Nigeria started its standard gauge railway modernization projects
(SGRMP) with the Abuja-Kaduna rail line. A standard railway gauge line connecting Nigeria’s
federal capital city Abuja with Kaduna its commercial capital enables goods and
people between the two cities to move at a faster pace.
In February 2011, the construction of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line started and was finished in December 2014 with financial support of China.
It is hoped that Nigeria’s railway modernization projects
will help develop a badly infrastructure network in Nigeria and in the process
ease dependence on poor roads in the country and help create badly needed jobs
for the teaming unemployed in the country. The Abuja-Kaduna rail line modernization
projects (SGRMP) in Nigeria employed an estimated 4,000 people and is projected
to create over 5,000 additional jobs during its operation.
Standard gauge
railway modernization projects in Nigeria
A significant obstacle to Nigeria’s economic development has
been the lack of adequate infrastructure. The first of the country’s standard
gauge railway modernization projects, accommodating high-speed rail lines is
expected to bolster Africa’s largest economy as railways make a comeback after many
decades of negligence.
Nigeria has been modernizing its railways and is currently
undertaking the modernization of its standard gauge railways.
In 2006 the federal government awarded $8.3bn contract to
CCECC for the Lagos-Kano standard gauge modernization project. This was the beginning
of the standard gauge modernization project.
The project soon ran into funding difficulties which
prevented its implementation. The initiative was then scaled down and re-scoped
into different standalone segments. As a consequence, the existing 1,124km
narrow-gauge Lagos-Kano line was rehabilitated. As part of the Lagos-Kano
standard gauge project, the Abuja-Kaduna segment has been implemented.
First female train driver in Nigeria Ms. Isa Fatima Abiola
The railways modernization project also scored a first by employing the first female train driver in Nigeria Ms. Isa Fatima Abiola. She is a role model and trend setter for young women. In this video, she explains how she got involved with this opportunity and encourages other Nigerian young women to take on the challenge.
The initiative to modernize Nigeria's railways seeks to exchange the current narrow gauge system with the wider standard gauge system. This will enable high speed trains to operate on the railway network under construction. Nigeria's high speed train will first be operated on the Lagos to Ibadan route.
Railway development in Nigeria began over 100 years ago by
the Colonial British government in order to help it move Nigeria’s rich agricultural
products from the northern parts of the country to the southern ports in the south
on their way to the United Kingdom. With the rise of oil production in Nigeria in the 1950's and
the country’s dependence oil revenues for economic development, there was deemphasize
by the Nigerian government on the export of agricultural produce in the 1970s. Dependence
on oil revenues coupled with government policy neglect and mismanagement caused
the Nigeria’s railway system to fall into a state of shabbiness.
As of 2009, annual passenger rail trips in Nigeria had dropped
from its 1963 high level of about 11 million to just over million passengers.
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All rights reserved by Tom Okure, Ph.D CEO of Inter-Continental Mgt. Systems, Inc (or ICMS Inc). ICMS, Inc, is a multifaceted business and management consulting firm with its head office in Albany, New York
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