The Federal Government plans to create 250,000 jobs from massive railway infrastructure development that includes the construction of new rail lines in the country. Minister of Transport Mr. Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi announced this during a recent tour of agencies and parastatals under his ministry. He said the Federal Ministry of Transport under his leadership would from next year raise the transport sector's contribution to the nation's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) from its current low contribution of 1.41 percent.
Amaechi said even though even though it is the cheapest mode of transportation, rail transport suffered significant neglect over the years. He said the government will now focus on railways to encourage mass transit and cargo freight. According to the minister, the planned massive investment in the construction of a standard gauge rail will start next year with the Calabar-Lagos coastal rail. This new rail line, the first one in the country since the 1960s, will begin from Obudu in Cross River State and shall run through the coastal states of Akwa Ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta, Anambra and Edo and will terminate at the Lagos port. This rail line will also have train terminal stations at Uyo, Otuoke, Warri, Onitsha, Benin, Ore, Ijebu Ode and Lagos.
While the construction of a new rail network is a welcome development, the passing of rail lines through any coastal city, town or village should be determined by genuine economic reasons. The selection of terminal stations should be devoid of political sentiments. For instance, the British government constructed the Baro-Minna railway line to facilitate the freight of shea nuts from the hinterlands just as the Zaria-Kaura Namoda and Kano-Nguru lines were built to ease the transportation of cotton and groundnuts from those regions to the coast. Besides the proposed coastal rail network, government is encouraged to have a long term strategy that plans to link all state capitals in the country to the nation's rail system since railway is critical to inter-state commercial activities. No mode of transportation moves goods to market places quite as much as rail does.
In line with President Muhammadu Buhari's fight against corruption, the coastal rail project must not be allowed to suffer the same ill-fate suffered by past rail projects. For example, the government of former President Olusegun Obasanjo awarded an $8.3bn contract to Chinese Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC) for the rehabilitation and modernization of the country's railway system. This contract eventually became a failed project as there was little in the end to show for the billions of dollars invested it. The Abacha regime had also given out a N500 million contract to rehabilitate rail lines; that project too ended in failure.
Beyond the new rail project planned by government is the need to revive existing rail lines in the country. The existing rail gauges need to be changed to guarantee effective services. It would be recalled that the first rail road in Nigeria was constructed by the British Colonial government in 1898. The Nigeria Railways Corporation (NRC) operates a network of 3,505 kilometers of single track lines with 1,067mm (3ft 6inc) gauge. The longest line in its existing network is the Lagos-Kano route that covers a distance of 1,126 kilometers.
When the rail transport system in Nigeria is effectively revived and once again becomes functional, it would be easy to move petroleum products, farm produce, cement and heavy equipment or materials by rail. This will not only reduce the pressure mounted daily on Nigerian roads by tankers, trailers, pay-loaders, heavy duty trucks and lorries but shall equally extend the life-span of highways with lesser need for constant maintenance, which in the past few decades has become burdensome on government. An efficient NRC will drastically reduce carnages that are nowadays recorded daily on Nigerian roads. Effective rail operations will similarly forestall traffic congestions especially in cities like Lagos.
The 250,000 jobs targeted by the federal government will cut down on the current high employment rate in the country and will increase Nigeria's revenue generation at a time when government has realized more than ever before the need to diversify and explore non-oil sectors of the economy. Nigerians are earnestly waiting for the speedy actualization of this laudable dream of government.
Source: All Africa News
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