Once flourishing railway cities in Nigeria recount the good days when trains were the backbone of their economies. LEADERSHIP Weekend visited some of the cities and discovered the ruins in railways stations as some of them have been converted to brothels and drink spots. AGBO-PAUL AUGUSTINE (Abuja), SAMSON ECHENIM (Lagos), ADEBAYO WAHEED, (Ibadan), JOSHUA DADA (Osogbo), GBENGA ADEBOYE (Abeokuta), ANAYO ONUKWUGHA (Port Harcourt), DONATUS NADI (Lafia), SOLOMON AYADO (Makurdi) and ISAIAH BENJAMIN (KADUNA) report.
One major relics of colonialism which the people of the ancient town of Zungeru, Niger State once cherish dearly is the railway lines that constantly vibrate the ground to herald the arrival of trains from Lagos. The crumbled Nigeria’s former capital city is today in shambles even after it witnessed the historic signing of the ‘treaty of amalgamation’ on January 1, 1914.
By 1960, the British colonial masters had gone, leaving the Nigerian railways in the hands of Nigerians and a vibrant railway economy in several cities across the federation. The railway transportation came with several business opportunities for locals who thronged stations like Zungeru, 55km from Minna, the capital of Niger State.
Today, all that is left is a heart breaking situation; the Zungeru train station remains a grave yard of the once buoyant economy. So disappointing is the reality that the resuscitated Lagos-Kano train that runs through Zungeru which only comes once in a long while hardily impress the locals anymore.
Sadly, the youths in Zungeru had no experience of the booming days of railways in Nigeria, only the old, mostly too weak to revive the trading activities that hitherto contributed to the local economy.
The contribution of the railway to countries’ economies across the globe cannot over emphasised. Industrialisation in developed countries of Europe, America and Asia can be traced to committed efforts of governments to railway development. For instance, in the United Kingdom, the railways helped transform British society. Over £2 million was invested and railway building employed at its peak from 1846 to 1848 in the region of 200,000 men. At this time when coal was the mainstay for energy production, the railway moved more than half of what was moved by sea in the UK. The country’s iron output doubled and at its peak in the 1880s, the railways accounted for nearly 40 per cent of the country’s entire domestic consumption.
The railways both increased the demand for key raw materials such as iron and steel and enabled them to be easily distributed around the country for manufacturing use.
In the United States, freight railroads play an important role in the country’s economy, especially for moving imports and exports using containers, and for shipments of coal and oil.
With its 1.2 billion population China is perhaps the country with the fastest growing railway economy, with its speed rail system. The country, this year, announced it was investing more than 800 billion Yuan ($128 billion) in domestic railway construction in 2015, the same as last year’s final target, while pledging to increase its railway makers’ overseas market share.
In addition to pushing for high-profile overseas contracts, some 8,000 kilometres (about 5,000 miles) of railway lines will be opened to domestic traffic this year in China.
Investment in railway is one visible development that shut Brazil up from its third world, a position it shared with Nigeria a few years ago to becoming a second world country, becoming an important phenomenon in the BRICKS countries. Brazil’s railway saw massive development after privatisation
Brazil Rail transport in Brazil began in the 19th century and there were many different railway companies. The railways were nationalised under the Rede Ferroviária Federal, Sociedade Anônima (RFFSA) in 1957. Between 1999 and 2007, the RFFSA was broken up and services are now operated by a variety of private and public operators, including América Latina Logística, Companhia Paulista de Trens Metropolitanos and SuperVia.
In India, railway takes center stage in public transportation as more than half of the country’s population move around the nation by rail. The implication of that is a booming railway economy and a huge factor in the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
In Nigeria, experts have recommended privatisation of the railway, or some form of public-private partnership that will activate generous involvement of private sector involvement.
Lagos, Waking up, Ibadan and Osogbo high in the 70s, 80s, but comatose in 2015
The two diesel multipurpose units acquired by the NRC in 2014 have given the country’s railway experience, especially with Lagos city service some modern touch.
However, railway in Lagos continues to grow at a slow pace, with high shortage of infrastructure, such as wagons and locomotives.
LEADERSHIP Weekend observed that Its impact on the economy of Lagos is minimal as rail transportation to Apapa Port which used to be vibrant in the 1960s and 1970s is in comatose. It was also observed that the collapse of the railway transportation system in Lagos has adversely affected most of the roads in the metropolis as importers now makes use of containers and trucks to ferry their goods out of the port and significantly to the traffic gridlock in Lagos state.
