Rail cattle transportation will soon restart - NRC

According to the Nigerian Railway Corporation, livestock transport services by rail from the country’s northern region to its southern region would soon be available.

This was disclosed by the NRC Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Wednesday.

He declared that the Warri-Itakpe road will once again be used for the transportation of goods and cows.

In 2017, the NRC stopped shipping livestock by train because of technical problems.

In one to two months, the Warri-Itakpe rail service will be back in operation, allowing herders to transfer their cattle from the north-central region (Itakpe, Kogi State) to the southern region (Warri, Delta State). This information is provided by Okhiria.

He said that modernizing Nigeria’s goods transportation is the goal of the NRC.

According to Okhiria, the NRC has purchased livestock-transporting specialized wagons, which are presently being constructed at the Kajola plant in Oyo State.

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

He emphasized that rather than concentrating only on making money, investments in railways should also prioritize the social and economic well-being of the populace.

“The goal of developing transportation is not to generate revenue in naira or kobo; rather, the profit will arise through the transfer of goods and the connecting of cities,” the speaker stated.