Nigerians Await The Rail Lines To Transform Their Economy

So many Nigerians across the country seem to hinge all their hopes on the ongoing rehabilitation of existing railway lines and the construction of new standard gauge meant for electric trains for the physical transformation of their economy believing that with the ongoing dredging of the River Niger and other inland waterways like the River […]

So many Nigerians across the country seem to hinge all their hopes on the ongoing rehabilitation of existing railway lines and the construction of new standard gauge meant for electric trains for the physical transformation of their economy believing that with the ongoing dredging of the River Niger and other inland waterways like the River Benue and the Orashi river, if the full length of the existing railway lines in the country will be fully rehabilitated and the new standard gauge covering Lagos to Kano through Ibadan, Minna, Abuja and Kaduna will be fully constructed as initiated by the late President Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s administration, the problem of transportation will be a thing of the past.

 

Many believed that with effective, efficient and reliable means of transportation like the inland waterways and the railway, the cost of living, food items, farm produce and even housing will drastically reduce as so many people with little or no business doing in the urban areas will be moving back to villages that can be easily accessible by inland waterways and by rail thereby reducing the current congestion in towns and cities which is one of the reasons for high cost of living in the country.

Ms Kate Nwankwo and Miss Osaro Igodalo are two long time friends and business partners who returned from Spain 3 years ago. They said since the federal government embarked on the construction of standard gauge railway line from Kaduna to Abuja, they have been planning how to invest along the rail line linking the two major towns believing that it will serve as a good avenue for business venture.

Kate said, “We have been to two of the villages they intend to make as railway stations along the Kaduna – Abuja railway line and bought large expanse of land. In the first village, we bought the land N70,000 and N45,000 in the second village. We intend to build hotel and stores there. We are sure by the time the trains start operating, some people including workers living in Abuja will relocate to those villages and that will open a lot of businesses for us.

“You know, rather than stay at any of the FCT villages like Maraba or Lugbe and be paying N120,000 for a room and be struggling for bus every morning and evening, people will prefer to stay in as far as a railway station village near Kaduna where you will be paying N12,000 to N20,000 per room. You join early morning train and arrive in Abuja before 8 am and return in the evening train after work. Life will be cheaper in the villages. There will be constant power supply because of the railway station and you will be detached completely from the urban disturbances,” she said.

Miss Igodalo said her biggest nightmare with living in Abuja is the problem of the task force and multiple revenue collectors which she said will not exist in those villages. She said when they met the village heads and told them their plans to buy, develop lands and establish businesses, the villages were very happy and welcome them. She said the way they were received by the villagers was so encouraging and they have no doubt they will live in peace with them.

“Food items are very cheap there. I bought two big chickens N820.00 from the village. I am sure each of them will cost over a N1,000 here. The two villages we went to have both Muslim and Christian population in them and are living in peace. I have no doubt within the first one year of the start of operation by the trains along Kaduna/Abuja way, business will start booming there. We intend to develop the place in a way that everybody in Abuja will be interested in relocating to the place,” she said.

Pa Olumide Olugotun is a 91-year old retired railway worker residing in a village near Lokoja, the Kogi state capital. He said in addition to the normal goods and cargo being transported by rail, there are special coaches meant for the transportation of petroleum products by rail which he said is even safer and more effective than by road.

“About ten years ago when I went to Bauchi I still saw those coaches meant for carrying petroleum products. One  locomotive engine can draw what 100 trailers will carry. You can imagine 100 trailers line up with goods from Maiduguri to Port-Harcourt or from Lagos to Kano. Just one locomotive engine can draw the coaches that will carry all those goods. When the pressure on the road is reduced, that will also reduce road accidents and unnecessary deaths,” he said.

Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA), Architect Ahmed Aminu Yar’adua said the federal government has planned to rehabilitate the now abandoned railway line linking Baro in Niger state to Minna through Bida so that goods meant for transportation through the Baro inland port can be transported to and from the port by rail.

He said other river ports and jetties will also be linked with railway lines to ensure total inter modeling of the transport system in the country for effective and efficient transportation. He said all the river ports and jetties will be equipped in a way that they can receive and discharge goods into trains for further delivery to destinations that cannot be reached by water.

