Fidet Okhiria, the Managing Director (MD) of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), in an interview, lamented how the March 28, 2022, Abuja-Kaduna train attack has affected the service.
In the interview, Okhiria said the impact of the terrorists’ attack on the train affected the NRC’s revenue, adding that the service which used to remit on monthly basis to the government is now running at loss.
His words: “It has seriously affected us. The Abuja-Kaduna was doing marvelously well. At a time we were hitting N450m monthly and by the time you remove all operational costs, you would still have something to pay to the government. But now we can hardly buy diesel to operate. In fact, the major headache now is the price of diesel.
“For instance, on the average, we use about 4,000 litres daily for the Lagos-Ibadan service and we barely earn up to N1.7m per day. Now, the supply cost for a litre of diesel is close to N1,000. At filling stations, you get it for about N700 to N800, but if you have a supplier, he will have to put his profit margin, VAT, and others, and this brings the cost to about N1,000/litre. So, we are talking about spending almost N4m on diesel alone, when we barely make N1.7m. But we still have to provide the services on that route.”
When asked how the NRC secures funding since the Abuja-Kaduna train attack had affected its patronage, Okhiria revealed that “in the 2022 budget, the government provided about N500m diesel, which barely lasts up to a month for the rail services across the country. We also source funds from other sources, such as property rents and others.
“So, we use them to augment what we earn from the train services. So, it has been a serious headache, I won’t lie to you. It has been stressful and the NRC owes marketers for diesel, but we cannot stop. Everything we get, either from operations or elsewhere, is to ensure that the trains run because that is what the railway is meant for. We have to provide the service.”
