Experts see transporting cattle by rail solving economic, political problems

Apart from the number of cattle a train can carry in one swoop, transporting livestock by rail has the added advantage of solving economic and political problems associated with long treks by herdsmen and their stock, or haulage by trucks, experts say.
The experts explain that transporting cattle and other livestock  by rail saves the dealers significant cost in time and money, also freeing them from the conflicts which inevitably occur enroute the southern part of the country as they pass through farmlands and other settlements.
About 400 head of cattle were recently transported by rail from Gusau in Zamfara State, to Oko-Oba in Lagos, as against about 25 which a trailer truck can carry at once. A dealer who did not want his name in print said when the animals are transported by truck or trek, losses of about 20 percent are suffered. Nigeria is known for its underdeveloped transport  system and the argument often centres around the country’s poor rail system which had flourished before and shortly after independence. Attempts at reviving the comatose system have been halfhearted, halting and expensive, even though some efforts made by the last administration, under President Goodluck Jonathan, led to the launching recently, of the Kaduna-Lagos railway line by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The advantages of rail transport over road cannot be quantified and the experts observe that successfully transporting 400 head cattle from Gusau to Lagos provides a benchmark for other things that could be done without using petrol.
At the weekend, during an inspection tour of the just repaired Ijora-Apapa Bridge and the new bridge leading to the Trailer Park under construction on Apapa-Oshodi Expressway, Babatunde Fashola, the minister of Power, Works and Housing, called for  the movement of cargo across the country by rail, in order to save preserve the country’s.
Nigeria is reputed to have the worst network of roads in Africa and most of these are federal roads. Fashola had explained in his maiden address as minister, that though the state governments own 18 percent of the total road network of about 200,000 kilometres, while the local governments own 66 percent, the balance of 16 percent owned by the Federal Government carries an estimated 70 percent of the total traffic because of their length, width and inter-state connectivity.
The terrible state of federal roads stems from the failure to construct new ones or maintain existing ones. Fashola disclosed that the last time Nigeria budgeted over N200 billion in a year’s budget for roads was in 2002, citing the instance of 2015 when, according to him, N18.132 billion was budgeted and the Ministry of Works got N13 billion for all roads and highways even when it had contracts for 206 roads, covering over 6,000km with contract price of over N2 trillion.
The minister emphasised the need for all stakeholders, including government and all those in the transportation business, especially those in the trailer and tanker business moving cargo across the country, to agree on reverting to rail transportation as a means of moving heavy cargo in order to save the roads.
“In the same way they import trailers to move their cargo, they can begin to make arrangements to import wagons; we must all agree that this is the way to go; I am convinced that this is the way to go for the future”, he said.

 

CHUKA UROKO