The Nigerian government is set to unveil a comprehensive National Railway Development Roadmap aimed at ensuring rail connectivity across all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), in line with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
The Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr Kayode Opeifa, disclosed this on Wednesday at the Seventh National Transport Conference of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration (CIOTA), held at the NICON Luxury Hotel, Abuja.
Dr Opeifa explained that the roadmap is designed to enable all states to access and utilise the national rail corridors at no additional cost, following recent legislative amendments that placed railway development on the concurrent legislative list.
He noted that Lagos and Plateau States are already taking advantage of this policy while encouraging other states to do the same.
“We are saying where there is a national rail asset, states should make use of it. The line is available from Lagos to Kano. If your state is along this corridor, you can run services on the line. Lagos and Plateau are already doing this, and we are open to working with others,” he said.
Opeifa further revealed that Ogun and Oyo States have both narrow and standard gauge networks available for use, while Edo, Delta, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, and Niger States can connect seamlessly to existing national rail corridors.
He also highlighted the corporation’s ongoing freight-by-rail expansion, noting that the NRC is currently transporting increasing volumes of containerised cargo, gypsum, soda ash, cement, metal coils, and materials for the Ajaokuta–Kaduna–Kano (AKK) Pipeline Project.
Speaking on the corporation’s long-term projection framework, known as Vision 2-5-10-20, Dr Opeifa said the NRC intends to optimise national rail assets within the first two years, transition to electric traction by the fifth year, double national rail capacity within ten years, and achieve at least 60,000 kilometres of rail network nationwide within 20 years.