Railway debt servicing cost exceeded revenue by 1,208.5 per cent in the first half of 2023, an analysis of debt service documents has shown.
In the first half of 2023, the government spent $38.59m (N29.98bn at N777/$) on servicing debt for loans obtained to build the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu Kaduna Section) and Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project( Lagos – Ibadan Section).
At that time frame, the total railway revenue was N2.29bn according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics. In the first quarter of 2023, a total of 441,725 passengers travelled via the rail system, a 53.65 per cent increase from the 953,099 reported in the corresponding quarter of 2022.
In terms of revenues, the NBS said, “In terms of revenue generation, N768.44m was received from passengers over the period, lower by 63.02 per cent relative to N2.08bn in the same quarter of the previous year. Similarly, N181.27m was collected in Q1 2023 as revenue from goods/cargos, up by 99.28 per cent from N90.96m received in Q1 2022.
Peoplesmind
