The Managing Director of Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr. Kayode Opeifa, has hinted that Nigeria will in about five years from now join the league of advanced countries using speed trains to boost their mass transportation systems.
He spoke on the sidelines of the 2nd International Railway Conference and Expo in Abuja which was provided a forum for stakeholders to interact and exchange ideas, benchmark activities with each other and find a way forward for global rail transport sector.
Asked how soon Nigerians can get to experience speed trains even as they battle with their regular trains available, Opeifa replied: “It depends on the success of the private sector components, and for us, we have planned that in the next five years, we will be talking about adding the speed rail.
“The limitations to speed rail in Nigeria, America, Asia are different. In US, their problem is land, because land is people’s own. It’s owned by the people, not by government. In Nigeria, government has a good control of land. In China, the government also controls land, so that’s why we have not seen speed rail that much in the US until recently.
“But for us, the issue of speed rail is going to be private sector-driven. Government only needs to put in the enabling environment. About two or three companies have shown interest, and they are all pushing their horizons to make sure they get all the necessary approval.
“The major issue will be funding. As soon as people are funded, then they can push anything. The regular ones we are running, we are still having huge funding gaps.”
Despite the funding gaps, he listed major achievements recorded since his appointment early this year, saying that “we have improved our customer service relations, and we have improved on our efficiency.
“We are moving more freight, more goods by freight, than we were moving before, and we are beginning to convince logistics handlers that we are ready for business, and they should adopt trains.”