An octogenarian, Pa Samuel Adeleye while speaking on the economic potentials of the railway city of Ibadan, Oyo State went through the memory lane, disclosed that the British colonial government assumed control of the city in 1983 after the railway arrived from Lagos in 1901 and was extended northward to Kano (1912), thus ensuring the city’s continuing economic importance.
He recalled that before the advent of railway in Ibadan, the economic activities include agriculture, commerce, handicrafts, manufacturing and service industries.
While noting that Ibadan was an important commercial centre, he said that virtually every street and corner in the traditional core and the inner suburbs is a market square or stall.
He added that the major daily market stretches in a belt from the railway station in the west to the centre of the city.
A trader, Alhaja Mulikat Akanni who claimed that she had been selling at the Ibadan railway station for close to 35 years, said the station did not only boost the economy of the natives but external trade.
The woman, who lamented the present business down turn at the station, said that with the sprawling population, agricultural potential and commercial promise, Ibadan could rival Lagos as an economic hub.
A staff of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NCR), Micheal Adeniyi who corroborated the trader’s view on how railway line had boosted the economy of the country, said “efficient rail transport is critical to the sustainable development of the country”.
Both Adeniyi and Akanni agreed that the city have continued to witness economic losses since the railway went into comatose, saying that its economic impact to the cities was enormous.
They argued that at the railway station, there was business transactions between the natives and those traveling transportation of goods in bulk were made easy.
They listed the likely benefit of using railway to carry goods to include reduction in road mishaps during which goods and lives were lost, reduction of long vehicles on the roads thereby increase the life span of the roads, goods will be transported at low price and this will affect the cost of goods at the markets.
“Considering the carnages on our roads, transporting goods through railways will have been the best for the country,” Adeniyi said.
On how to revive the sector, a civil servant, Bamidele Alo called on the federal government to develop an adequate, safe, environmentally sound, efficient and affordable integrated transport system within a frame work of a competitive national and international market economy.
According to him, one of the major means of transportation is to rejuvenate railway lines across the country.
While noting that the sector had suffered neglect, he said to achieve success in the herculean task of managing, maintaining and operating the railway transport sector, it should not be solely handled by the federal government alone.
He suggested that rather than making it a government alone affair, there should be a synergy between the government and private sector participation through the Public Private Partnership (PPP) initiative.
However, Osogbo, the capital of Osun State assumed the economic nerve center of the state by virtue of the flourishing railway station located in the ancient town.
The then flourishing railway station has now become an image of its past until recently when the rail lines were resuscitated by the federal government and complemented by the value added by the state government.
Leadership Weekend learnt that the vision of Osun State government was to have a railway station at Dagbolu where goods will be discharged and farm produces transported to other parts of the state.
In the past, Osogbo railway station used to be a beehive of economic activities where traders, farmers and businessmen transact business thereby boosting the economy of the state.
Alhaja Abidemi Ololade who used to be a big time food vendor at Osogbo railway station in those days lamented the situation on the ground now saying that she was able to build her house conveniently as a food vendor in the railway flourishing days.
Alhaja Ololade mentioned prominent businessmen in Osun State who succeeded as a result of their patronage of railway station to transport their wears such as cola nut, cocoa, vehicles among others.
Speaking on his determination to make Osun State the hub of the economy of Western Nigeria, Governor Rauf Aregbesola noted that the Dagbolu railway station will become a major cargo station where farm produce in all the states of the South West will embark on economic activities via the station.
Beside the multimillion Dagbolu railway station project, Osun State government has also made a mark on the Osogbo railway station that is located within the imposing Freedom Park project of the government.
Politicians and hoodlums take over Port Harcourt railway
Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital hosts one of the two major rail lines in Nigeria, which links it with Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, in the North-East geo-political zone of the country. The other major rail line connects Lagos and Nguru, in Yobe State.
The Port Harcourt railway was constructed to benefit major economic activities such as the Udi coalfields in the Eastern and then upper Benue regions and also North-Eastern towns.
However, since after the Nigerian civil war in 1970, the operations of the Port Harcourt railway, like others across the country have been depressed and in the following decade, the low interest in export commodities and coal resulted in reduced freight haulage.
The Nigerian Railway Cooperation (NRC) went more than once into bankruptcy during the last 20 years. Lack of maintenance on infrastructure and rolling stock and a high number of employees the railway produced huge deficits, not taken over by the state.
In 2005 after several re-organisations of the system passenger transport was reduced to four departures weekly from Lagos of which two went to Kano, one to Jos and one to Maiduguri; from Port Harcourt four trains every week ran to Kano (two weekly), one weekly to Jos, and one to Maiduguri.
