Stakeholders in the rail haulage business have reacted to recent reports that the Federal Government has suspended transportation of cattle from the North to Lagos. Instead, there are plans to fine tune the project, which is expected to add value to the cattle owners as well as the operators.
Edeme Kelikume, CEO, Connect Rail Services Limited, technical partner of the business, in an interview with BusinessDay at the weekend, said there were fresh measures put in place to recommence movement of cattle by rail operations. It would be recalled that movement of cattle by rail was launched last year September, and temporarily suspended recently.
According to Kelikume, the project has not stopped, and neither the Federal Government nor any of its arms involved in the operation suspended the exercise, which is a laudable feat ever recorded in the life of any administration.
In a swift reaction to the purported news report about the cattle dealers expressing misgivings about the project, the Connect Rail boss stated that the true position was, there were minor mechanical and technical hitches expected in any pilot project.
The hitches are not unexpected since the haulage operation of cattle by rail in Nigeria had never been done in the last 30 years, he said, adding that the exercise is something that the country needs.
Five operations have been carried out smoothly when the operation started with a total of 2,500 cattle being transported by train from Gombe, Gusau and Nguru, down to Lagos, according to him.
Reacting on the impact it would have on truck owners, he said movements of cattle by rail do not translate to taking businesses from truck owners, saying Nigeria was a huge country and that the country lacked the required number of trucks to move the quantity of goods that need to be moved across the country.
He admitted that lack of communication however aggravated the problem, which prompted the cattle dealers to resort to the media and promised that all critical issues on best ways to deliver good returns on investment by the cattle dealers must be explored to the maximum.
Kelikume said contrary to the accusation of selfishness and insincerity levied against stakeholders and partners in the project by the cattle dealers, the problem was more of miscommunication.
To assuage the discontent on the part of the cattle dealers, Edeme Kelikume hinted that efforts are currently in top gear to meet with the cattle dealers and other stakeholders involved in order to iron out the contending issues and immediately recommence the operation.
He said, “The true position is that nothing was suspended. The Federal Government, neither NIRSAL, neither Connect Rail suspended the cattle by rail operation. However, there were some technical hitches that were experienced in the course of executing the operation both from the human and the material side.
“Efforts are being made to address those hitches in order to ensure sustainable and smooth operations of the cattle by rail initiative”.
He disclosed that CRSL, which provides the logistics operation had earlier met with the cattle dealers and promised that another meeting would be held with them to resolve whatever grievances they might have.
“For instance, the cattle dealers seem not to be very happy. So we have to reach out to them again and look at what are the issues, how can we start it again so that everybody can benefit. I remember speaking with some of the cattle dealers, and they are quite surprised, they actually called me when they heard of the developments in the paper because they are firmly behind this initiative and they want it sustained and that is what everybody is working towards”.
Join BusinessDay whatsapp Channel, to stay up to date
Open In Whatsapp
