travellers connecting through Lagos have therefore been navigating a terminal under active construction without a rail option.
In June, Keyamo announced that the government was working with the Lagos State Government on plans to extend the existing rail network from Ikeja to the airport’s domestic and international terminals. Tuesday’s design approval advances that earlier commitment from a stated intention to a documented plan.
FAAN Managing Director Olubunmi Onabanjo-Kuku said on October 18 that talks on financing the proposed airport rail link were well advanced.
She confirmed, however, that the financing structure was still being finalized. No figures were attached to the project in either announcement.
The project is expected to connect the airport’s three terminals to the Red Line as part of the wider modernization program. Beesam Station and Toll Gate Station, two of the five stops, sit between the domestic and international terminals, suggesting coverage across multiple departure points.
The minister’s announcement did not specify a construction timeline, project cost, or proposed completion date. Those gaps leave open the question of when passengers will actually board the line rather than read about it.
The approval of the monorail design marks a further step in the development of the proposed airport rail connection, though Keyamo’s statement did not provide a construction commencement date or a completion timeline for the project.
The project is expected to provide an alternative to road transportation by connecting the Lagos Red Line terminus in Ikeja to the international airport, forming part of efforts to modernize the country’s major aviation gateway. Road access to the airport, particularly during peak hours, has long been a persistent friction point for air travellers arriving from Lagos Island and the mainland.
“The monorail is an integral part of the reconstruction of the nation’s major gateway at the MMIA in Lagos,” Keyamo said. That framing ties the rail project directly to the Terminal 1 rebuild, making both infrastructure pieces interdependent in the government’s stated vision.
The proposed monorail is expected to serve all three airport terminals as part of the ongoing modernization program. Whether the financing structure is resolved in time to align construction with the terminal reconstruction remains the central unanswered question surrounding the Lagos Airport monorail project.
