By Sodeinde Temidayo David
In the second quarter of 2021, Nigeria witnessed a 422.4 per cent year-on-year surge in train passengers, driving the revenue generated from the operations of rail transportation to N1.1 billion.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) disclosed that in the period under review, the total number of Nigerians who used rail transportation stood at 565,385 compared with 108,238 recorded in the same period of last year.
Also, the funds generated, as earlier stated, stood at N1.1 billion, 243.8 per cent or N763.5 million higher than the N320.3 million reported in the second quarter of 2020.
In the data analysed by Business Post, the growth was because residents of the country now travel through the rail after the federal government rehabilitated the rail system, making it gain popularity among Nigerians due to its affordability.
Looking at the performance, on a quarter-on-quarter basis, there was an increase by 33.2 per cent in the number of rail system travellers when compared to 424,460 people who travelled by train between the period of January and March 2021.
Comparing the amount generated in the second quarter of the year with that of the first quarter, it was higher by N190.9 million or 21.4 per cent as N892.5 million was made in the first quarter of 2021.
Also, there was an increase in the volume of goods transported through the country’s railway system.
Data showed that 42,782 tons of goods were transported in Q2 2021, higher by 34,091 tons compared with the 8,691 tons moved in the same quarter last year.
In a similar trend, the funds generated from goods and cargos had a significant boost of N5.3 million as N71.6 million was generated compared to N66.3 million in the preceding quarter and N52.7 million in the corresponding quarter of last year.
With the recent transformation and rehabilitation made in the Nigerian railway system, a rapid industrial and economic transformation is set to be achieved with the Nigerian government promising to improve the country’s transportation systems.
