This is the destination: “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.” And you can add federal universities to that list depending on how the 2023 election turns out. The public sector is fading fast. Yet, privatizing public assets like the national grid, railways, airlines, etc will not save Nigeria.
Until the rule of law works, the path to ascension will not happen. There are many untouchables, and when you privatize, you hand over those assets to them. They will mismanage them knowing that you would be frustrated. Then, you come back and bail them out (NEPA/Disco)
Rule of law must be applied with the “blindness of law and justice” urgently in Nigeria. Today, Nigeria is not doing that and that is why nothing is working. Unfortunately, before his anointing with a second cap as president, many would have expected Buhari to deal with the demons.
Tekedia Mini-MBA edition 14 (June 3 – Sept 2, 2024) begins registrations; get massive discounts with early registration here.
Tekedia AI in Business Masterclass opens registrations here.
Join Tekedia Capital Syndicate and invest in Africa’s finest startups here.
But here we are: A few years ago, I took a train from Abuja to deliver a lecture in the Nigerian Defence Academy (NDA) Kaduna. Right there, people were cheating the government. Some people had bought all the available tickets in the train and were reselling at mark-ups. My question was this: why can’t these fellows be arrested? Cheat sheet: they are agents for someone!
“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.
Nigerian Government Explores Privatizing Its Railway Service
---
Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (Jun 3 - Sep 2, 2024), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.
Rule of law does not cure mediocrity, one can be dedicated and honest but still remain a mediocre; this we must understand.
The level of capability required to run a government owned enterprise efficiently and optimally does not exist within the government talent pool. So it’s a mistake to somewhat believe that by sacking and arresting people, a government owned enterprise can outperform, very unlikely.
Once these things are built by the government, the management and operations must be taken away from the government, that does not equate to privatization. When that becomes the case, a full fledged industry that specializes in managing and maintaining assets profitably will be born.
We are wasting away a lot in this country.