The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has said it will soon commence the movement of cows and other goods by rail.
The Managing Director of NRC, Fidet Okhiria, disclosed this on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief breakfast show on Wednesday.
Okhiria said herders and traders can start moving their cows from the northern region of Nigeria to the south via train, beginning with the Warri-Itakpe route.
The NRC had suspended the transportation of cattle by train in 2017, citing technical hitches but Okhiria said the services will resume in a matter of one or two months.
However, Okhiria said in a matter of one or two months, herders would be able to move their cattle on the Warri-Itakpe train services. Itakpe is a town in Kogi State in North Central Nigeria while Warri is located in Delta State in the South-South geopolitical zone of the country.
“The NRC would modernise the movement of goods in the country so that when they come by road from the north, they can move them by rail to South-South Warri,” the NRC boss stated.
“The NRC has brought in some wagons that can mobilise livestock and they are being assembled in the Kajola area of Oyo State in the South-West.
“We’ve built 15 wagons for livestock and maybe in the next month or two, they will be deployed from Itakpe to Warri to drive the economy.”
According to him, investment in railways should be for the social and economic benefits of Nigerians and not profit-oriented.
“You are not developing transportation because you want to make profit in terms of naira and kobo but the profit will come indirectly if we can move goods and link cities,” Okhiria explained.
The NRC MD also pointed out that the indirect earnings might not be directly to the government but would flow into the country’s economy.
As such, Okhiria added that investment in rail infrastructure should be for the good of the citizens and to make lives comfortable for them through a robust and vibrant economy.
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