Nigeria’s rail lines are divided into the Western Line and the Eastern Line. The western line connects Lagos on the Bight of Benin to Nguru in the northern state of Yobe, over a distance of 1,126 kilometres while the eastern Line connects Port Harcourt in the southeast to Maiduguri in the northeastern state of Borno, near the border with Chad.
Statistics have shown that over 80 percent of Nigeria’s current railways were originally built by the British colonies, but due to poor maintenance, most of the tracks deteriorated and some became unusable.
This was why the past administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari came with the determination to revive the nation’s rail infrastructure.
Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail
On June 10, 2021, inaugurated the 157 kilometres long standard gauge railway between Lagos and Ibadan. Completed within a record time of four years, the line was built with an extension of about 7km to join the rail line to Apapa Port.
Lagos-Ibadan rail is the second phase of the Nigeria Railway Modernisation project, which is set to connect Lagos to Abuja and then Kano via Minna and Kaduna with a total length of 1315 Km.
It is expected that the rail line will enable the movement of goods and passengers directly from the Apapa port to the Inland Container Depot (ICD) located in Ibadan.
Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge rail line
Before then, the government also completed the 186km Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge Rail Line and commissioned it in 2016.
Itakpe-Warri standard gauge rail
The Federal Government also completed the 327km Itakpe-Warri Standard Gauge Rail and commissioned it in 2020, 33 years after construction began.
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Agbor Railway Village
Another railway project that Buhari’s administration executed was the rehabilitation of the Railway Village, Agbor, and the construction of a railway ancillary facilities yard, also in Agbor. In 2021, the Line commenced commercial freight haulage, transporting pipelines for the AKK Gas Pipeline project.
The outgoing government also commenced the e-ticketing concession process for the Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe Standard Gauge Rail Lines. The scope of the project is to design, finance, build, operate and manage secure ticketing solution systems – hardware and software for the two lines.
Also, the administration completed the e-ticketing concession process on Abuja-Kaduna Route in 2021, which increased the monthly generated revenue from less than N200 million to N400 million.
Abuja Light Rail project
The past government also saw the completion of the Abuja Light Rail project in 2018 and commenced construction on Kaduna-Kano Standard Gauge Rail Line with the groundbreaking ceremony in July 2021.
He also flagged off the construction of the 284km Kano-Maradi Standard Gauge Rail which will have a line leading to Dutse. The preliminary works started in 2021.
He also flagged off the total revamping of the Port Harcourt–Maiduguri Narrow Gauge Rail and work started in 2022. The Nigerian Railway Corporation acquired a total of 377 wagons, 64 coaches, and 21 locomotives.
In the area of skill acquisition in the nation’s transport sector, the outgoing administration has established a new Transportation University in Daura, Katsina State; created more than 11,000 new jobs created from the ongoing rail modernisation projects in the country and trained dozens of Nigerian Engineers.
The administration also established a new Rail Wagon Assembly Plant in Kajola, Ogun State, which was commissioned a few days before the termination of the administration.
