Eighteen years after construction work commenced on the 276-kilometre
standard gauge rail line linking Warri in Delta State to Ajaokuta, Kogi
State, the project has not been delivered to the Federal Government.
The project, otherwise called the central railway line, was initially
planned to be delivered in five years, but it was gathered on Sunday
that the government would need about N40bn to fully get the line ready.
This indication emerged just as railway workers have written
President Muhammadu Buhari opposing the plan by the government to
privatise the nation’s railway services.
The rail line from Warri, passing through Itakpe, Ajaokuta, Agbor and
Ore, with six stations along the route, was conceived to carry steel
products and raw materials from the Delta Steel Company, Aladja, but was
later abandoned after about 254 kilometres had been done due to lack of
funds.
The project was reactivated in 2009 with the Federal Government
agreeing to pay N33bn for the design and completion of the remaining 22
kilometres.
The contract was awarded to Team Nigeria and Julius Berger, and was
meant to be delivered in March 2013. The contract sum also covered the
sidings of the Ajaokuta-Warri rail line up to Delta Steel Aladja, and
construction of six stations with the rehabilitation of the completed
portion of the line.
No money was made available for the execution of the project even
though about N45bn was budgeted for the Nigerian Railway Corporation for
capital projects that year.
Curiously, the following year, the then Minister of Transport, Alhaji
Suleiman Yusuf, had said after the review of the project that the
contract had been revalued at N36bn.
The former minister, who had taken a ride on the completed section of
the rail line, had said, “I’m satisfied and impressed today that with
this four-hour train ride from Warri to Ajaokuta, we are sure to
commence passenger services early next year.”
But that did not materialise.
The immediate past Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, had
also in January this year promised that the project would be completed
before the end of the former President Goodluck Jonathan-led
administration. But the government failed to fulfil the promise after it
lost the 2015 presidential election to the Buhari-led All Progressives
Congress.
The Senator Musa Adede-led Transport Committee at the recently held
National Conference had recommended the completion of the abandoned rail
project before the terminal date of the Jonathan administration.
It could not be ascertained as of the time of filing this report the
total cost of the entire project. Calls put through to the Managing
Director of the NRC, Mr. Adeseyi Sijuwade, on Sunday were not answered.
The Assistant Director, Public Relations, NRC, Mr. Abdulmaroof
Akinwoye, said the project was under the Federal Ministry of Transport,
adding that he could not comment on it.
Meanwhile, the Nigeria Union of Railway Workers has written to the Presidency to oppose the planned privatisation of the NRC.
In the letter, which was signed by its President, Mr. Raphael Okoro,
the union urged the government to rescind its decision to privatise the
railway sector, insisting that the decision would be counterproductive.
The union said the government should continue to fund the railway and
allow credible professionals to manage the industry as currently being
done in the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Spain.
Privatisation, it said, would lead to corruption and joblessness,
adding that politicians would sell the railway property to themselves
and make the train services out of the reach of ordinary Nigerians.
The Federal Government had recently directed the Bureau of Public
Enterprises to commence the privatisation of the NRC and other railway
facilities across the country.
The National Council on Privatisation gave the directive to the BPE
and the Nigeria Infrastructure Advisory Facility after its council
meeting in Abuja.
It said the decision to reform the railway was borne out of the government’s desire to avoid its collapse and eventual shutdown.
A new railway bill, which is one of the eight reform bills recently
approved by the NCP and the Federal Executive Council, is currently
before the National Assembly for passage into law.
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