NRC: We’ve built train wagons for livestock transportation from south to north

• He said investment in railways should be for the social and economic benefits of the people and not profit-oriented in naira and kobo.
• According to him, the indirect earnings might not be directly to the government but it would flow into the economy.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) says it would soon begin to offer rail services that will enable transportation of cattle from the north to the south.

Managing Director of NRC, Fidet Okhiria, disclosed this in an interview with Channels Television on Wednesday.

Okhiria said the transportation of cows and goods would recommence via the Warri-Itakpe route.

The NRC MD’s remark follows President Bola Tinubu’s consideration of establishing a ministry of livestock development.

On Tuesday, Tinubu hinted at the possibility of creating a ministry of livestock development.

Okhiria said the NRC would modernise the movement of goods in the country “so that when they come by road from the north, they can move them by rail to south-south Warri”.

The MD said that the NRC has “brought in some wagons that can mobilise livestock and they are being assembled in the Kajola area of Oyo in the south-west.”

He added that railway investments should prioritize people’s well-being over profit, as indirect economic benefits will still flow into the economy, even if they don’t directly go to the government.

“We’ve built 15 wagons for livestock and maybe in the next month or two, they would be deployed from Itakpe to Warri to drive the economy,” Okhira said.

“You are not developing transportation because you want to make a profit in terms of naira and kobo, but the profit will come indirectly if we can move goods and link cities.”