The Federal Government says it will soon unveil a comprehensive National Railway Development Roadmap that will ensure rail connectivity across all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr. Kayode Opeifa, disclosed this on Wednesday during the Seventh National Transport Conference of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration (CIOTA), held in Abuja.
Dr. Opeifa explained that the roadmap is designed to enable all states to access and utilise the national rail corridors at no extra cost, following recent legislative amendments that placed railway development on the concurrent legislative list.
According to him, Lagos and Plateau States are already taking advantage of this policy, while several others are encouraged to key into the initiative.
“We are saying where there is a national rail asset, states should make use of it. The line is available from Lagos to Kano. If your state is along this corridor, you can run services on the line. Lagos and Plateau are already doing this and we are open to working with others,” he said.
He further noted that Ogun and Oyo States have both narrow and standard gauge networks available for utilisation, just as Edo, Delta, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano and Niger States can connect seamlessly to existing national rail corridors.
Opeifa also highlighted the ongoing freight-by-rail expansion, where the Corporation is currently moving increased volumes of containerised cargo, gypsum, soda ash, cement, metal coil and materials for the AKK Pipeline Project.
While speaking on the Corporation’s development projection framework, referred to as Vision 2-5-10-20, he stated that the NRC plans to optimise national rail assets within the first two years, transition to electric traction by the fifth year, double national rail capacity within 10 years, and achieve not less than 60,000 kilometers of rail network nationwide within 20 years.
