THE Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) generated an income of N5.57 billion from passengers, goods and other services in 2022, a 7.69 per cent reduction from the N6.03 billion it generated in 2021.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) in its latest data report on the NRC performance for the third and fourth quarters of 2022, the Corporation generated N4.54 billion from only passengers last year, while it got N5.69 billion in 2021.
The NRC also raked in N416.85 million in 2022 from cargoes, an improvement on the N299.80 million figure it earned in 2021 from such service.
The report showed that the NRC realised N607.80 million as income from other receipts in 2022, compared to the N38.42 million recorded in 2021.
The NBS further noted that the Corporation generated N2.07 billion and N598 million in the first and second quarters of 2022, while it raked in N715 million and N1.15 billion in the third and fourth quarters.
The report stressed that N71.76 million, N86 million, N101.8 million and N157.233 million were generated from goods and cargoes in the first, second, third and fourth quarters respectively.
It also showed that the N603.80 million got from other income revenue receipts spread across the four quarters.
Although N57.92 millon and N49.72 million were gathered in the first and second quarters, N117.98 million and N382.16 million were generated in the third and fourth quarters.
The report stated that more that 3.2 million passengers made use of the railway service in 2022.
It also revealed that 118,000 volumes of goods used NRC’s cargo service.
Train attacks affected NRC’s revenue
The ICIR reported that the NRC temporarily suspended services on the Abuja-Kaduna route.
The suspension followed a terrorist attack on a Kaduna-bound train carrying hundreds of passengers on the evening of May 28.
According to the NRC, there were reports of gunshots, and the train derailed due to the attack.
The report noted that the bandits detonated a bomb on the Abuja-Kaduna track and successfully immobilised it at a point between Katari and Rijana.
Further revelations from the NRC stated that 146 of the 362 passengers on the Kaduna-bound train attacked by terrorists on March 28 could not be reached six days after the incident.
More than 60 passengers were whisked away and abducted, while nine were killed.
Subsequently, The ICIR reported that the NRC suspended the Lagos-Kano and Ajaokuta train services due to threats of terrorist attacks.
According to the NRC managing director, Fidet Okhiria, the Lagos-Kano and Ajaokuta train services were suspended due to insecurity fears.
Okhiria had said, “We have not stopped (services). Rather, what we said was that we are not going to be stopping at the Ajaokuta station.
“This is because yesterday (Monday), while passengers were leaving the station with their private cars and buses, they had people shooting at them. So we said we will not stop there again for passengers.”
Also, in January 2022, the Warri-Itakpe train service (WITS) was grounded after a train operating the route was derailed, which left passengers stranded. The ICIR reported that the NRC declared that its services along the Abuja-Kaduna rail lines and Nigeria resumed on Tuesday, January 31.
Consequently, The ICIR further reported that the NRC bemoaned that about N113 million was lost due to the shutdown of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line for over eight months.
Speaking to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in December 2022, Okhiria said many Nigerians incurred some losses indirectly due to the halt of operations on the route.
He said, ”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 as a working document.
“When the train was working, there were a lot of other businesses that were going on.
“So those were indirect benefits and costs that had 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 are also lost. So we should not only look at the Naira and kobo that the NRC would have been able to make from it, but at all other losses by Nigerians,” he said.
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