THE TRUTH AND THE LIES

This article is written to clear the misconception about revitalization or modernization of railway transportation in Nigeria, it is not meant to give credit to any of Nigeria past President, but to inform the citizens to stop celebrating mediocrity and know that development of the sector is a continuous project and cannot be completed by one administration.
As a frequent train user both for the long and short trip, I can provide information on Nigeria Railway before the modernization project was initiated by the government.

Nigeria’s Standard Gauge Railway Modernisation Projects
The railway modernization initiative in Nigeria was conceived by the Olusegun Obasanjo administration, it aimed to replace the existing narrow-gauge system with the wider standard gauge system while allowing high-speed train operations on the railway network, it was also designed to link all state capitals with train services.
The $8.3bn contract for the Lagos-Kano standard gauge modernization project was awarded to CCECC in 2006, this marked the beginning of the railway modernization initiative.

However, the project couldn’t be implemented at the same time due to the large fund it requires. It was later re-scoped into different standalone segments by the Yar’adua/Jonathan administration.

In order to restore the already halted Lagos-kano express training on the existing 1,124km narrow gauge, the Jonathan government commenced the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Kano line. The once weekly train trip was stopped after a bridge in Akere, Niger state was washed away by erosion. The contract was split into two to fast-track the rehabilitation.
The Lagos-Jebba end was given to CCECC, while Jebba-Kano was handled by Costain construction. By 2012 the service has been restored with the purchase of new stock of DMU for the Lagos mass transit from Ijoko-Iddo and Lagos-Kano express train.

The 186km Abuja-Kaduna segment is the first to be implemented as part of the Lagos-Kano standard gauge project.

Details of Abuja-Kaduna Rail Line
Abuja-Kaduna is a 186km line with standard gauge railway tracks from Idu, near Abuja, to Kaduna in the north-western region of Nigeria. It has nine stations and features both passenger and cargo trains.
The Abuja-Kaduna rail project is estimated to cost $874m. China‘s EXIM bank provided $500m as a concessionary loan for the project. The remainder $374m was provided by Nigeria’s Federal Government.

The passenger trains on the line can operate at a speed between 200km/h and 250km/h. The travel time between Abuja and Kaduna will be reduced to one hour and each passenger train can carry up to 5,000 commuters.
The cargo trains, carrying 800t of goods, will take one and half hours to travel between the two cities.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) sanctioned N1.1bn ($6.6m) in October 2014, for the procurement of two locomotives for the Abuja- Kaduna standard-gauge rail lines.
The rail line construction was 68% complete by July 2013 with the earthwork and hydraulic structures for the project 92% and 87% complete, respectively. Approximately 85% of the construction was finished by October 2014 and final works were concluded by early December.

The Lagos-Ibadan Rail line
The much celebrated 156km Lagos-Ibadan Rail line is the next segment to undergo standard gauge construction, the double-track standard gauge line was initially scheduled for completion in 2016. A $1.53bn contract was awarded to CCECC in August 2012 to deliver the project within four years.

Govt approves $1.488bn for Lagos-Ibadan railway modernization project – Maku
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/93550-govt_approves_lagos_ibadan_rail.html

FUNDING
In 2016, Transportation Minister, Rotimi Amaechi reported that the FG paid N72bn counterpart fund for the project out of the estimated N446bn ($1.488bn * N300), this is less than 20% of the total fund.

Considering the fact that China‘s EXIM bank is funding about 60% of the project i.e. about N267.8bn, the Jonathan administration must have paid about 20% for the project before Buhari came into power to pay the remaining 20%, otherwise the Chinese bank must have being the one financing about 80% of the project which inadvertently makes it a Chinese project.

The rail line is still under construction and only about 70km track of the 156km has been laid so far, the track laid runs from Iju (a boundary between Lagos & Ogun) to Abeokuta, work is yet to pick up at the Lagos end which will obviously pose more challenges to the contractor because of space constraint in areas like Ikeja, Oshodi, Mushin, and Yaba.

The launched rail line as it were cannot be used for passenger transportation, no train station has been constructed yet and only a single track run from Iju to Kajola (20km). One should wonder why the Transport Minister was in haste for the launch.

Anyway, the other standard gauge line projects in the pipeline include the Lagos-Benin City (300km), Benin-Abakiliki (500km), Benin Obudu Cattle Ranch (673km), Lagos-Abuja high-speed (615km), Zaria-Birnin Koni (520km), Ega nyi-Otukpo (533km) and Ega nyi-Abuja. Other projects scheduled are the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri line (1,657km), Ogoja-Maiduguri, Kano-Gamboru Ngala, Kano-Jibia, and Ilela-Minna rail lines, all which cannot be completed by the Buhari administration.

NIGERIANS SHOULD STOP CELEBRATING MEDIOCRITY, IF JONATHAN COULD START AND COMPLETE A LONGER STRETCH OF RAIL BETWEEN ABUJA - KADUNA AND YET HE'S VOTED OUT.....BUHARI SUPPORTERS SHOULD STOP CELEBRATING AN INHERITED PROJECT.

REFERENCE

https://www.railway-technology.com/uncategorised/newsnigeria-signs-railway-deal-chinas-ccecc/

https://www.railway-technology.com/news/newsconstruction-of-15bn-lagos-ibadan-rail-line-in-nigeria-to-begin-next-month-5717341/

Govt approves $1.488bn for Lagos-Ibadan railway modernization project – Maku
https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/93550-govt_approves_lagos_ibadan_rail.html

Jonathan approves the second phase of rail repairs
http://businessnews.com.ng/2011/04/04/jonathan-approves-second-phase-of-rail-repairs/

Jonathan commissions 68-seater coaches to boost rail service
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/06/jonathan-commissions-68-seater-coaches-boost-rail-service/
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2014/07/reviving-nigerias-railways-jonathan-approach-2/


lalasticlala

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lXlFXW27o4
Professor Wole Soyinka At The Commissioning of Lagos - Ibadan Railway #LagosRail #WaleSoyinka #NextLevel #NextLevelNigeria

• As FG Begins Free Train Ride From Lagos To Abeokuta Today


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l2Ob07wZ24

Commissioning of Lagos-Ibadan Rail In Lagos - Nigerian railway corporation #LagosIbadanRail #PMB4Plus4 #Pmbinlagos #NigeriaDecides2019 #NigeriaDecides #LagosIbadan
The new train for the Lagos-Abeokuta rail is here.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l2Ob07wZ24