TheCable

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) says the total revenue generated from passengers dropped by N1.48 billion in the second quarter (Q2) of 2022.

The figure represents a decline of 71 percent when compared with the first quarter (Q1) of 2022.

The latest NRC data is contained in a new report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), titled ‘Rail Transportation Data Q2 2022’.

According to the report, 422,393 passengers travelled via the rail system in Q2 2022 as against 953,099 passengers recorded in the first quarter of 2022.

The decrease in the number of passengers also had a strong effect on the revenue generation of the corporation.

The revenue generated from passengers in Q2 2022 was N598,736,300, while for Q1 2022, the revenue generated was N2,077, 836,686.

While there was a decrease in revenue from passengers, the report shows that there was an increase in the revenue generated from goods and cargo.

Analysis by TheCable Index shows that the revenue generated from goods/cargos in Q2 2022 was N86,007,680, while revenue generated from goods/cargos in Q1 2022 was N71,769,967.

In March, the NRC suspended its Abuja-Kaduna train operations after gunmen planted explosives on the rail track and attacked passengers.

The attack occurred around the Kateri-Rijana area of Kaduna — close to the train’s final stop.

In a bid to provide security and confidence to passengers, in August 2022, the federal executive council (FEC) approved N718.19 million to two security outfits to protect the 45-kilometre Abuja rail tracks and stations.

Mohammed Bello, minister of the FCT, said the private security outfits will guard key infrastructure on the rail tracks, the signalling and communication equipment and the electrical system.

Among all categories in the report, the year 2020 (particularly Q2 2020) suffered the most losses and turnout of passengers due to the COVID-19 lockdown imposed by the federal government to curtail the spread of the virus across Nigeria.