A regional railway advocacy group, the African Railway Roundtable, has urged President Bola Tinubu to tap into the reform of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) as a quick win.

According to the group, the Tinubu presidency, within the first 100 days, should issue an executive order unbundling the NRC into the following companies, namely operator, regulator, infrastructure manager and a business holding.

Already the new constitutional amendment has liberalised the sector, they said.

Speaking with The Guardian, Director of African Railway Roundtable, Olawale Rasheed, said the President should simply exercise that executive fiat. Tinubu should not listen to any other line of thought other than issuing that unbundling directive.

Rasheed said the National Assembly will then do the needful to comply with the constitutional amendment which has already devolved the rail sector across the federation units. “I will recommend for the new administration adopt the Brazilian model for the rail sector. As governments lack the resources to further invest in the sector, Tinubu should open up the sector to private investors who will build and operate while paying taxes to the government. The Brazilian rail law can be tinkered with to achieve this goal.

“Another line of approach for the new President to adopt is the need to ensure new projects are green through electric-powered trains or hydrogen-powered railways. Tanzania, Ethiopia and Egypt are doing well in these areas. The diesel-powered railway is outdated and contrary to the new drive for environmentally green transport infrastructure,” he said.