The Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Engr Fidet Okhiria in this interview with Senior Correspondent Adelola Amihere has allayed fears expressed by Nigerians over the country’s huge borrowings from China for infrastructural development especially of the Rail sector. According to him, there is no need for Nigerians to be worried about the loans as they are judiciously used for the purpose of infrastructural development and a repayment plan is in place. Excerpts:
Looking at the success of the Abuja-Kaduna rail service, what is the revenue generation presently sir?
It is looking good, it is positive. I can’t give you specific figures but I can say it is positive. At least, I can say that we can run the services comfortably, we can buy fuel, lubricants, pay for the escorts and cleaning.
Nigerians have expressed fears with regards the rising debt profile especially in terms of the loans received from China. Are there any repayment plans?
Before you borrow any money whether for business, or government, there is always a plan to repay if not the loan will not be approved. I think there was a plan before the loan was approved and those plans are strictly adhered to. The infrastructural loan is government to government and not the Ministry of Transport or Nigerian Railway to the Chinese Government. So what we do as a responsible body is to ensure that all money earned, we obey government regulation and do the needful and as the Minister of Transportation directed, we are providing the revenue and the expenditure transparently as humanly possible to the Ministry. And you know we don’t operate our accounts, we have a TSA account that all revenue goes into.
Nigerians need not worry. The loans were taken to develop the rail and the rail is being built and Nigerians have started experiencing the benefits and having the peace of mind when they go on the rail. Those are accruing benefits. You cannot measure the gain on infrastructural development with Naira and Kobo immediately but there are associated benefits you gain by having the infrastructure in place.
The Kaduna-Abuja is done, another government is not coming to do it; it is off the track and we are enjoying the benefits of using it and children yet unborn will enjoy it. That is out off the track. Apart from setting money aside for operation to maintain and ensure that the tracks remain stable by rebalancing and that is what is required. So I don’t think people should be scared as far as that money is judiciously used and not squandered or swindled by people. So the present arrangement is quite transparent enough for everybody to look at. Moreover, the money is not given to anyone or directly to Nigerian government to manage, it’s when you deliver a work, and you will say that the contractor has completed his work then the money is spent and the money being claimed for is correct that they pay.
Talking about peace of mind on the train, there was news about an attack on the train in the first week of January which caused panic for many Nigerians who had thought that travelling by train is the safest means considering the security challenges in the country.
The news about the attack is totally false. Nothing like that happened. Some said Ballistic missile. I am not a military man but when you hear the word missile, and it goes a long distance and can even push the train off the track, there was nothing like that. I don’t know why Nigerians like to celebrate negative things. This news broke out on the 2nd of January of a brand new year and people are just coming back to work. I did not know of it until when NTA called me asking questions. I had to tell them to hang up and I will call them back later. I then called my officers in Abuja and asked: “where are the trains? They said its running. I asked them again, “Where are you?” They said we are in Abuja. The station manager said one is leaving Abuja for Kaduna. I then asked, was there an attack? He said there was nothing like that. It’s quite unfortunate.
What is the progress on the e-ticketing process for the train service?
Well, after the presentation of the compliance certificate by the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission to us, the process is no longer in the hands of the Nigerian Railway or the Ministry but now in the hands of the Cabinet. The Federal Executive Council has to give an approval, when that is done, we convey the approval to the lucky winner, so it’s no longer in our hands.
The Minister hinted in October 2019 that new coaches were set to arrive Nigeria by late December as this will help reduce the pressure especially on the Abuja-Kaduna line. Have the coaches arrived?
I am happy to announce that by this week the ship will be in our shore and we give another two weeks again for it to be offloaded and cleared from the port. That’s the 10 locomotives. The coaches are in another ship which we are expecting at the end of the month.
