Mrs Blessing Onuh, the Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Land Transportation, has pledged to give the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) the needed legislative backing to boost the rail sector.
Onuh made the pledge when the committee paid an oversight visit to the NRC on Friday in Lagos.
She said the proposed bill to unbundle the NRC had gone through the first reading and hopefully it would come up in subsequent reading .
“This is a proposed bill to unbundle the NRC to allow companies to come in, allow public private partnership, so that they can invest in the sector and that will enhance development.
“We are here to perform our duty, an oversight function on the Nigerian Railway Corporation. We started in Lagos State and stopped over at the assembly plant to see how things are being done and moved to Ibadan.
“It was a smooth and wonderful ride with comfortable coach and when we get back we will ensure that we see things start to work in the sector.
“This is because the rail transportation is very vital to the development of any nation and when these things begin to work, the prices of food will crash automatically, things will get better and transportation will be a lot cheaper.
“I saw a magnificent building in Lagos State and we went through the ticketing section, operations room and their working is over 95 per cent completed and so far it has been impressive,” she said.
She said that the rail sector needed attention for it to work very well.
She noted that for the rail transport system, both the poor and the rich love to use the train, “so it does not matter if one had the means or not.”
“However, there is a need to ensure that we make things work for the rail sector in terms of funding, encouragement in legislature and others,” she said.
Also speaking, the Managing Director, NRC, Mr Freeborn Okhiria, final installations would take place at the ticketing section in the next two weeks.
“The ticket barrier at the station has just been installed, it’s at the last phase of installation, the civil and mechanic work are being completed and soon they will commercial it and commission it to the public.
“This will ensure that tickets will only permit one to the departure hall and also allow one on arrival to leave the platform.
“On the central control, once it is switched on, we don’t hope it will be switched off, so we are trying to get the appropriate power.
“ They are working on the power supply because that is the Operations Control Centre (OCC) for the entire Nigeria that will cover every train movement, control and the cameras,” he said.
The NRC boss added that they are working with Eko Electricity Distribution Company, on a dedicated and reliable line and at the same time working on alternative power.
He said the corporation was working on the RedLine stating that the line would be running on the national rail with stations at Oyingbo, Yaba and Mushin.
On transition to the Chinese, Okhiria said that all operations had been handed over.
“We have an agreement that they will provide technical services for three years and they have been providing that. What is remaining is for them to handover the OCC.
“ They proposed to hand over but we to want to wait until the power is on to test it before we accept the OCC. Also, they have finished absorbing what the Nigerian government ordered from them,” he said.
Speaking on rail patronage, he noted that there were peak and non-peak periods like Fridays.
“At Mobolaji Johnson station, one could see surge, people returning from Lagos to Ibadan.
“If you come here on Monday, it will be the opposite. We should not forget our target of running an hourly train. We are working on that and the cost to ensure that it is obtainable.
“We need to ensure adequate resources, we need to pay for cleaners, security and provide diesel, power, and others. Nothing stops us from running every hour if we have the source to move,” he said.
