TheCable

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) says it generated N6.08 billion revenue from passengers, cargo and other services in 2021.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said this in its latest rail transportation data for 2021.

The figure, compared to that of 2020 (N2.03 billion), shows an increase in federal government revenue from railway transport services by 199 percent in one year.

According to the report, NRC generated N5.70 billion from passengers in 2021 against N1.75 billion in 2020.

Goods and cargo in 2021 generated N317.57 million, against N281.35 million in 2020, while income from other receipts stood at N66.80 million in 2021, higher than the N5.19 million recorded in the preceding year.

Further analysis by TheCable Index showed that the corporation recorded its highest revenue from passengers in Q4 2021 with N1.91 billion and the lowest recorded in the second quarter of 2020 with N320.34 million.

It further revealed that 2.71 million passengers travelled via the rail system in 2021 against 1.02 million passengers recorded in 2020, representing a 166 percent increase.

A total of 168,301 tons of goods were also transported in 2021 compared to 87,440 recorded in 2020, showing a growth rate of 92.48 percent.

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, the report added.

Rotimi Amaechi, former minister of transportation, had said that the Abuja-Kaduna train service generates at least N300 million every month.