FG Counts Loses Due To Stoppage Of Abuja/Kaduna Train Service

By Ayodele Oni

The Federal Government has been counting loses incurred as a result of the stoppage of the train service along Abuja – Kaduna route.

The operation was halted early this year when bandits attacked and abducted some passengers travelling from Kaduna to Abuja.

The federal government has however announced that the train service is expected to commence operation soon but only those with valid National Identification Number, (NIN) will enjoy the service.

Speaking on Saturday, the Managing Director, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Fidet Okhiria, disclosed that the Federal Government lost about N113m due to non-operation of trains at the Abuja-Kaduna railway for over eight months.

Okhiria who disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria, (NAN), in Abuja said many Nigerians also incurred some losses indirectly due to the halt of operations on the route.

According to him ”The last time we checked that was between the months of February to August. We have lost about N113 million.

“Using what we were earning between January and March, so we had to use it as a working document. Although, when the train was working, there are a lot of other businesses that were going on.

“There were people selling on the train, there were people selling around the stations, and there were people that had opened shops and people were patronizing them because the trains were running.

“So those were indirect benefit and cost that have been lost to the Nigerian economy.

“More so, somebody who would have travelled from Kaduna to Abuja via train for some form of transaction and couldn’t make it because the trains were not running would have also lost something.

“The economic benefits is also lost, so we should not only look at the Naira and kobo that railway would have been able to make from it, but include all other losses by Nigerians.”