…recommits to boosting railway potentials for economic growth
EMMANUEL NLEWEDUM, Port Harcourt
The Federal Government has expressed it’s willingness to welcome participation from State governments and private sector establishments and individuals in providing improved railway services in Nigeria.
This is just as the government reaffirmed it’s commitment to maximizing the potentials in the railway sector for the growth of the nation’s economy.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Dr. Kayode Opeifa disclosed this on Tuesday, while inspecting facilities at the Port Harcourt railway Station, as part of his familiarization tour of the Eastern railway line.
Opiefa disclosed that there are a lot of potential in the rail line which, when harnessed, will improve the railway sector and improve the nation’s economic growth.
He reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to getting the railway back to it’s rightful place in the mobility sector in Nigeria.
He said, “We are here in Port Harcourt in continuation with our national tour and this is the beginning of our tour through the Eastern corridor that spans from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, and from Port Harcourt to meet the Central line, which is Warri.
“This is part of our efforts to dimension our national assets, and to also look at how to revitalize all these in line with the Renewed Hope Agenda, to get railway back to it’s rightful place in the mobility sector and the Nigerian economy.
“We are on this project of liasing with the States, so we are going to continue the inspection to evaluate how the Rivers State government can key into the project.
“The narrow gauge tracks passes through Port Harcourt to Aba, the states government can also participate not just in the Nigerian Railway, running the rail, from Port Harcourt to Aba, people that are going to be enjoying the services are from Rivers State, Abia, Ebonyi, among others. So, we will be looking at that potential that will make it work.
“Plateau State has started “Rail on the Plateau”, so we’ll see what Rivers State Government will come up with.
“We appeal to people from the private sector, if you have the capacity to run services on these tracks, and you can invest in coaches, locomotives you are welcome.
“The Aba route is very very profitable, especially for carriages. There are business men and women who wake up in Port Harcourt, end up in Aba in the afternoon, buy their materials, get back to Port Harcourt and just discover all these suit materials. So we believe there are potentials here.”
The NRC Boss who emphasised the importance of the rail line in the growth of the nation’s economy, said the Port Harcourt to Aba route is working perfectly, while assuring timely completion of the Enugu to Maiduguri phase of the project.
“When we move on from here tomorrow, we will be in Aba, we are also going to examine what goes on the coaches, and the train. But from what we have seen, the tracks are in good shape, it can even take much more loads.
“We are also going to witness the return of the train from Aba and speak to some of the passengers to know what they feel. But more importantly, customer service is key.
“The Eastern corridor is so critical and important in the sense that it also leads us to the Western corridor, when you consider extension to the Ports which can be linked together by water going through the integrated multi-border system.
“The Port Harcourt-Aba to Enugu are all through to Enugu corridor. It is also so critical because around Enugu, we have a lot of cold minerals that moves into the Port in those days.
“So, we are here to examine the essence of the narrow gauge construction that is still ongoing, currently running now up to Aba, which hopefully, the run to Enugu will be in top gear very soon.”.
On the inspections at the Port Harcourt station, he said, “We also visited the mechanic shops, and there are huge assets waiting to be tapped in there, and we will make sure we bring them to the limelight.
“We have also been to the railway clinic, (a Primary Health Care Centre), and we discovered a lot of pressure on them because the clinic is not only serving the railway staff, it is also serving the entire community, so we have noticed that, it is going to be the clinic of choice for us to fix, not only because it serves railway staff, but because the community will be critical to our own survival.
“As we go on our revitalization of our projects, we also believe that our workforce and the value chains around them which the hospital will serve, so we’ll be making presentation to relevant agents and authorities, contacting members of the National Assembly and the State Assembly too when they resume, other agencies of the government like the ministry of health will also be reached, and why there must be a special interest in the railway clinic.
“We also evaluated rehabilitation of some of the coaches, I believe we will do more, we are not going to deploy them, we are going to further work on them, maintain them and make them safety compliant.”
He also promised to prioritize the welfare of workers alongside the revatilization of the sector, and ensure more opportunities are created.
“We will also address the workers to hear their complaints, as it has to do with their welfare. We don’t see challenges, for us, it is the opportunity for business and trade facilitations that borders us more, so whatever obstacles that will prevent us from those opportunities, we’ll take them out.
“From Port Harcourt to Aba, the trains are working, the tracks are completed and they are okay, businessmen and traders are commuting on daily basis, what they need is more train services, and that is why you see here that there are some coaches we are trying to put together, about two more business classes that we are planning to join to enable us pick more passengers. We are also planning to have additional carriages so that they can move their goods to create more opportunities,” he said.
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