Cattle movement by rail resumes soon – NRC

According to the Nigerian Railway Corporation, livestock transport services by rail from the northern to the southern regions of the country would soon be available.

This was disclosed by Fidet Okhiria, the Managing Director of the NRC, on Channels Television's The Morning Brief on Wednesday.

He declared that the Warri-Itakpe road will once again be used for the transportation of goods and cows.

In 2017 the NRC stopped shipping livestock by train because of technical problems.

In one to two months, Okhiria said, the Warri-Itakpe train service would be back in operation, allowing herders to transfer their cattle from the north-central region (Itakpe, Kogi State) to the southern region (Warri, Delta State).

He said that modernising Nigeria's goods transportation is the goal of the NRC.

According to Okhiria, the NRC has purchased livestock-transporting specialist waggons, which are presently being constructed at the Kajola site in Oyo State.
"We've built 15 livestock waggons, and maybe they would be deployed from Itakpe to Warri in the next month or two to drive the economy," he said.

He highlighted that rather than concentrating only on making money, investments in railways should also promote the social and economic well-being of the populace.

"The goal of developing transport is not to generate revenue in naira or kobo; rather, the profit will arise through the transfer of goods and the connecting of cities," the speaker stated.

He pointed out that even if the government might not directly profit from the gains, the economy will nevertheless grow and thrive overall as a result of the indirect earnings.

On Tuesday, President Bola Tinubu unveiled his proposal for a new ministry devoted to the growth of cattle.

At the State House in Abuja, Tinubu also formally established the Renewed Hope livestock reform implementation group.