Nigerian Government Offers Free Ride On Port Harcourt-Aba Railway 

The Nigerian Federal Government has announced a generous initiative, offering free passenger train rides on the recently rehabilitated Port Harcourt to Aba railway line. Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport, Oloruntola Oluremi, revealed the news on Tuesday night. The complimentary rides will be available for four days, from May 1 to May 4. Departures from Port Harcourt are scheduled for 8 am daily, with return trips from Aba at 3 pm. Full commercial operations will resume on May 7. This announcement follows the inauguration of the Port Harcourt-Aba rail line by Minister Senator Said Alkali earlier in the week. Alkali emphasized that such endeavors reflect the government’s commitment to enhancing trade and mobility across the nation. The statement reads, “There will be a free train ride between Port-Harcourt and Aba on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th of May 2024. “The train will be departing Port-Harcourt everyday by 8am for Aba. It will also be departing Aba every day for Port -Harcourt by 3pm. Full commercial operations resume on Tuesday 7th May 2024″.

NRC records drop as 441,725 Nigerians travel by rail

A total of 441,725 passengers travelled via the rail system in Q1 2023, lower than the 953,099 reported in the corresponding quarter of 2022. This represented a growth rate of -53.65 per cent. The rail transportation data for Q1 2023 by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), showed that 59,966 tons of goods were transported in Q1 2023, compared to 39,379 tons reported in Q1 2022. “In terms of revenue generation, N768.44 million was received from passengers over the period, lower by 63.02% relative to N2.08 billion in the same quarter of the previous year. “Similarly, N181.27 million was collected in Q1 2023 as revenue from goods/cargos, up by 99.28% from N90.96 million received in Q1 2022. “In addition, other receipts amounted to N34.17 million, indicating a decline of 41.02% in Q1 2023, from the N57.92 million collected in Q1 2022,” the NBS said.