Following the revenue losses, corruption and underperformance that have characterized the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), the federal government is exploring privatization as a means of making rail transport service in Nigeria efficient.
The move was announced by the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo in Abuja on Friday, during a courtesy visit by members of the NRC Governing Board. The minister stated that the government’s move to unbundle Nigerian rail transport service stems from the principle that the NRC cannot be the regulator and at the same time the operator.
“The private sector is the engine of growth. Let someone else operate your lines efficiently,” Sambo said. “We cannot have an agency that is owner, regulator and operator at the same time.”
Nigerian railway service has been bedeviled by factors ranging from inefficient service to corruption under the NRC, and the government has appeared helpless in the face of it all. In 2020, shortly after the launch of Abuja-Kaduna rail line, Nigerian investigative journalist, Fisayo Soyombo, uncovered high level ticket racketeering and other forms of malfeasance perpetrated by the officials of the NRC.
Though following the investigation, the government has moved to curtail corruption in the system by contracting a private firm as a concessionaire in a 10-year deal to digitize and manage train tickets, most of the challenges have remained.
Recently, the NRC was forced to shut down train services due to insecurity and the high cost of diesel. The Chairman of the NRC Board, Engr. Ibrahim Alhassan Musa, had told the minister that they’re running at loss due to the high cost of diesel pushing the running cost of the trains so high.
The latest challenges are yet to be addressed by the government, scuttling Nigeria’s chance of repaying the loan taken from the Chinese Exim-bank to finance the railway project.
Sambo told the Board that the government is working to ensure the resumption of rail services. He explained that commercial train operations will resume after security measures were installed to prevent further terrorist attack on the rail infrastructure and train passengers.
“We are looking at how the rail lines can be safe by putting 24 hours surveillance and immediate response apparatus.
“The security measures will include short and long term plans, with the short term plans taking effect from November,” he said.
In March, scores of train passengers were killed and abducted on the Abuja-Kaduna route, sparking apathy for train trips across the country. Sambo said that in addition to the security measures that the government is putting in place, he had told Nigerians that rail services will resume operation only when those kidnapped in the Abuja-Kaduna train service have regained their freedom and are reunited with their families.
“I have told Nigerians that I will not run the services until every captive is released. We are lucky today, they are all released and reunited with their families. We are also lucky that all of them are back alive and were all given proper medical care,” he said.
As part of the government’s plan to unbundle train transport service, Sambo said that a National Transportation Policy that will articulate a seamless transportation system for the country will soon be launched. The minister said the Board should be ready for it by looking for alternative sources of cheaper and cleaner energy for the transport sector.
Taking train services off the hands of the Ngerian Railway Corporation has long been touted as key to sanitizing the system and creating revenue growth. But it is not clear when the government intends to make it happen.
