Fed Govt spends N62.66mn to service railway debts
By Patience Ikpeme
The Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that the federal government spent $62.66million in the first quarter of 2023 to service railway-related debts.
This is contained in the DMO’s report on Nigeria’s external debt service payments. Of this amount, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) accounted for $23.1million, while the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) was allocated $15.49million. An additional $24.07million was allocated to the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project.
This amount represents a slight increase from the $61.73m spent in the first quarter of 2022.
These rising costs in debt servicing for the railway sector the report noted coincides with a decline in revenue generation.
The National Bureau of Statistics also reported a 53.65% decrease in the number of rail transportation passengers, from 953,099 in the first quarter of 2022 to 441,725 in the first quarter of 2023.
On the other hand, there was an increase in the transportation of goods, with 59,966 tonnes being transported in the first quarter of 2023 compared to 39,379 tonnes in the same period of the previous year.
However, revenue from passengers decreased by 63.02%, with N768.44million realized in the first quarter of 2023 compared to N2.08billion in the same quarter of the previous year.
Several factors have been identified as being responsible for the low patronage of train services in Nigeria. These include insecurity, transportation costs, and the maintenance of facilities.
