The Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Fidet Edatalen Okhiria, says the Standard Gauge will redefine travel experiences of Nigerians when fully operational. He speaks with ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE on the narrow and the standard gauge, staff motivation and the emerging golden era of the railway, among other issues.
How much has the Federal Government spent to bring the standard gauge to this level?
I think the cost is quite reasonable. In fact, you can google the cost per kilometre depending on the terrain and other variables, such as the tonnage, axle load, are you doing mono rail, are you doing underpass or overpass, are you going to be having bridges or is it only on flat ground? All these contribute to the cost. This is a contract that was awarded in 2006 and we are still maintaining the contract sum till date. When it was awarded as a single contract, it was $8.6 billion and that is the cost we are still maintaining.
The only addedum was the supplementary from Ebute Meta to Apapa. It is reasonable. It is not the amount you built in Lagos that you are expected to build in Kano, because depending on the situation you found on site. In Lagos we have to relocate 600 meters of water pipes, we had to protect 300 meters of gas pipes, we had to pay compensations for right of way lands, houses, etc.
Where you have the station in Abeokuta, over 1000 houses had to go, the people affected are Nigerians. You have to compensate them. These are the costs that make up the rail construction. As a professional and as a rail person, I must say the cost is reasonable.
Staff morale has been at the lowest, with railway workers insisting that they remained the poorest paid among agencies in the Federal Ministry of Transportation. What are you doing on their welfare?
We must thank God for where we are now. If you look back at where we were coming from, you will have no reason but to help us thank God. We were coming from an era where salaries were not even coming at all, not that they were not regular. There was a time we were not paid for nine months, especially during the Babangida regime, we would go on strike, come back on our own, without anyone calling us back, but today, we get salaries as at when due and our retirees are no longer waylaying us or forming barricades at the gates. However, we are leaving it like that, let us take the government’s commitment to infrastructure to a sustenable level and we can now begin on staff welfare.
I can assure them that something is being done to improve on the salaries so that we would be the same at least with other parastatals in the Ministry of Transportation. We are working on something, and everybody is supporting it, the minister is supporting it, the board is supporting it and we would soon unveil this to our workers, and I know that very soon, they will smile.
Housing has been a contentious issue in the Railway. About 80 percent of your houses is said to be accommodating retirees, many are even building on the spaces inside their alloted houses. What are you doing about accommodation for your workers, especially the operational staff?
We are also looking at this major issue, but the problem is that the case is in court and I don’t want to comment on a matter that may be subjudice.
The workers union went to court, they got judgment and we have filed an appeal. However the board and the government felt that it is not proper to implement the monetisation policy of the government because of the nature of jobs we do. Our operational men, especially need to be close to the areas of operation. Even when you are at home, you can be called upon on emergency to help rescue a situation that was why we thought the monetisation may be injurious to the overall interest of operation and the workers union took the management to court and the case is still in court. The last judgment was that the houses should be released to the workers and because we don’t want to fall victim of disobeying the court orders, we appealed the judgment and we are waiting the appellate court decision on our appeal. So, where we can provide, we provide accommodation like at Itakpe and Warri, where we tried to rent houses for our operational staff, same thing we did at Abuja-Kaduna and the same thing we would do on the Lagos-Ibadan corridor, so that people on essential duty can have a place to rest.
It is surprising to learn that some of our workers may have actually being erecting structures on the space allotted to them. It is trite that such is illegal and cannot be allowed to stand. We will investigate this and where we find this to be true, we shall do the needful to ensure that no one alters the masterplan of the houses allocated to them under any guise. Those found to be living in those places illegally would be evicted. I can assure that the Railway management will look into that. All structures built without any approvals would be pulled down.
What is the import of the University of Transportation and a wagon factory for our rail development?
Those two steps are great milestones for our country. When we finished the track construction, and move to the supply of coaches and wagons the bulk of our fleet are expected to be supplied by the factory in Ogun State. The factory would address the issue of job creation and technology domestication.
The university on the other hand, would train Nigerians on all fields of rail transportation. This would further consolidate the efforts of the Federal Government which has sent 150 Nigerians to China to be trained from Masters and PhD levels. These ones are meant to return to train those who will apply into the university to handle the new rail system. I will describe the two steps as a huge plus to our railway strides, as both would employ people. We need training not only in railway transportation but also in logistics, and other specialised area of railway system. We need to develop a new curriculum that can support our transportation systems.
Can you address the issue of the narrow gauge? What’s happening to the concession dream?
