As Nigerians eagerly await the take-off of the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge train service in the next few weeks, experts say the real transformation will begin when the trains are effectively connected to production centres, writes ADEYINKA ADERIBIGBE.
As the nation awaits the switch to the new standard gauge lines, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Acting Managing Director Mr Fidet Okhiria has said the organisation will increase passenger traffic and put the railway on the global map.
Okhiria said the move from the narrow gauge (measuring 1,067mm in width), which the corporation has used for over 116 years, to the standard gauge of 1445mm is the crystallisation of a dream.
Five coaches, which had arrived in the country in February, will ply the route.
The NRC chief said with the standard gauge, Nigeria has joined the league of countries providing trains that combine speed, safety and convenience.
“We are expected to begin the trial run this month, and from there on, the commercial operation will kick off. It is no longer news that the Federal Government is pursuing the realisation of the standard gauge from Lagos to Kano, and another one from Lagos to Calabar, and ensuring the completion of the Kaduna-Abuja and Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Port Harcourt standard gauge tracks.
“The dream of this management is to support the government in achieving this dream by providing the necessary professional advice to sustain it,” Okhiria added.
Though the cardinal goal of the Federal Government is to deliver a network of standard gauge tracks, Okhiria said the real development of the railway lay in cargo freighting and linking the trains to production centres of the economy.
He said the British, a century ago, had constructed the narrow gauges to link food and agricultural production centres to the seaports. Hence, a rail track linked farm settlements, coal and tin mines, cement factories and steel firms, such as the Ajaokuta Steel Company, to the ports. The economy was affected by the neglect of the rail, thus, its rejuvenation lies in getting the trains back on track, Okhiria said.
Transportation and logistics experts said the focus of the Federal Government was to run the narrow and standard gauge tracks.
The trains, they said, should not only concentrate on movement of passengers, but also on freight to support local productive and extractive industries.
In the heydays of the Nigerian Railways, movement of goods was easy as many lines were connected to production centres.
The Nigerian Railway Corpora-tion (NRC) has revitalised cargo freight, especially along the western line, moving goods from Lagos to Kaduna and Kano.
Trains now move cement from Lafarge at Ewekoro, in Ogun State, and flour and wheat from Apapa, Lagos, to the North and also ferry containers from APPM terminals at Apapa, Lagos to Kano.
Also, the NRC said it was wrapping up talks with oil marketers on moving petroleum products to the North.
The corporation has acquired 40 pressurised tank wagons with the capacity to lift 800,000 litres of petroleum and is awaiting the association’s resolution to conclude the negotiation, it was learnt.
Besides, Okhiria said the corporation would, from June, start moving about 150,000 tonnes of coal from Igumale in Enugu State to Port-Harcourt monthly.
Experts said the way to get the economy back on its feet is to return to the railway, connect the old production centres that gave the nation its fame, and begin to build new ones that would connect new industrial centres to main rail trunks via feeder lines.
Okhiria said the way to go was for the Federal Government to consolidate on the tempo by constructing new rail tracks. He said the nation needed to construct about 100 kilometres of rail tracks to link new production centres.
He said it was unthinkable that while Nigeria and India and China were almost at par in railway history in 1996, the countries due to deliberate government policies have become major players in the railway business. China and India construct 1,500 and 1,000 kilometres of rail tracks yearly, and buy coaches, wagons and locomotives.
“Any country with a developed rail sector has developed by deliberate government policy that had continued to invest in it. South Africa added 150 coaches to its rail system last year, while Cameroon bought 56 Diesel Multiple Unit same year, same as Ethiopia which added 100 first-class coaches to its fleet. Government must be involved because no businessman can run the railway system, just as the railway cannot pay itself,” Okhiria said
But with statistics putting the construction of a kilometre of track at $3.5 million, it is almost impossible to achieve any growth in the sector without private sector participation.
That was why many experts were ecstatic about a partnership that would stimulate the sector and complement the deals Nigeria has struck with the Chinese government to develop the sector.
