FG’s investment in rail sector yielding fruits – NRC MD, Opeifa

The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr. Kayode Opeifa, has said the huge investments of the Nigerian government in rail development have led to improved service delivery and greater operational efficiency of the rail sector.

He stated this even as he disclosed that Nigerians should wait for more rail developments that would cut across the six geo-political zones of the country under the Renewed Hope Agenda of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration.

He made these remarks while hosting the leadership of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration (CIOTA), led by the National President and Chairman of the Board, Dr. Olusegun Obayendo.

He said: “We now have in the Nigerian Railway Corporation a teeming group of professionals who can be regarded as the heroes of railway mobility. These people have kept the nation’s railway going with their professionalism, dedication to duty, and acquired skills through technology transfer via partnerships with the Chinese government and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), which has helped in building human capacity in line with the intentions of the Federal Government’s investments.”

According to him, the Nigerian Railway Corporation would be building on the competencies of this crop of engineers, administrators, and transport professionals to improve the capacity and efficiency of the railway as the corporation is set to maximize its potential within the limits of the funds available to it.

“We have a crop of young engineers who can remodel and retrofit any coach and locomotive engines. Our engineers can build train tracks given the support they have gained from the CCECC and the Chinese government partnership,” he said.

Opeifa, who said mobility is one of the main pillars of the Renewed Hope Agenda, added that many initiatives under this agenda would see the completion of all ongoing standard gauge projects, massive construction of new standard gauge lines, and sustainable rehabilitation of the legacy narrow gauge lines with spurs to food and industrial hubs to facilitate trade and investment and bring down the cost of food, goods, inflation, and business.

The NRC MD told his visitors that the NRC is now poised to take full advantage of its position as the facilitator of business, fulfilling its traditional mandate not only as a rail transport management company but also as a logistics firm.

He disclosed that the corporation has commenced freight movement of containers and bulk goods like cement, gypsum, soda ash, and coils from the ports in partnership with some terminal operators, logistics companies, and manufacturing concerns.

The corporation is already moving about 70 forty-foot containers daily from Apapa Port to Moniya in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, while talks are at an advanced stage for another terminal operator to soon commence more bulk movement operations.

He said that in a matter of months, the corporation would achieve seamless cargo movement beyond Ibadan on the narrow gauge western line from Lagos, as movement to Ilorin, Mokwa, and Minna would soon begin.

“We are happy to inform Nigerians that we are gradually reclaiming our space as the center of bulk or large cargo movement over long distances, which had hitherto been taken over by other modes, especially road transport.

“We are not only working on the standard gauge to move cargoes; we are also working on the nation’s food belt. We hope to activate lines such as Nguru, Laura, and Idogo, ensuring that we move farm produce to markets in the city.”

He said the NRC is encouraging state governments to take advantage of the train spurs within their territories to build new lines that will serve the people’s transportation needs, moving them to jobs, markets, and businesses.

According to him, the NRC is working on granting more states Track Access, similar to what was extended to Lagos State’s Red Line, which would serve the needs of local communities.

He listed Ogun, Bauchi, Niger, Plateau, and Borno as some of the states already showing interest, just as he said opportunities also abound for regional development commissions to invest in the rail sector economy.

“We have started discussions with the DAWN Commission, the precursor of the South West Development Commission, on rail development, while talks are set to commence with other regional bodies in this regard,” he added.

Within the month, the corporation, Opeifa disclosed, would commence the Jos-Kuru line as part of the commitment and partnership with the Plateau State government to ensure the utilisation of the rail system in the state.

He added that, in the short to long term, the corporation is looking at the possibility of mini-grids to complement the efforts of its research and development unit in deploying retrofitted LNG/Diesel engines to service its rolling stock and infrastructure.

He, therefore, urged the private sector to play more active roles in the rail system to ensure that the rail economy in the country is boosted.

Earlier, CIOTA President Olusegun Obayendo commended President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his foresight in appointing Opeifa for the job.

Also describing him as the “round peg in a round hole,” Obayendo said Opeifa, a Fellow of the Institute, has the right pedigree to make the best of the assignment.

Also speaking, both Professor Iyiola Oni, Dean, College of Multimodal Transportation at the University of Lagos, and former Dean of the School of Transportation and Logistics Development, LASU, Prof. Samuel Gbadebo Odewunmi, said CIOTA would support the new MD to succeed in his assignment.

They regarded the opportunity as the best for CIOTA to prove its centrality to the management of transportation in the country.

In a related development, the Rail Terminal Operators under the NRC concessioned areas have paid a courtesy visit to the NRC MD, where they pledged their total allegiance to the success of the mandate to move cargoes within their bonded terminals by rail to anywhere across the country for Nigerians who so desire.