The Federal Government had planned to concession the narrow gauge and GE was picked we have signed the interim agreement but the company moved out of the transportation sector and they withdrew from railway sector. Transnet came in and we tried to encourage them, to continue and we can say we are still negotiating and we can safely say it is still on because they have not come back to us to say they are no longer interested. We hope with them we can revive hope on the narrow gauge.
We believe there is a lot of resources. There is a very huge opportunity in the narrow gauge. Apart from the western line which appeared to be the most developed and lucrative, we have the Eastern line, from which you can move from Port Harcourt all the way to Maiduguri. And from Lagos, you can go to Kano, you can go to Maiduguri from the ports.
We will try and continue to keep the two arteries of the narrow gauge going we would not allow it to die in our time. We would struggle to keep it going.
When can we say the modernisation agenda started?
It started in 1999, when the Obasanjo administration began a 25-year modernisation masterplan and by 2006, the modernisation began. It started first with the repairs of the narrow gauge and gradually embarked on building the standard gauge. The committee set up by the Federal Government thought of stopping the rail system in Nigeria to start the new one. But it was decided that it was appropriate to maintain what we have, while we plan for the next phase, which is the speed train.
So, while the government signed the Lagos-to-Kano contract for the standard gauge, we decided to continue running the narrow gauge. Thank God, the late President Shehu Musa Yar’Adua continued from where his predecessor left off, and his legacy was continued by President Goodluck Jonathan. It was inherited by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, assuring Nigerians of his determination to make the rail system the backbone of mass transit initiatives of the government. The railway modernisation masterplan will terminate in 2031, by which time all of the country is expected to have been covered by rail network.
The rehabilitation and modernisation of the narrow gauge is also expected to continue and we have been making use of the narrow gauge since then, until the shuttle service and the Lagos to Kano service was suspended as a result of the ongoing standard gauge construction. We are also hoping that a PPP arrangement on the Itakpe to Abuja and from Warri to the Onne Seaport would be completed on time. What our experience has shown us is that even if we had been constructing 100km of rail tracks every year since 2000, we would have constructed about 2000km of rail lines.
So, I still believe the rail is the way to go and we should continue to appreciate the government for its commitment to the rail. With the determination and courage in the next three years, we would have pushed the railway architecture in Nigeria. Our plans is to ensure we revive the industrial corridor and cover the productive belt of the country. Our plan is to get the line to Obajana in order to be able to take bulk cement from the cement factory there.
This would have a cumulative effect on the roads, making them to last longer. By linking Itakpe-Warri, we would have linked Southsouth to the North. In the whole picture, the narrow gauge seem to have been neglected.
What is the fate of the narrow gauge in the ongoing modernisation?
The narrow gauge is not neglected, because it still provides some critical services and generates till now about 70 percent of our revenue. Though we have not been able to generate enough, to maintain the narrow gauge because it is not a cheap thing to maintain the railway, but we will continue to use the little resources available to keep the narrow gauge running. We are trying to activate the Eastern axis just as the Western axis has been kept busy.
We have been running from Lagos to Kano, what is affecting the regularity of that for now, is the construction of the standard gauge. We have to stop to allow for the relocation of the narrow gauge to create more room for the standard gauge. We hope that the narrow gauge would be back on stream soon, and we are planning that the Port Harcourt-Aba line on the Eastern axis be extended to Enugu. We are also making sure that the tracks are protected to ensure they are not vandalised.
What could you identify as factors responsible for the increase in vandalism of railway properties?
I think Nigerians are becoming more desperate to make ends meet. The battle of survival is making so many to that they do not care anymore how to make quick money. It is not happening only in the railway, it is everywhere. It is what is responsible for the increase in kidnapping, pipelines vandalism, robbery etc, it is a growing concern.
For us at the railway, it is happening more now because most of our lines are no longer active either as a result of the insecurity in some parts of the country or as a result of the construction that is ongoing on the corridors. When we start running two three trains a day on those lines issues of vandalism would become a thing of the past.
There is no day we don’t arrest either in the Western or the Eastern line. When we arrest, we also prosecute.
Roof riders have become a major cause of concern. Why is it impossible to eradicate roof riding and what steps are you taking to reduce the prevalence if it cannot be totally eradicated?
We will continue aggressive advocacy targeted at these set of people. Those who climb the roof are not normal human beings because only those who aren’t normal will climb the roof of a moving train. We have done a lot to prevent them up to the extent of removing the steps, that are supposed to be used for the maintenance of the trains.
We even contemplated planning to put a wedge barrier at our stations, but the health and safety unit of the corporation advised against that. We will continue to look for a way, the police have continued raiding and prosecute them.
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