By Zik Gbemre

We were recently drawn to a report to mark this year’s 20th anniversary of the opening of the Channel Tunnel linking France with the United Kingdom (UK), and the 50th anniversary of the deal which led to its creation. This aroused our curiosity to carefully look at the Transport sector in the UK and compare that with what we have in Nigeria. The disparity observed, clearly indicates that there is need for the Nigerian Government at all levels to take after the model of transportation in the UK to address that of Nigeria.

In spite of the fact that transportation is an essential part of human activity, and in many ways forms the basis of all socio-economic interactions, Nigeria’s transportation system has always been replete with complete absence or decaying infrastructure in the four basic means of transport: Rail, Road, Water and Air Transport. Indeed, no two locations will interact effectively without a viable means of movement. In many developing countries like Nigeria, inadequate transport facilities are often the norm rather than the exception.

However, the Transport infrastructure in other countries in the West are years ahead in modern transportation. Take the Channel Tunnel for instance that is connecting the United UK with France and continental Europe. The Channel Tunnel has entrances/exits in Folkestone, Kent, and Pas-de-Calais in northern France), and the tunnel has the world’s longest undersea section — 37.9 kilometers (23.5 miles). In fact, it can best be described as a spectacle in modern transportation infrastructure engineering. Though a marvel of the modern age, it was not a new idea when it was built. French engineer Albert Mathieu proposed a tunnel under the English Channel in 1802, although his plans included an artificial island mid-channel where horse-drawn carriages could make maintenance stops. “This tunnel defined the term ‘mega project,'” says Matt Sykes, tunnel expert and director at engineering company Arup. It fundamentally changed the geography of Europe and helped to reinforce high speed rail as a viable alternative to short-haul flights.” Though both the English and French put in work to build the Channel Tunnel, the English side tunneled a greater distance.

The Channel Tunnel often makes us wonder when the Nigerian Transport sector will achieve such amiable heights of modern transport infrastructural development. We all would agree with the fact that a good transport system is essential to support economic growth and development in any country. Unfortunately, it appears the Nigeria government over the years has lost sight of this fact. Since the attainment of independence in 1960, the problems of the Nigeria transport system include bad roads; inadequate fleets of buses or trucks; irregular and overcrowded trains and aeroplanes and congested ports. In line with these are physical problems such as dearth of suitably-trained transport managers and planners, capital restricting bottlenecks, serious issues of institutional reforms and ineffective traffic regulations. And according to the website of the National Bureau of Statistics, the share of transport in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is in the neighbourhood of 3 percent. That is rather too poor considering the problems the in transport sector.

Take the Nigerian railway system, for instance. In Nigeria, rail transport accounts less than a half percent to the gross domestic products of the transport sector. Although rail has always contributed a tiny proportion of value-added in transportation, its share of value-added continues to decline because road transport (freight and passengers) have virtually taken over all the traffic previously conveyed by rails. The relegated status of the Nigerian Railways is a classic illustration of a transportation policy which has over the years, sidelined an important and cheap means of transportation to foster the growth of privately-owned long haulage transport services. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, this policy has engendered the following:

It has made the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) a lame duck with total reliance on the Government for subvention.

A disorganized, unregulated private sector-owned road transport system providing freight and passenger services. Even with some states governments’ efforts in providing public road transport, it is still not enough.

The effects of these are: traffic congestion on urban roads across the country; increasing rate of total road accidents emanating from bad roads, poorly-maintained vehicles and careless driving; worsening environmental pollution, etc. The bottom line is that Nigeria’s railways are in a parlous condition. Though the government is trying to rectify the situation by privatizing the NRC, however not much has been attained in this direction. There appear to be so much plans and projects here and there made by successive governments regarding rail transportation that are hardly actualized.

According to Wikipedia website on Nigeria’s railway transport, as of 2003, Nigeria’s rail system had 3,557 kilometers of tracks, 19 kilometers, of which are dual gauge and the remainder, standard gauge. The country has two major rail lines: one connects Lagos on the Bight of Benin and Nguru in the northern state of Yobe; the other connects Port-Harcourt in the Niger Delta and Maiduguri in the northeastern state of Borno. As of March 2006, Nigeria and Niger expected to move forward with plans to establish a rail link with Cameroon, but discussions became more contentious in the aftermath of the International Court of Justice’s October 2002 verdict in favour of Cameroon on the issue of control of the Bakassi Peninsula.

Without a doubt, the expansion, upgrade and re-construction of Nigeria’s railway networks with modern technology of the current age will automatically transform the country’s transportation sector and ease a lot of pain experienced by the citizenry. It will usher in mono/multiple rails, automated guided trains, light/electric railways, gas-engineered trains, but most importantly, underground tubes (subways as it is called in the USA) for inter-town /city and states transportation across the country.

On the other hand, looking what is obtaining in the transport sector of developed societies in Europe and America, one is forced to ask, do they (Nigerian political leaders) who travel to these places do not see the extent of development in transport sector in these nations? Don’t they think it wise to emulate what is obtainable in these nations in Nigeria’s transport sector? For instance, most traveling and movements in England, Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, USA and other Western countries are done through their well-structured rail-way system. Let us consider this; the famous Heathrow Airport in London is one of the busiest airports across the world. With so many daily flights and thousands of passengers. But despite the heavy influx of people at the airport, especially when flights land, it barely takes few minutes for everyone to disperse to their various destinations using the trains and underground Tubes that link different parts of England and Europe. This is unlike the usually crowded and disorganized atmosphere of travellers we see in Nigeria’s busiest airport-Murtala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos with just only one terminal.

