Rejuvenating Nigerian railway system

By Femi Oluwasanmi

Nigeria as giant of Africa ought to learn from the success story of other countries operating railway system particularly, the UK, US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and others where it’s almost impossible for any criminal gang irrespective of their manifestations to halt a moving train and abduct passenger(s) on board not to talk of taking them hostage for months like the one witnessed in Nigeria.

The need to preserve lives and livelihood of people across the globe has made transportation system an indispensable factor in assessing the development and progress of a country. It has shown that no country can perform optimally without proper planning for transportation because it shapes and reshapes not only a nation but also the nature and character of its people and her relations with other countries. That is the reason most developed countries invest heavily in transportation system. However, experiences over the years seem to portray that Nigeria is yet to harness great opportunities embedded in transportation system, especially, the railway system.

On 24th January, 2023, President Muhammadu Buhari alongside Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State commissioned the Lagos Blue Rail Line at Marina, Lagos State and witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the second phase which will run from Mile-2 to Okokomaiko. While commending the president for honouring his invitation, Sanwo-Olu stated that the Blue Line is a product of his timeless vision for Lagos State, though, it predates the birth of his administration.

Lagos Blue Line is the first light rail system in Nigeria expected to carry more than 500, 000 passengers daily when completed, reduce traffic gridlock and increase the internally generated revenue (IGR) of the State. Replicating this project at the national level will improve inter/intra-city movement, provide comfort for long distance traveling, accelerate the movement of bulk goods at a low cost, reduce environmental pollution/cost of transportation and boost the economy strength of the country.

At present, the debt profile of Nigeria is above 44 trillion naira and it is expected to hit 77 trillion naira before December, 2023, because out of the over 21 trillion naira estimated budget for 2023, only 9 trillion naira will be accrued from the government generated revenue while closed to 13 trillion naira is expected to be sourced from loans.

Meanwhile, if the railway system is rejuvenated, Nigeria can generate up to 7.5 trillion naira annually from the system because of her population. That is equivalent to a quarter of the 2023 budget of the country. This is not to talk of other sources of revenue generation that are yet to be properly harnessed in Nigeria.

Also, it will surely reduce the rate of unemployment and underemployment because more hands will be employed to operate the train and work at the stations. Currently, the population of Nigeria is estimated to be hovering around 200 million and based on the last report of the National Bureau Statistics (NBA), more than 33% of the population are unemployed while over 20% are underemployed. By calculation, this suggest that more than 100 millions of the country’s population are struggling to survive. No wonder, the more the government claimed to invest in security, the more insecurity continues to spread across the country.

In the South East for instance, the agents of terror seem to appear in forms of unknown gunmen/kidnappers while in the South West, it is manifestating informs of ritual killing/kidnapping and in the North it seems to take the forms of banditry, Boko Haram, killer herdsmen among other unscrupulous elements that poses great threat to the smooth running of railway system in Nigeria.

In March 2022, more than 100 passengers out of the passengers on board were abducted while 8 were killed when a train conveying people through Kaduna – Abuja rail track was attacked. It took more than 6 months before the abductees were released in batches through the help of some well meaning Nigerians who met the abductors and begged them with huge ransom. The same would have happened if not for the rapid response of the security personnel when a train traveling through Lagos – Ibadan line ran out of fuel

How can these amounts of money, be helpful to a family with five or eight children where almost all their dependence is more than this. Or enough for an individual needs.

How can you explain situation whereby you walks to a trader in the market and request for his or her account number to do electronic money transfer and the trader or motorist will tell you he or she does not have an account number or complain of some unfinished transaction due to some network hitch. And another thing we should know is that fraudulent, cheating and stealing can not be over emphasize in this kind of cashless practice; if proper modality are not put in place.

Every citizen of a country is entitled to right to life, sustenance and liberty. Due to austerity measure a lot of people in this country took laws into their hands, and makes life difficult for others, petty traders now skyrockets the price of things they sells to the pains of their fellow Nigerian.