Although, the immediate past administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan, was able to re-establish rail transportation between Port Harcourt and Makurdi, the number of trains that come into Port Harcourt have not been more than two in a week. As a result of these most rail tracks, especially between UTC Junction and Mile One Market in Port Harcourt, have been taken over by traders who pay a little token to the NRC on daily basis, to enable them trade on the rail tracks.
Also, the number of visitors who come to Port Harcourt with train, as well haulages that are exported through Port Harcourt Ports has reduced drastically, thereby affecting the micro economy of the city.
Considering the long years of abandonment, the railway staff quarters became hideout of hoodlums while the expanse of land surrounding the Port Harcourt railway terminal, located at Station Road have been forcefully taken over by politicians and their associates.
While the popular Railway Club has been reduced to an ordinary beer parlour, divided into sections, and rented out to individuals.
Lafia Station now brothels and drinking spots
Given the role railway line played in the lives of the people of Lafia, the Nasarawa state capital, as a stop-over station, any attempt to reminisce with the people on the dwindled fortunes of the industry is greeted with nostalgia, if not outright exasperation.
Giving a vivid account of how the railway transport had impacted on the economy, lifestyle and prosperity of the people of Lafia and its environs in the 1970s and 80s, Alhaji Mohammed Wambai, the ward head of Gayam in Lafia municipal, leaves no one in doubt as to the immense wealth it bequeathed on the people.
He recalls that in the period immediately after the Nigerian civil war in 1970, rail provided the major means of transportation and haulage of goods across the country making any town or city with a railway station a hub of economic activities.
He recalls that at the time not less than five trains stopover in Lafia on daily basis either going down south or up north. In addition 12 wagons for haulage of agro-allied goods, usually down south, were also stationed at the Lafia exchange station.
Wealth and social status was then defined by ones level with the provision of services to commuters and businessmen and women. Alhaji Sadami who was revered as the richest man in Lafia and environs made his fortunes from building facilities for storage of goods, usually agricultural products for sales and transportation.
Hoteliers like Chief Chukwu Eze were also renowned in the city because they provided hospitality services to commuters who either sleep over to continue their journeys or stayed over to intercept goods coming from the north or south and purchase them at cheaper prices before reaching their destinations.
Other categories of people who benefitted down the economic ladder ranged from food vendors who work in shifts due to influx and departure of commuters throughout the day.
Functional railway transport services also provided able bodied young men with gainful employment as they work day and night conveying goods to the station from various warehouses around the station and loading them unto the wagons for transportation.
Alhaji Wambai, an octogenarian, recalled that: “young men would sing and dance as they work day and night at the train station after which they were paid handsomely between 4 to 5 kobo and were considered prosperous among their peers, even by maidens”.
He regrets that farmers are now forced to sell their farm produce at giveaway prices in the local markets to middlemen or pay exorbitantly to transport them to the desired market which he said has hampered the development of the agricultural sector.
He observed further that at present, the warehouses used for the storage of agro-allied goods are now used for beer storage while most of the affordable hotels have now turned to brothels and beer parlours especially around the UAC road in Lafia metropolis.
However, the only business activity taking place inside the Lafia train station at the moment is wholesale and retail of palm oil. Ironically, even the oil traders don’t use railway to transport their wares to and from the south.
A trader at the palm oil market, Chukwudi Nnodim, said he started trading in 1988 said traders opted to use lorries to convey their goods because railway transport was no longer reliable and consistent.
He also averred that while Lorries are faster, they are curiously cheaper than rail transport because while Lorries charge N3000 for a drum of oil, rail authorities charge N5000.
“We used to follow the rail but they are not reliable now. We have to wait for days and sometimes they don’t come so we have to resort to road transport again,” he explained.
The manager of the station, Mr. Adams Idris leaves no one in doubt as to how the collapse of the railway transport sector has redefined the economy and avenue of wealth creation in the ancient city of Lafia and its environs.
He stated that at the moment only passenger trains ply the route once every week from Port Harcourt to Kano en route Kaduna.
The manager stated further that an average of 20-25 passengers book to travel by rail down south from the station every week as opposed to 5 or less who travel northward.
A security guard with the railway cooperative who has spent over three decades with the industry in Lafia who craved anonymity recalled that his wife earned more he did as a government worker from money she made selling food to commuters at the station.
Abeokuta rail station now a grave yard
Railway line reached Abeokuta, in 1889. Its terminus, Lafenwa, became an important area of the ancient city as travellers disembark the novel transport system and new passengers’ board.
Apart from Lafenwa, the terminus, that witnessed boom in activities, a whole new settlement for non indigenes, Sabo, also emerged about a kilometre from the terminus.