The Chief Executive Officer of Connect Rail Service (CRS), Mr. Edeme Kelikume, whose company handles railway logistics services for Lafarge Cement and Flour Mill, harped on the development of more rail networks to encourage patronage and reduce the stress of cargo freighting by roads.
“Train is the way to go. It complements trailers and trucks which we use to move our cargoes to our final destinations and the warehouse. It is a complemen-tary service,” Kelikume said.
He said one of the major causes of the bad state of the roads was that they were not built to carry the weight they have been subjected to. Many of the roads built to carry only 30 tonnes weight have been subjected to 40 tonnes vehicles, and the prolonged usage of the roads by these vehicles would ultimately damage the roads.
“Contrary to the misconceptions of Nigerians, the trains would not kill but complement the truck business. The trains will free up the logjams on the roads, save time and make the roads lasts longer. The railway is meant to carry heavy weights, while the roads are designed to carry lighter weights.”
Findings have shown that you can’t industrialise without the rail. There’s no Information Technology that can solve the need of transporting cargo from one point to another. The railway, which is one of the oldest forms of transportation, remains the most reliable.
Kelikume said research had shown that at 25km/hour, the rail remains the fastest, safest and cheapest means for cargo movement compared to the trucks, which average speed is about 15 km/hour.
“If the nation wants to join others that have joined the one billion tonnage club, i.e. countries that run a billion tonnes of cargo rail yealy, like China, Russia, India and the United States, it must revitalise cargo freights. Interestingly, these four countries, despite running a bust cargo rail service also have the highest truck counts,” he said.
To jumpstart the revolution, Kelikume said his firm was thinking of organising an agric produce and solid mineral rail conference in June.
“The focus is to see how we can reduce the wastage in the agricultural value chain and fast-track the development of solid minerals. Various research reports suggest that around 50 per cent of goods produced in Nigeria are wasted; and we want to use the combination of our rail logistics and modern storage facilities to reduce the wastage to about 10 per cent. We are also focusing on solid minerals which is the next major frontier that Nigeria is going to explore. It is well documented also that without a vibrant rail system, you cannot achieve meaningful success in solid minerals.
“If you check the history of Nigeria, the moment the rail system died; our solid minerals industry died. I went to Port Harcourt recently to see the infrastructure that was built decades ago for coal export rotting away. All those things died when our rail died. I went to a coal mine at Enugu and I saw signs that the lines were once very active. So, the conference is to bring back these two very sectors of our economy. It is a full-day event that would have three segments – the first segment would focus on rail transportation, the second would focus on agriculture and the third would focus on solid minerals. We are expecting the three ministers in the sectors to deliver keynote addresses. We are also expecting players from the private and public sector.
Coordinator of Nigeria Agri-business Group (NABG) Mr Emmanuel Ijewere expressed delight at the potential of the railway in freighting agric produce and solid mineral from the North to the seaports in the South and elsewhere. He said the NABG was willing to work with Kelikume’s team to reactivate cargo train services.
“Our rail line was built in 1900. It is a century-old line, actually 116 years old. The NRC must be praised for still using those same old tracks and moving the trains. These are the same lines that were used to move groundnuts, cocoa and coal from Enugu. If there had been continuity over the past couple of years, we would have had a more efficient rail system, and this efficiency is what we are happy to see coming back with this reactivation,” Ijewere said.
From its little beginning of less than 5,000 tonnes business in 2014 to about 40,000 tonnes last year, Kelikume said railway logistics was a goldmine that would be boosted with the talkshop that is aimed at encouraging the government to continue to invest in the sector that holds the aces to the nation’s wellbeing and economic development.
The General Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Textiles, Garments and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria (NUTGWN), Comrade Issa Aremu, lamented the neglect of the sector by successive governments.
“The significance of railway cannot be overstated. Development economists are unanimous that railways propelled North America, Germany, Russia, United Kingdom, China and India, among others, into industriali-sation,” Aremu said.
Its cumulative effects in massive job creation and stimulation of macro socio-economic activities across the country, he said, cannot be underestimated.
Achieving this, however, depends on the commitment of the government to investing massively in the ongoing transformation of abandoned rail projects and opening up new lines.