Former Minister of Transport, Alhaji Ibrahim Isa Bio in whose era under the late Yar’adua’s regime the transport inter modeling idea was conceived and initiated, told Sunday Trust in an exclusive interview while in office that the federal government will rehabilitate the full length of the existing railway lines, buy 25 new locomotive engines and construct standard gauge railway line from Lagos to Kano starting with Kaduna to Abuja due to financial constraint.

Alhaji Bio said the total rehabilitation and construction of new railway lines in the country is not only targeted at revamping the railway sector, but it is also aimed at connecting the railway lines to the Nigerian airports, seaports and the river ports of the inland waterways in addition to the railway stations existing in towns and villages with motor parks.

The design by the late Umaru Musa Yar’adua’s administration which started with the dredging of the River Niger, rehabilitation and construction of roads, existing and standard railway lines, rehabilitation and upgrading of equipments at the nation’s airports and the construction of jetties and river ports along the dredged inland waterways to ease transportation in the country was the priority of that administration.

The government designed the transformation of the transport sector in a way that the existing railway lines will not only be rehabilitated, but standard railway lines for electric trains will be constructed from Lagos to Kano through Ibadan, Minna, Abuja and Kaduna starting with Kaduna to Abuja the contract which the late Yar’adua administration awarded before his demise.

The administration also designed the linking of all the seaports, river ports and airports with railway lines not only to expand and develop the transport sector but also to relieve the roads of the present over burden of having to account for about 90 percent of the domestic transportation requirement that is largely responsible for most of the road accidents in the country.

Bio further said, the Yar’adua’s administration planned to dredge other rivers in the country in addition to River Niger and also build jetties and river ports for maximum use of the inland waterways. From available records, the present administration though slow in action, seems to have adopted the same developmental phase.

He said when the standard gauge from Kaduna to Abuja is completed, government will buy electric trains and put them to use with a view to decongesting the population of Abuja believing that the effective and efficient performance of the electric trains will attract some residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) staying in the territory to relocate to some railway towns.

Recounting the achievements of the present administration in the area of transportation, the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar who is always asked questions over the failure of this administration in initiating new ideas in the area of transportation, was quick to say, “Governance is a continues process and therefore accomplishments in government may overlap between successive administrations. Some projects such as railways complete with their associated signaling and telecommunication system take relatively long periods to conceive and complete, therefore assessing them on a one-year scale may not give a fair assessment.

“The major railway projects embarked upon are in line with the 25-Year Strategic Rail Vision covering the rehabilitation of existing narrow gauge lines (3,505 kilometers) and the construction of new standard gauge lines as part of Federal Government’s effort to modernize the railways.

Contractos for rehabilitation works covering over 90 percent of the existing narrow gauge rail tracks (3,505km) have been awarded and are at various stages of completion.

“Construction of Abuja – Kaduna standard gauge rail (187 kilometers) is in progress (28 percent completed). Lagos – Ibadan dual-track, standard gauge rail (360 kilometers) is ready for award but awaiting the conclusion of funding arrangements with China Exim Bank. The rehabilitation and completion of the standard gauge rail line in the central corridor from Itakpe through Ajaokuta to Warri is in progress.

“An Investment Incentive MoU has already been signed with General Electric, (GE) with a launch order of 170 locomotives to be assembled in Nigeria over the next ten (10) years while 30 of the existing old GE locomotives are to be refurbished and maintained,” he said.

On the ongoing construction work at the Warri-Ajaokuta standard gauge rail line, the minister said it will be completed by March, 2013 adding that he is satisfied with the work done so far. He said government was making efforts to address the financial constraints which has been the fundamental issue militating against the speedy completion of the project.

But the project coordinator who is also a Division Manager of Julius Berger Nigeria, Mr. Guido Abel said the deadline given by the minister is only realistic if government provides funding, stating that the biggest obstacle to the realization of the project is funding and hoped that government will make necessary funds available for its completion.

The Warri-Ajaokuta rail line which is 276 kilometers long was conceived in 1987 to carry steel products and raw materials from Delta Steel Company, Aladja, Warri and later abandoned after about 254 kilometers had been done due to funding constraints. The project was resuscitated in 2009 by the Yar’adua led administration and is slated for completion in March 2013. It will now carry passengers as well as freight. The train from Warri passes through Itakpe, Ajaokuta, Agbor, Warri and Ore with 6 stations in between.

