Railway deserves own ministry- DR FARUK

Dr. Isa Umar Faruk is of the Department of Geography, Bayero University Kano (BUK) with specialisation in transportation planning and management. In this interview with Daily Trust, he advocates for the creation of ministry for railway transportation, as the sector has potential to reduce road accidents, poverty and generally improve Nigeria’s economy. Read Excerpts:

Why do you think railway is important for Nigerians?
Railway transportation is the oldest means of modern transportation in Nigeria. It was introduced to Nigeria by the British colonial government in 1898.
The construction of a single track system of (“3’6”) gauge from Lagos in 1898 which reached Ibadan in 1901 which covered 193km signaled

the beginning of railway transport in Nigeria. Ibadan to Jebba, 1901-1909, and it covered 205km, the Kano-Baro, 1907-1911, it covered 562km, Port Harcourt to Enugu, 1914-1916, it covered 243km, Enugu-Makurdi, 1916-1924, which covered 220km were among those built during the colonial era, just to mention but a few.
As one can see, the construction of the railway lines were in stages. The idea is to serve and protect the British colonialists’ interest in evacuating raw materials such as agricultural produce and mineral resources from the interior, North, to the coast, South, for easy shipment to Europe.
At present the rail lines run through 22 out of 36 states in the country with a kilometer route of 3,505 and 4,332 track kilometers. The lines are narrow gauge and there are a total of 280 stations distributed all over the country. From the foregoing, you can understand the importance of the railways to Nigeria, the people and economy.
Why are you emphasizing on railways above other means of transportation?
Railway transport is the safest and cheapest means of transport. It provides efficient, affordable, reliable and widely linked network and customer-oriented services with the purpose of serving both public and private sector of the economy.
Railways serve as a catalyst to urbanization process as remote areas are opened up. For instance, Kaduna, Zaria and Kano are more urbanized than their counterpart towns along the routes because of the presence of railway stations or terminals.
Going by the recent data, it showed that railways has two types of operations; passenger and freight operations. Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) moves about 26,000 passengers over short distances on daily basis. While about 15,200 passengers are moved over long distances weekly and 11,500 tons of freight traffic is moved monthly. Also, the NRC provides intercity and intra city operations.
For example Lagos-Kano-Lagos train once in a week moving at the speed of 50km/hr. This is made possible for the NRC because of the refurbishment of 350 wagons and 120 coaches.
Therefore, this is a sector that a developing economy like ours is seriously in need of, and to work with the needed efficiency.
Globally, railway transport is the cheapest means of land transport. For instance,  the railway transport fares from Kano-Zaria is N140:00 only while Kano-Lagos is N1,126:00 compared  to road fares of N6,000 and air ticket of N28,000 to N30,000 from Kano to Lagos.
What are the obstacles of railway transportation in Nigeria?
The literature on railway transportation in Nigeria shows that the period of green light of the NRC is between 1962 and 1986. The likely factors, among other things, are adequate funding, motivated workforce, sufficient locomotives, coaches and wagons. Effective maintenance culture and workshop equipment are other factors. Importantly, industries were flourishing and there were cash crops like groundnuts, cotton and vegetables in the North. Cocoa, rubber, kola nut and oil palm in the South which provided goods to be transported, and lastly is large scale mining activities of tin in Jos, Plateau, and coal in Enugu.
The period of decline or doom of the NRC is from 1987. Although, the corporation has recorded some improvements in recent times, the likely factors responsible for the decline of railway transport may be adduced to paradigm shift. That is more attention was given and focused to road transport infrastructure and services to the detriment of railways. Also, inadequate funding, maintenance of tracks and obsolete machinery play a vital role in the decay; retrenchment of staff, lack of payment of salaries and low staff morale are other factors.
As an expert what would you proffer as solutions to the problems of rail transport in the country?
The colonial government constructed the railway to serve its interest, as the rail tracks runs from north to south and south to north respectively, and this has promoted the north-south dichotomy nature of the country.
The only way for railway transportation to serve the interest of Nigerians is to make it flexible and to link all the 36 state capitals with railway line.
This can be achieved by developing geo-spatial models and political will or motivation. At this juncture, I will strongly advice the Nigerian government to create a new ministry for railway development with set targets if it really means business, in accordance to the best international practice.
When you look back, the Federal Ministry of Aviation was detached from the Ministry of Transport and Federal Environmental Protection Agency (FEPA) was transformed to what it is now from the Federal Ministry of Environment.
If this is done it will create jobs, boost regional and inter-regional trade, reduce poverty and traffic accident rates. It will improve both internal security and unity in diversity and our highways will last longer.
Recently, the Ministry of Transport embarked on feasibility study in order to improve railway transport in Nigeria, how do you see this development?
It is a welcome development, but what is worth doing is worth doing well. As mentioned, the only way forward for railway transportation in Nigeria is to be able to link all the state capitals with rail line at the initial stage.
The next stage is to link some selected and important local government areas in each state. Then by prioritizing and sequencing the railway networks in each of the six geo-political zones using forecasting models to select and link other important areas that are not linked or connected with the rail line for the purpose of achieving  proper accessibility and connectivity that will foster economic growth of the country.