The Federal Government targets revenue of N7.01bn from train passengers by 2025.
This was according to the Nigeria Agenda 2050 document recently launched by the outgoing President General Muhammadu Buhari.
At the launch, Buhari said that the implementation of the document would “ensure that Nigeria attains a per capita GDP of $33,328 per annum to place her among the top middle-income economies globally by 2050.”
Buhari said the plan would also increase real GDP growth by seven per cent, create 165 million new jobs and reduce the number of Nigerians living in poverty to 2.1 million in 2050 from the 83 million estimated in 2020.
The document further showed that the Federal Government targets up to N30bn by 2050 from train passengers.
The PUNCH recently reported that The Federal Government spent $247.98m (which amounts to N111.23bn using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s December 30, 2022, the official exchange rate of N448.55) servicing railway debts in the last two years while making only N11.61bn from railway services during the period.
According to data from Nigeria’s external debt service payments reports by the Debt Management Office, Nigeria spent $125.06m servicing debts incurred for the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section), Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section), Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project, and Nigerian supply of rolling stocks and depot equipment for the Abuja light rail project in 2022.
By 2022, train service revenue was N5.57bn from passengers, goods, and other income receipts.
Also, in 2022, the number of passengers was 3.21 million, while goods were 118,587 tonnes.
The growth of the country’s rail services has been hampered by Insecurity and mismanagement. In March 2022, an Abuja-bound train was attacked in Kaduna by terrorists. Also, suspected kidnappers attacked another train in the Igueben Local Government Area of Edo State on January 7, 2023.
Also, rail derailment is almost becoming a constant in the sector, further discouraging passengers from relying on rail services.
After the attack on Kaduna-Abuja rail services in 2022, the Managing Director of Nigeria Railway Corporation, Fidet Okhiria, disclosed that the Federal Government lost about N113m because of the non-operation of trains on the Abuja-Kaduna route.
