NIGERIA: Nigerians urge government to rebuild rail network

Nigerians have urged the government to revamp the country's dilapidated railway system in order to reduce congestion in urban centres and reduce transportation costs. When taking office this year, President Umaru Yar'Adua pledged to rebuild old tracks and expand into new areas. Nigerians have called for the country's dilapidated railway system to be revamped as a solution to perennial traffic jams and rising transportation costs. Nigeria's railway system was once the envy of its neighbouring west African countries. But after decades of neglect and mismanagement only 75 percent of its estimated 200 locomotives are operational. Millions of dollars in salaries and pensions for rail workers remain unpaid. When President Umaru Yar'Adua took office in May this year, he pledged to carry through an ambitious plan to redesign existing tracks and expand into new areas nationwide. "Every hand is on deck to make the railway work both at the higher level in government and the least level in railway. The government are playing their part and those of us in the railway are also playing our part," said Victor Okiriah, an official with the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC). The NRC is fully state-owned but the government plans to privatise the organisation as part of the 25-year comprehensive railway development project. China's Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) has been commissioned to carry out the first phase of the project which is meant to connect all 36 state capitals as well as other major cities. "The government has given the contract to Chinese to make the standard gauge lines from Lagos to Kano, and I think they are working seriously to achieve that," Okiriah affirmed. Recently the NRC held an 'open day' during which school children in the commercial capital Lagos, were taken for train rides in a bid to popularise the railway development plan. "I am excited because since I was born, I have never entered the train before today," said one of the students, Paul Henshaw. Analysts say usage for the few trains that still run, declined from 14 million passengers in 1980 to less than one million in 2005. Adetiloye Ademola, who lives in Lagos, says he would readily take the train if they were available. "It serves as an easy way of transportation and it helps the masses particularly the poor people because when we compare the prices of train to bus and to cab. you will find that train is cheaper than the buses and the cab in Nigeria," he said. Many people in Lagos, Africa's most populous urban centre, say a good rail system may also be the solution to the daily gridlock traffic the city is infamous for. "In terms of traffic jams, there's no way you can find traffic jams on the railway system. It's only on the road system you can find traffic jams. Here in Lagos we always experience traffic jam, a journey you can spend a journey of five minutes you will end up spending more than thirty minutes because of traffic jams," Chekwas Obi, another Lagos resident. Nigeria currently has about 3505 kilometres of track, all of which are 1067 millimetre gauge rather than the standard 1435 millimetre. All of the NRC's trains run on diesel, and less than half of its freight wagons and passenger coaches can be restored. Analysts say the government's rail recovery and expansion plans will cost around 30 billion US dollars.

ITN Source | October 12, 2007

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