The Federal Government is preparing to unveil a new National Railway Development Roadmap aimed at linking all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory through a unified rail network.
The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Kayode Opeifa, announced this on Wednesday during the Seventh National Transport Conference of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA), held at NICON Luxury Hotel in Abuja.
Opeifa said the initiative aligns with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which prioritises modern transport infrastructure as a foundation for national development.
“The Federal Government will soon unveil a comprehensive National Railway Development Roadmap that will ensure rail connectivity across all 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory,” he stated.
He explained that the plan would enable every state to access the national rail corridors at no additional cost, following legislative reforms that moved railway development to the concurrent legislative list.
“The roadmap is designed to allow states to utilise national rail corridors without extra cost,” Opeifa added.
According to him, the new policy encourages state governments to take advantage of existing federal rail assets for local transport operations.
“Where there is a national rail line, states should make use of it. The Lagos–Kano line is available, and any state along that corridor can run services on it. Lagos and Plateau are already doing so, and we are ready to support others,” he said.
Opeifa noted that Ogun and Oyo States already have both narrow- and standard-gauge networks, while Edo, Delta, Kogi, Kaduna, Kano, and Niger can connect to existing routes.
He also highlighted the growing role of freight-by-rail in the movement of goods such as containerised cargo, gypsum, soda ash, cement, metal coils, and materials for the AKK pipeline project.
The NRC boss further outlined the corporation’s long-term development framework, known as Vision 2-5-10-20, which targets the optimisation of rail assets within two years, transition to electric traction in five years, doubling of national capacity in ten years, and the expansion of the network to 60,000 kilometres within twenty years.