Railway Development by Limult
Development of railway transportation infrastructure in Nigeria
The efficiency of the railway in the mass movement of people and goods over long distances by land is the major advantage of this mode of transport.
Rail transport is
cheap, energy saving and environmentally friendly. The railway provides a
significant stimulus for socio-economic growth and development.
For these reasons, railway is recommended for countries with large expense of land, people and resources such as Nigeria.
The railway cut into the interior of Nigeria and for the first time, provided direct access by a modern means of transportation from the coast to other parts of the country.
The railway network was constructed in Nigeria in order to enable it to evacuate minerals and agricultural raw materials and forest resources from the Interior parts of the country and also to enable the selling of imported manufactured goods in these interior locations.
It was used for linking up the different regions of the
country and thus for promoting inter-regional trade as well as increasing
industrial and economic development.
After the initial construction of the railway network in
Nigeria, there has not been any major modification or extensions of this
backbone. The network connects the major seaports of Lagos and Port-Harcourt
with the major urban centers in the country.
The Impact of railway to Nigerian
Economy
In spite of the deficiencies of the Nigerian railway system, it contributed a lot to the general economic development of Nigeria during the colonial and early independence period by making possible the development of all parts of the country for agricultural exports, specifically cocoa in the west, groundnuts and cotton in the north and palm produce in the southeast.
It facilitated the
evacuation of minerals for export from the interior parts of the country (such
as coal from Enugu and tin from Jos).
It encouraged the development of long-distance inter-regional trade in various products within.
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Limult Railway Development
In most of the Sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries railways have played, throughout history, a key part in the economic development maintaining a dominant role in transporting freight and passengers at low costs. During the last 50 years, the road transport in the region as throughout the world has expanded rapidly due to the aggressive development of the automobile industry. African governments have invested mainly in road infrastructure improvement, neglecting railways. The liberalization in road transport and the slow response of railways to adapt to the new market conditions resulted in dramatic traffic decline in rail transport. By 1990 most of the Sub-Saharan African railways were in virtual bankruptcy, requiring permanent cash injection and large investments in infrastructure and rolling stock. To address the crisis, many governments have considered concessions as a solution, and between the mid-1990s and 2010 most of the railways were concessioned. Currently, more than 70 percent of the rail transport activities in the region (excluding South Africa) are managed by private operators. The World Bank Group (IDA and IFC) has supported most concession processes through grants and loans, investing since 1996 more than one billion dollars to support the efforts of the governments and private operators. The recommendations suggested in the present document are based on a comprehensive approach for improving the performance of the railway sector in parallel with the enhancement of the governance of the transport sector. The rhythm of implementation of such a complex set of recommendations may vary from country to country depending on local conditions and will require, in any case, a long period of time. Nevertheless, the dramatic status of the railway transport sector in SSA requires rapid actions. In this respect, the present work includes a selected list of most urgent recommendations to be implemented in the first stage. The way ahead for improving the performance of railways in Sub-Saharan Africa is a complex endeavor that cannot be achieved without the strong involvement of the private sector.
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