On Warri-Itakpe rail project

ALL over the world and for several centuries, the rail transportation has been the foundation of industrialisation, economic efficiency and productivity. This explains why developed economies continue to expand and fine-tune its rail transportation, while the developing economies strive to build there rail network and expand same. For instance, the rail infrastructure stock in the United States of America increased 16-fold from 14,000 kilometres in 1850 to over 220,000 kilometres today. The United States’ rail network has annual revenues of about $60 billion, provides 221,000 jobs and delivers 5 million tons of freight and transports approximately 85,000 passengers every day. Findings show that one third of all exports from the United States are facilitated by rail transport According to Wikipedia, the Nigerian Railway Corporation traces its history to 1898, when the first railroad in Nigeria was constructed by the British colonial government. Then on October 3, 1912 the Lagos Government Railway and the Baro-Kano Railway were merged, thus starting nationwide rail service under the name Government Department of Railways.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) gained its name, when the NRC Act was passed in 1955. The rail network reached its maximum extent shortly after independence in 1964. Shortly after that, the NRC entered a long period of decline, inept management, and eventually a complete lack of maintenance of rail and locomotive assets. In 1988, NRC declared bankruptcy, and all rail traffic stopped for six months. After that, trains resumed, where the tracks were usable but by 2002, passenger service was again discontinued altogether. However, from 2006, plans were made to restore the rail lines and add new locomotives with foreign assistance. Then in December 2012 regular, scheduled passenger service was restored on the Lagos-Kano line.

Given that rail transportation is key to industrialisation, the founding fathers of the nation grafted the rail system into the plan and enlisted the country in the comity of industrialised nations. However, when they thought about the Ajaokuta Steel Company, they factored in the Ajaokuta-Itakpe-Warri rail lines. As part of the larger plan for the Ajaokuta project, the Itakpe-Warri rail line was conceptualised in 1983, particularly to transport products from the complex to Aladja Steel Rolling Mills, in Aladja, Delta State and the Warri Ports for onward export and the likes. The project otherwise called the central line, was initially planned to be delivered in five years, but was abandoned after the initial contractors, Julius Berger Nigeria limited had constructed about 254 kilometres.  And for 35 years, the project remained moribund as was the case with the mother project, Ajaokuta Steel Company. When the idea was mooted, it was to freight iron ore from Itakpe, a city sitting on a resource which metric tonnage projected to last some centuries. There were several other mineral resources buried under ground along the stretch, including dolomite, limestone, beside the abundance of agro produce within the zone. At conception, the line was to be the first standard gauge rail in Africa and one of the leading few across the world with the speed capacity of between 120 and 150 kilometres per hour. The plan was to dedicate the line for the exclusive use of Ajaokuta.

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As an industrial line, it was a critical element in the nation’s march towards industrialisation, as it was meant to freight iron ore from Itakpe and Dolomite from Jakura to Ajaokuta Steel complex and to take liquid steel from Ajaokuta to service Aladja Steel Company. The line was also to take other finished materials to the sea port of Warri, from where other foreign components of the nation’s steel ambition would be brought in. Unfortunately, the project remained moribund for decades even after the initial investments in the range of millions of United States Dollars (USD) were pumped into the project. During the years of neglect, the initial contractors, Julius Berger Nigeria Limited pulled out of site. The neglect of the rail project by successive administration effectively stalled the nation’s quest for industrialisation. The neglect continued until the President Muhammadu Buhari administration decided to revisit the rail project in line with its plan to fix the nation’s economy with particular emphasis on diversifying the nation’s foreign exchange earnings from its age-long over-dependence on the oil sector. In recognition of the strategic importance of the rail transportation, therefore, in the 2017 Budget and the 2018 Budget proposal, the Federal Government provisioned more than 300 billion naira for railway projects mainly at fifteen per cent counterpart funds to unlock additional concessionary funding from the Chinese Export Import Bank.

That commitment underscores the importance that the Buhari government attached to the rail system as an integral part of unlocking the economic and developmental potential of the country. Interestingly, while revisiting the need to resuscitate the rail project, the incumbent administration recognised the need to expand the scope of the project for optimum utilisation. To that end, the administration decided to expand the line from being exclusively for industrial goods to also include commercial passenger use. By this arrangement, 12 new stations were introduced into the project. While two of the stations were located between Itakpe and Warri, the others were cited in different locations between Ajaokuta and Warri. The stations are located in Itakpe, Eganiy, Adoke and Ajaoukuta, Itogbo, Agenebode and Uromi all of which were contracted to the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company (CCECC).

The completion of the Itakpe-Warri Rail project is a further demonstration of the commitment of the Buhari administration to revitalising the nation’s rail network as a way to unlock the economic potential scattered in different parts of the country. With the successful test run last July, the administration has achieved what successive administrations have failed to achieve in over three decades and thus, the need to return the administration in order that it could complete the task of returning the country to the path of industrialisation and true economic buoyancy, which has for long eluded the country. The trial run of the entire 320-kilometre stretch Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri standard gauge rail track held on Friday, June 26 2018 signified its completion.

• Olaoluwa writes in from Lagos