Unfortunately, the terminus that was always a flurry of activities back then is today a shadow of the glory gone by.
When LEADERSHIP Weekend visited Chief Atanda Balogun, an aged man who operates a store opposite the terminus said he witnessed the railway boom of the 1970s and 80s.
According to him, he was a regular rail traveller in the past especially the Lagos – Abeokut – Ibadan route of the old Western Region.
Balogun recollected how the loud honk from trains used to be a regular feature of the city. All that, he lamented, is history as trains now come once in a while.
“Railway journey is the best. You enjoy every bit of the journey. It afforded you the opportunity to appreciate the green vegetation of the country and very cheap and safe,” he said.
He blamed successive government for the decline saying it killed many businesses.
“Corruption killed the railway system. People started buying trailers and it’s not a conspiracy theory that these truck owners took over the job of the railway after killing it,” he added.
At present, the entire stretch of the terminus looks like a ghost town but Chief Balogun is optimistic that things might turn around for the rail system saying the decline led to the closure of many businesses that provide ancillary services to the transportation system.
“What is needed is the political will. Someone like President Buhari can revive it. And his name will forever be remembered as the man who took the load off our roads because trains are the most effective load carriers.”
Makurdi: Past government used new train to campaign and disappeared
Since former vice president Namadi Sambo hastily commissioned the railway station in Makurdi at the height of political campaigns before the 2015 elections, the rail coaches have not been seen plying the routes regularly, if not completely.
Leadership Weekend gathered that the coaches were moved out of the place immediately after the official flag off and till now, passengers who throng the place to board the coaches have decried the continued absence of them.
However, when the operation of the railway station was commissioned in Makurdi, it was expected that the project would boost the economy of the state by boosting the revenue generation of the state.
Experts have said that it is very difficult to quantify the value of the railway station in its relevance to adding value to the economy of the agrarian state.
But before the station was reopened, the only economic venture that appeared to be generating revenue to the food basket state was the railway market which has existed in place for several years.
The market has in it traders and dealers in fruits, cosmetics and locally brewed liquor known as Burukutu, as well as other food items. The traders operating in the place remit taxes to the Internal Revenue Service of the state.
When LEADERSHIP Weekend visited the railway station, it was observed that the rail coaches were not seen in the place, just as passengers were not seen.
An official of the station who spoke on condition of anonymity explained that the coaches were not evacuated from the place and added that they only ply the routes at intervals.
In Kaduna railway junction, the experience is better imagined than what it used to be in the past where the junction used to witness a lot of business activities.
LEADERSHIP Weekend visit to the Kaduna railway junction revealed that the entire junction was practically empty unlike in the past when the place is always busy with one train arriving as others are taking off.
Although the Kaduna station manager Mr Ude Geoffrey said the trains are still functioning, but corroborated that it is not like what was obtainable in the past.
He disclosed that the local train movement from Minna to Kaduna is always thrice a week but stressed that the Kaduna intra city train transport is no longer functional.
One of the women Mrs Salome Ojochenemi who uses the rail transport system for business and spoke to our correspondent at the Kaduna railway junction said, when the rail transport system was very functional and effective, said she used to bring in Yams from Minna and other areas to Kaduna and it was a very good and profitable business for her then.
According to her, although she still engage in the business but lamented that the patronage has decreased drastically.
“When the rail transport system was booming, before the trail arrives Kaduna, prospective buyers of goods particularly yam would have jam packed the station waiting but today it is no longer so, in fact most people now own their cars and prefers travelling by the road.”
She however expressed optimism that with the Abuja- Kaduna rail line which is one of the first standard gauge railway modernisation projects things might get better in the future.
It can therefore be concluded that it is no longer as economical as it used to be in time past at the Kaduna railway station.
Another sad development on the Kaduna station is the rate at which railway properties have gone into the hands of private owners who have now turned it into their private empires.
FG Lacks Financial resources–NRC
According to the director of Operations, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Mr Niyi Alli, government lack the huge financial resources needed to develop the country’s railway.
“The government is trying hard, but the truth is that government cannot do this alone,” he said in a chat with LEADERSHIP Weekend in his office.
The NRC at the moment has achieved about 90 per cent of existing narrow gauge rail lines, which have either been rehabilitated or are currently being rehabilitated across Nigeria. The country’s major rail routes include the 1,124km Lagos to Kano Western Line rehabilitated in 2012 and the he 1,657km Port Harcourt to Maiduguri Eastern, which has been largely finished, impeded by the crisis in the North-east.
The country has also started construction of standard gauge lines like the Abuja-Kaduna and Ajaokuta- Warri standard gauge lines.
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