On the Abuja – Kaduna standard gauge railway project being handled directly by the Ministry of Transport rather than the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Senator Idris Umar assured that barring any unforeseen events, the completion of the project will be within the specified time frame of 36 months as stipulated in the contract agreement, saying, it is expected to be completed in 2014.

He told officials of the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC) handling the project that he would constitute a Ministerial Monitoring Team to submit a monthly report on the Abuja (Idu) – Kaduna rail modernization project, and also promised a quarterly visit to monitor the development on the sites.

He expressed satisfaction over the tempo of work at the location, and noted that substantial sums of money have been earmarked in the 2012 budget for the ongoing rail project, adding that government is striving to revitalize the railway which has been comatose for decades. He explained that the Lagos – Jebba rail lines have been rehabilitated, and promised to address the problems hindering that of Jebba – Kano route.

The Managing Director of CCECC, Adin Bao Gang like all other contractors handling railway projects in the country also complained of poor funding which he said is slowing down the speed of work, adding that train services will be of immense benefits to the economic development of the nation and the commuting public in this axis and therefore urged government to ensure adequate funding.

He said on completion, the passenger trains will take an  hour from Abuja  to Kaduna and each can convey more than 5, 000 passengers daily,  while cargo trains will take an hour and half with each delivering at least 800 tons of cargo. According to him, the cost implications of the rail route will be low.

The project, which has 186 kilometer rail network, will cost a $850 Million (eight hundred and Fifty million dollars). The Chinese Exim Bank is putting up a soft loan of $500 million (five hundred million dollars), while the Nigerian Government will provide the balance. The track will have 36 bridges and 9 (nine) fully developed stations. The project currently employs about 3,000 Nigerians and on completion will employ over 5,000 Nigerians thereby boosting employment.

Beyond the issue of inadequate and delayed payment to contractors which is slowing work at all the rehabilitation sites of existing railway lines and construction of standard gauge lines, lack of constant supervision of the contractors by the authorities is also is discouraging.

Alhaji Lawal Fantami is a transporter in Jos and told this reporter in Bauchi that he has been supplying labourers and working implements to the contractors handling the rehabilitation work on the existing railway line from Bukuru in Plateau state to Gombe but noted that neither the transport minister nor any top official of the transport ministry ever visited the rehabilitation site to inspect ongoing work.

“I have been close to the contractors but I have never seen the minister come to this axis to inspect the ongoing work. The political will is not just there. Yes, the contractors are doing there work. But you know very well that constant inspection by the minister will keep them on their toes and will afford him the opportunity to tackle any problem that may arise on the sites,” he said.

At the Zaria/Kauran Namoda lane the story is the same. Labourers were seen working and sand filling the rail tracks but the contractors were not around for comment. Salisu Yankara, a casual labourer told this reporter that since he started working with the contractor at site, the most senior government officials that went to inspect the project were some people in a Hilux jeep who went and took pictures and left.

At Akere in Niger state where the reconstruction of a train bridge was going on, construction workers said work on the bridge may likely last beyond 2012 due to the rainy season and lack of adequate working materials like cement and iron rods to complete the work despite assurances given by the transport minister in Abuja that the Lagos – Kano rail line that passed through Akere will be ready before the year runs out.

“You can see that we are still constructing the bridge. We were more than this number before. The contractor reduced the number due to non payment by government. Our cement and iron left will not finish the work. It is not immediately we finished constructing the bridge that the rails will be laid then train will start passing on it. I do not know the magic they will do that this Bridge will be put to use in 3 months time as they are saying,” a construction worker said.

The Akere bridge is the most delicate aspect of the entire rehabilitation work on the Lagos – Kano line where the entire Bridge had to be reconstructed. Another major problem noted at all the areas visited by this reporter which the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the transport ministry would have to address immediately, is the issue of encroachment onto the railway premises.

While in some parts of Lagos, Ibadan and Enugu visited, some people have encroached onto the railway premises by building houses and stores on them, in Gombe, Bauchi and Zaria temporary structures like kiosks, mechanic workshops and places of worships have been constructed too close to the rail lines or around the railway stations.