the Nigerian Railway Corporation ( NRC )
today 2020
is an
un-inspiring, lean?, spectre-like? shadow
of it’s former
vast, robust, vibrant, dynamic self
in the 1970s
and through to 1981?
at one time,
it was the largest employer of workers in Nigeria
and
had an employee strength
… counting managers and staff …
of
not less than 30,000 persons
across Southern Nigeria and Northern Nigeria.
that was back in the day.
for a while now?
the rumours
around the Nigeria Railways
have been rumours of
an organization that
is
not able to pay salaries of staff
and
owes workers and retired staff
for several months on end
before paying any salaries or retirement benefits / pensions / emoluments.
so it was heart gladdening when
rumours went about Nigeria that
Nigeria is receiving aid from an international organization
for the purpose of
improving the Nigerian Railway Corporation
and
building new railway lines across Nigeria.
improvements are welcome everywhere.
at least 90% of the rail tracks / rail lines of the Nigeria Railways
were built back when
Britain ruled Nigeria
i.e
before Nigeria was granted self-rule i.e self-governance i.e independence
by Britain on October 1, 1960
and so
in line with the technology of that time,
they are NARROW GAUGE tracks / rail lines.
as far back as
1975,
1976,
1977
i.e
45 years ago,
44 years ago,
43 years ago →→→
( 2020 – 1975 = 45 years,
2020 – 1976 = 44 years,
2020 – 1977 = 43 years )
→→→ engineers of the Nigerian Railways had,
according to rumours,
been advocating and clamouring for
a change
from the NARROW GAUGE TRACK
to the STANDARD GUAGE TRACK.
the reasons for this advocacy then
by Railway Engineers,
according to rumours,
included that
Britain which had built all the Nigeria Rail Tracks no longer built trains
( i.e engines and passenger coaches )
for the NARROW GUAGE TRACK
since by then ( i.e 1975? )
Britain had long advanced
to and
long progressed
to
using the STANDARD GUAGE TRACK
and so
all trains built by Britain ( and Europe )
were all done using
STANDARD GAUGE MEASUREMENTS
and so
could not run on the old NARROW GAUGE which Nigeria was/is using.
this meant that
to buy a train
.. engine or coach ..
for Nigeria,
Nigeria not only had to place an order
but in fact
place an order for an obsolete, old model equipment,
no longer being manufactured
as
a current everyday use-item in Britain ( and/or Europe )
and which
could only be manufactured by
re-surrecting abandoned? old manufacturing technologies and techniques.
in effect,
according to rumours,
Nigeria had to
place a special? order?
i.e
in other words,
a buying order for specially manufactured equipment
i.e
for equipment specially manufactured for Nigeria
which in monetary terms meant that
the buying order to buy a NARROW GAUAGE train .. engine or coach ..
was/is FAR? MORE EXPENSIVE than
the buying order to buy a STANDARD GUAGE train .. engine or coach.
so it is heart gladdening to hear rumours that
after all this time
.. 45 years or more ??? ..
Nigeria has finally woken up
to the reality
that
ALL RAIL TRACKS IN NIGERIA SHOULD BE
CONVERTED
FROM NARROW GAUGE TRACKS
TO STANDARD GAUGE TRACKS
with a rail-line being built from LAGOS TO IBADAN
being an examplar of this initiative.
one question that arises though is :
does Nigeria have a proposed / projected time frame
e.g 5 years,
within which
it proposes / plans / intends to
convert
ALL EXISTING RAIL TRACKS in NIGERIA
from NARROW GAUGE TRACKS
to STANDARD GAUGE TRACKS ???
[ GO TO 2 ]