To conclude this article, I will want the federal government, and, all arms of government to look into the following suggestions I came out with that can address the challenges we have at hand;

1. Currency circulation: due to the numerous challenges we face in issue of money circulations; I suggest there should be a reliable monitoring and evaluation team that, should carry a thorough evaluation and a task force activity, to ensure compliance. The problem of old and new naira notes acceptances by the masses; should be taken into considerations. Because it is a hustle and bustle in some areas of this country, where people reject old notes and some even reject the new notes because of it redesigning impotency. This I think should be disabused and stopped in the bush in 2020. Unfortunately, the report of the committee set up to investigate the cause of the incident is yet to be made known to the public till date.

2. Extortion: just like I had written earlier on extortion of almost point of sales agents knows as POS should be put to check, because, of over charge fee for the services render to customers, which is very very unsatisfactory; a situation whereby you are ask, to pay thirty percent for each deposit or withdrawal is unacceptable, take for instance if you are making a withdrawal of a hundred thousand naira, you will pay thirty thousand for charges, it is extortion and dehumanization.

Some of these agents gives excuses base on the fact, that, they had been on a long queue all day to get this monies from banks which they are agents to and some will boldly tell you, they bought the money from other sources which they pay some percentage before, the monies was given to them. I tell you what had happened in this country in the past weeks, is a memorial events that will take duration of time to be erase from the minds of Nigerian.

3. The Reputation of this country should always be put in forefront, when we are dealing with national interest. The state of the nation is unbearable, and to be sincere, it is throwing a heavy blow on the structure of both businesses and human life all over. Ikpang Sunday is a Public Policy Analyst.

Nigeria as giant of Africa ought to learn from the success story of other countries operating railway system particularly, the UK, US, Canada, Japan, South Korea, and others where it’s almost impossible for any criminal gang irrespective of their manifestations to halt a moving train and abduct passenger(s) on board not to talk of taking them hostage for months like the one witnessed in Nigeria. Apart from the security mechanism installed that guaranties safety, proper planning that has made avoidable accident like the one that happened in Lagos State of recent where more than 6 persons were reported dead and scores of Lagos State workers injured impossible needed to be emulated.

This will not only prevent the occurrence of similar incident, it will also contribute to the economic growth of the country. For instance, based on the Oxford Economics Finds report, “the UK railway sector supported £42.9 billion of economic production and was associated with 710,000 jobs and £14.1 billion in tax revenues in 2019.” The same could said of other countries running an effective and efficient railway system. Unfortunately, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) stated in its reports in 2019, that the “Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) only generated N2.41 billion in revenue from passengers, N362.88 million from goods or cargo and N64.58 million from other income receipts in 2019” despite the size of her population.

Under the current administration, about 156km Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Rail, 327km Itakpe-Warri Standard Gauge Rail, Abuja Light Rail have been commissioned while a ground-breaking done for the construction of Kano-Maradi Standard Gauge Rail, and revamp of Port-Harcourt-Maiduguri Narrow Gauge Rail and financing negotiations for Ibadan-Kano Standard Gauge Rail project are in progress though, the realities on ground suggest that the desired result is yet to be achieved.

Femi Oluwasanmi writes in from Ibafo,

The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), says Africa requires an innovative people-centred development model to integrate poverty and inequality reduction into national and regional development strategies.

Antonio Pedro, the Acting Executive Secretary, ECA, said this at the 55th session of the Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Monday.

According to Pedro, Africa is at the centre of a global sustainability transition, underpinning its path toward recovery, ensuring structural transformation and economic diversification.

He said the transition would enable the continent to build resilience, and achieve sustainable and inclusive growth, in line with Agendas 2030 and 2063.

“There is moderately good news as Africa’s growth is rebounding at 4.1 per cent, and inflation has reduced to 12 per cent so far.