Reps call for unbundling of NRC to boost rail sector investment
Nigeria’s House or Representative Committee on Land Transport has called for the unbundling of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to allow companies and private sector to invest so as to enhance train sector development.
Chairman of the committee, Blessing Onuh said this when she led her members on an oversight function visit to tour of facilities of the NRC along the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge corridor.
Onuh said the unbundling of the corporation remains the only stumbling block to fully deregulate the rail sector and encourage private investors to come in and play their part in the development of the sub-sector.
She revealed that the bill to unbundle the corporation will soon come up for the second reading and “this is vital to allow for public-private partnership needed for the development of the rail sector. The unbundling will allow people to come in and develop the rail sector.
According to her, “I am happy at the level of things we met on ground from Lagos to Ibadan, the Oyo state capital, from the various modern stations to the modern rolling stocks”.
She added that she will be happy now as a Nigerian to board the train as a means of commuting around the country.
On the committee’s impression during the visit, she said, they were taken through the various units of train operations by the NRC MD and his management team and they were satisfied.
Blessing Onuh also expressed happiness that the nation has the capacity to supply wagons and other railway spare parts and other components to the West Africa sub-region and indeed the entire continent from the Kajola plant.
The managing director of NRC, Fidet Okhiria also spoke on the control room power generation which is not yet activated due to an unstable power supply, said the corporation is working with the Eko Electric distribution to have a dedicated line and is collaborating with the Lagos state government on the Red Line rail project
“Efforts are on to develop a stable energy source as well as backup energy, to enable the control center monitor everything happening on the corridor. “When fully on stream, the control centre will not only monitor activities on the corridor but also integrate other stations being developed on the Red Line, by the Lagos State Government,” he added.