Nigeria’s rail sector has suffered six decades of neglect, leaving the nation with a paltry 4,000 km network—compared to South Africa’s 35,000 km—Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Dr. Kayode Opeifa, has revealed.
Speaking on The Exchange Podcast with Femi Soneye, Dr. Opeifa traced the country’s rail woes to years of government inaction, noting that from 1962 to 2000, “we built nothing, we did nothing.”
The NRC boss hailed the 2023 constitutional amendment that moved rail from the Exclusive to the Concurrent Legislative List as a game-changer. This allows states, local governments, and the private sector to finally invest in rail infrastructure, breaking decades of federal monopoly. Lagos State, once “frustrated by the federal government” in its metro rail projects, is now free to expand its Red, Blue, Green, and Purple lines.
Dr. Opeifa outlined a three-pillar framework for rail success: statutes, structures, and processes. With laws now in place, he emphasized, states must focus on building the right agencies and operational guidelines. Already, six states—including Lagos, Kaduna, Kano, and Borno—are actively rolling out metro rail plans.
The Federal Government is complementing these efforts with a National Rail Master Plan, ready for launch, which aims to connect all states with modern rail lines—boosting national integration and economic growth. Dr. Opeifa predicted many states could start construction by 2026, signaling a dramatic break from decades of inertia.
The Lagos-Ibadan rail line, completed in just three years, proves that with political will, Nigeria can deliver complex rail projects within a single government tenure. The country is now transitioning from a centralized, stagnant system to a decentralized, competitive, and collaborative rail network—finally giving Nigerians reason to hope.