To transform the transportation sector in Nigeria, especially in well-populated urban cities across Nigeria, we seriously need to have a well-developed railway system of transportation. Such that we can aspire to have someday; the popular Euro Train Stations like the King’s Cross Train Station and the famous St. Pancras International Train Station in London, which connects the whole of Europe. The one that intrigues us most, which we strongly believe should be adopted and constructed in populated cities like Lagos, Port–Harcourt, Warri, and perhaps the FCT-Abuja), is the London Underground Tube railway system that is carefully mapped many years ago and developed over time to link every nook and cranny of the city of London and environs. Be it from Leeds to Manchester, Wakefield Westgate, New Castle, Huddersfield, Liverpool, Arsenal, Woodford, etc. and there are well-planned maps available for anyone at every stop-stations of the Tubes  to enable passengers/travelers (especially strangers/foreigners) to locate wherever they are going to.

In 2013, the Mayor of London and the body that manages Transport for London, celebrated 150 years of running and improving London’s Underground Tubes. According to the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who is also the Chairman of Transport for London; “The Tube is carrying more passengers than ever. Each weekday three and a half million journeys are made on its 11 Lines through the 270 stations in the city of London.” Though much of the infrastructures they rely on are very old, with some of it dating back to the 1860s, however they have cultivated a ‘maintenance culture’ of rebuilding/maintaining the Tube network (underground trains) piece by piece. With its celebration of 150th birthday in 2013, the Mayor maintained that vital upgrades are underway to upgrade the Tube, which means that London’s economy will continue to thrive for many more decades to come.

The managing Director of the Transport for London, Mike Brown, also noted that; “The Tube have never been as important to London’s economic, social and cultural life. Last year, we carried over a billion people and demands is still rising. The London 2012 Games tested the Tube’s capacity to deliver. Thanks in part to the improvements already made, we were able to meet that challenge. Following the success of the Games, it is vital that we continue to focus on meeting our customers’ needs in the long term, and provide a network that is reliable and makes the most of technology. That is why we have developed the Tube Upgrade Plan. It is a huge long-term plan and it is already well under way”.

To this end, they went to the extent of providing booklets and a dedicated website to educate and inform passengers regarding the said Tube Upgrade Plan. According to the Mayor of London; “We completely understand the frustration caused when we have to close certain lines to complete the work. That is why we are keeping closures to a minimum and continue to develop new ways to keep passengers informed”. This is something that is unheard of in Nigeria, even when it comes to maintaining major highways/roads across the country. To them, it is like they are doing Nigerians a favour when they maintain or construct roads or rails. Only on few occasions do we see state or Federal Government officials making effort to inform the public regarding maintaining structures in the Nigeria transport sector.

The Nigerian Government seriously needs to copy the Tube and rail system model in the UK, with London as our focus. We know that the London Tube is said to be 150 years old in existence, that means they have over the years developed a formidable and efficient rail/tube transport system that has become integral to the economy of the UK. However, nothing says we cannot start today to develop ours. They started from somewhere, we can start ours today. Besides, Rome was not built in a day. Cities like Lagos, Port–Harcourt and Warri can become urban hubs of global attraction when a well-developed rail/tube system is actualized.

With the above described Channel Tunnel and the Transport for London underground Tube in mind, the Nigerian Government already has models to look up to. Explaining some of their achievements in the stated London Tube upgrade above, the Transport for London noted that with the upgrade plan, they have already reached many important goals. Some of which include the Metropolitan Line-that now has a new fleet of trains with air conditioning, walk-through carriages, improved customer, better security and are more accessible; all of which makes journeys smoother and more comfortable. Some of the famous tube/train stations in the UK include the King’s Cross and St. Pancras station, that now has a new North ticket hall in the Tube Station, which has cut congestion, and with 10 new lifts, there is now step-free access to all platforms. Overall, the upgrade has made the Station four times bigger than what it used to be. There is also the Piccadilly Line, Wood Lane Station, Wembley Park Station, Waterloo and City Line, Green Park, Paddington (Hammersmith and City) Station entrance, Covent Garden Station, etc. A new Communication system is also in place, operating on all Lines so that they can get better information to passengers more quickly.

The good thing about some of these modern trains in the UK is that they equally provide First Class Services like we have in air travel planes. These trains also have Premium Economy (which is more like the Business Class), and the Economy Class. In UK/England, those who travel regularly are given the privilege to have permanent cabins that are very comfortable with spectacular window views of the landscape. This is what most members of the Parliament (MPs) who do not live in the city of London, use on a daily basis to get to their offices in the House of Parliament. In fact, the train/railway transportation system in the UK is so well-organized (as we have described above) that many people, including the rich, do not see the need to own or drive a car on a daily basis.

Without a doubt, if the Nigerian Government should adequately invest in the country’s railway system of transport (using the UK model described above in a couple of years more than half the transportation problems in Nigeria will be resolved.

To this end, we ask that the Federal Government should invite those responsible for the construction/upgrade/maintenance of the UK rail system to Nigeria to see how they can duplicate what they have in they UK (London) and Europe, in Nigeria. The same action should be taken to bring in those that constructed the Channel Tunnel into the country for Nigeria to have at least one Tunnel that passes through the sea/river to connect cities and even countries around our borders. We are not talking about the usual practice of government officials going to oversea countries and lodge in big hotels in the name of doing an under study of a particular sector to duplicate same in Nigeria. Most often they come back with little or nothing at the end of the day.

We are talking inviting those who built the UK (London) rail system that are over 150 years old, as well as the Channel Tunnel, to come and replicate same in Nigeria. If they can start now, gradually, but steadily, each successive government would maintain this till Nigeria’s transportation system is “revolutionalized”. This move will equally provide employment for so many Nigerians. We ask that the Nigerian government should take steps towards this direction. This we urge.

Zik Gbemre, JP

National Coordinator

Niger Delta Peace Coalition (NDPC)