The Nigerian Epiphany

The Nigerian Railroad Policy – Epiphany

The title of this post on the Nigerian Federal Government’s (FGN) railroad sector policy is what l am describing as an EPIPHANY, not only as a general observer but also as someone who has been involved in the sector for some time. Over the last couple of years, the Nigerian railroad sector has been an illuminating, educational journey for me. And, it continues to be.

Much has been written about the benefits to a country of a railway network, be it a passenger or freight system, especially, an effective and efficient one. This cannot be over-emphasized, a particular favourite and simple summarisation of the impact a carefully planned rail network can have…

‘Where trains travel, businesses thrive and communities grow.’

For example, here are just two of the many benefits a railway network can have to a country’s infrastructure:

• A - A railway system allows for new settlements to thrive along the rail corridors - towns along the route thrive, become layover points, and new markets develop for goods.

• B - A rail network aids the expansion of the available markets for goods geographically, making a wider variety of goods possible for people to obtain and vice-versa.

So, l said to myself. Yes, this is it. The stage is set for the development of the railroad sector in Nigeria. Not only will it create jobs in their thousands, but will open up the economy to all. The Nigerian government needs to reform and restructure its rail sector to align with the 21st-century railroad transport sector and in tandem utilise best practices that have been developed in other parts of the world.

This realization was not a result of the numerous pronouncements by the Nigerian government in recent times. Nor was it due to the various pronouncements in the recent past. No. this was a result of the discovery of a document detailing the Nigerian government’s 25-year master plan for the railroad and road infrastructure development in the country. This was a key indicator for me of the seriousness of the government in effecting change in the rail sector of the economy. In particular, the plan for the construction of ten new rail lines… intended to link all the thirty-six state capitals.

But, significantly to me, was the Coastal Rail Line. This is intended to link up all the South-West and South-South States of the country. The feasibility study, l understand, is complete. Is it? Only time will tell!

What was most gratifying to me, personally, was the spade of activities around the railroad sector in the not-too-distant future. The most recent of them all was the reported contract award for the construction of the Eastern Line. This runs from Port-Harcourt through Kaduna Junction, through to Maiduguri. From my understanding, the new construction of a standard-gauge line follows the existing corridor of the current narrow-gauge line, now wait for it, currently under another spate of rehabilitation!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for it; for the construction of a new standard-gauge line, thus doing away with the existing single-line narrow-gauge. What’s still to be made clear by the Nigerian authorities is whether the new line construction is a standard-gauged single line, or, a standard-gauged double line. That remains a mystery.

So, the question is, what currently is the state of the railroad infrastructure in Nigeria? Well, let’s cut to the chase.

It all began in 2010, with the spade of awards of contracts to rehabilitate its crumbling 119-year-old (the first track was laid in 1898!) narrow-gauge single-track system. There have been well over a hundred announcements by the Nigerian State about how the rail return will be the live-wire of the Nigerian economy, beginning with the construction and completion of the Lagos- of the six-phased Lagos – Kano, standard gauge, double track within some sections/corridors of the government’s railroad modernization program. See the table below:

CONSTRUCTION PHASING OF LAGOS TO KANO STANDARD-GAUGE RAILWAY LINE

• Lagos - Ibadan: 180km / Est. Duration 4yrs / Now operational from 10 June 2021
  Estimated cost of $1.5 billion.

• Ibadan - Ilorin: 200km / Est. Duration 6yrs / No details available.

• Ilorin - Minna: 270km / Est. Duration 6yrs / No details available.

• Mina - Abuja: 145km / Est. Duration 2.5yrs / No details available.

• Abuja - Kaduna: 186km / Est. Duration 3.6yrs / Took 6yrs to complete (2011-2016)
  Now operational since 26 July 2016 / Approx cost of just over $1.04 billion.

• Minna - Kano: 360km / Est. Duration 7yrs / No details available.

Between 1832 and 1837, a period of 5 years, nearly 2000km (over 1200mls) of rail tracks were laid. In the US. All this was carried out by the “Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads.” Private organizations. Not by the government. The Union Pacific still operates to this day!

Painfully, 14 years down the line since much thumbing of the chest by the three transportation ministers, what is on the ground doesn’t justify the number of resources expended on making the Nigerian railway system effective and efficient When totted up, the new standard-gauge lines – that is, Ibadan to Lagos, Idu/Abuja to Kaduna, and, lastly, Warri to Ajaokuta/Itape lines, don’t come close to that of the lines built in the US between 1832 through 1837! The irony of it all is that the Nigerian government came short with all the modern construction technology at its disposal.

Instead of going by its 25-year phased railway sector implementation plan, the government’s approach is nothing short of what can be best described as a scattered-gun approach. Nigeria,

As always the government is always on over-drive with ambitious railroad infrastructural development plans.