THE over 100-year history of the Nigerian railway system, which pioneered the rapid opening of the country, is a mixed bag. There was an upward curvature amidst stability, before the cankerworm of corruption stagnated its growth, reversed its fortunes and virtually killed it.
The first railroad was constructed by the British colonial government in 1898 with the construction of the 193-kilometre first rail line from Lagos to Ibadan between 1898 and 1901. With the amalgamation of the Lagos Government Railway and the Baro-Kano Railway on October 3, 1912 and the completion of the 640-kilometre Kano – Maiduguri rail line, then called the Bornu Extension, the present core of the railway network was put in place.
The regulatory body, called the Government Department of Railways when the Lagos Government Railway and the Baro-Kano Railway were amalgamated, became the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in 1955 with the passing of the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act of 1955, and with that, the company gained the exclusive legal right to construct and operate rail service in Nigeria.
However, as if it were a national cause, this upward journey entered a long period of decline, inept management, and eventually a complete lack of maintenance of rail and locomotive assets, forcing the NRC to declare bankruptcy in 1988. All rail traffic stopped for six months.
After the six-month hiatus, train services resumed where the tracks were usable. But by 2002, passenger service was again discontinued altogether. Starting in 2006, plans were made to restore the rail lines and add new locomotives with foreign assistance. In December 2012, regular scheduled passenger service was restored on the Lagos to Kano line.
The late President Muhammadu Buhari officially inaugurated the Abuja-Kaduna railway line for commercial services on July 26, 2016. It is a standard-gauge railway whose construction began in February 2011 and was completed by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC).
The total NRC network is 3,505 kilometres of single-track lines 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge, as well as 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) from Abuja to Kaduna. One hundred fifty-seven kilometres are double-tracked, but these are located between Lagos and Ibadan. The rail lines are built of rails with a weight per metre loop of 29.8 kg, 34.7 kg or 39.7 kg.
Under construction is the 1,443-kilometre Eastern Rail Line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri since March 9 2021, with construction activities including renovation or reconstruction of existing lines. The project also includes new branch lines to Owerri and Damaturu, increasing the total length to 2,044 km. Completion was scheduled for 2024.
The NRC, which has gone into bankruptcy more than once in the past 30 years, recorded record revenues of ₦2.12 billion in the first half of 2021, an increase of 31% over the same period in 2019, which exceeded the previous record revenue. At the same time, revenue from freight transport was down, with gains coming mainly from passenger transport between Lagos and Ibadan on the new standard gauge.
The revenue of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line alone was ₦300 million monthly in December 2021. In 2019, it generated approximately N1.5 billion annually, or N130 million monthly, a figure used to service other northern stations. Despite the ever-present fear of bandit attacks, the Abuja-Kaduna line has perhaps become the most reliable and safe mode of transportation between the two major cities. In terms of punctuality, even the airlines are no longer as reliable as the train services.
In October 2021, bandits failed to stop a train after they laid explosives on its tracks, and the train hobbled on to its destination afterwards. But five months later, they hit the bull’s eye. On the same route, on Monday, March 28 2022, they stopped one heading for Kaduna from Abuja at Katari by bombing its tracks and shooting sporadically into it, forcing it to come to a halt. They killed many passengers and abducted dozens. Less than a week earlier, they had stormed the Kaduna airport, killing an official on the runway.
Perhaps more to do with maintenance than any security breach, a passenger train travelling from Abuja to Kaduna derailed in the morning on August 26 this year, leaving several cabins overturned and triggering panic among those on board. It was a chaotic scene as several compartments were upturned and passengers scampered for safety.
In Japan, the electrified Shinkansen bullet train system has maintained a near-perfect safety record for over 60 years, with zero crashes, derailments, and passenger fatalities since its launch in 1964. Its reliability extends to its punctuality, with average delays measured in seconds.
Here, since its launch in 2016, the train has presented an alternative means of movement between Abuja, the nation’s capital, and Kaduna. It was not surprising to see military and police rednecks, top government officials and political office holders being driven to the railway stations in convoys of well-armed security men for the 200-kilometre journey by train or picked up after arrival for fear of encountering bandits on the highway.
These bandits-cum-Boko Haram number in the tens of thousands but go around in dozens, sometimes more. Unchallenged, they invade towns and villages mostly on motorcycles – and sometimes on horses, and always well-armed.
However, going by the information given to us last week by Dauda Lawal Dare, Zamfara State Governor, that the locations of all the bandits are known, telling us he also monitors them on his phone, and the charge given to troops by General Chris Musa permitting them to engage and subdue all threats, perhaps our security leadership will develop the will to fight them.
Lest I Forget
The Federal Government on Thursday last week announced a ₦1,854,277,768 allocation to fund the education and rehabilitation of the Chibok schoolgirls (who are 108, and entrusted to the care of the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs) abducted by Boko Haram in 2014. According to the Minister of Education, Dr Tunji Alausa, the funding falls under President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda and reflects the administration’s commitment to safeguarding the education and future of Nigerian children.
While the Chibok girls have been this lucky, there are thousands of other victims all over the North East, especially in Borno, Yobe and Adamawa States, who could not continue with their education, which the same Boko Haram disrupted. And they are eager to return to school.
Yours truly had a house demolished by Boko Haram using IEDs, when they went to kill me, but found me absent. My experience is not isolated; there are thousands more with the same nasty experience who have never received any support as a result of such losses from any governmental bodies.
It is high time the Renewed Hope Agenda revisited each of these Boko Haram-inflicted losses.
- Dr Gimba, anipr, is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Neptune Prime. His syndicated column, The Arbiter, appears on News Point Nigeria newspaper on Mondays.