Nigeria is planning to spend tens of billions of dollars on its rail network in coming years; with $5bn worth of projects flagged off this year alone. The aim is to cut the spiralling cost of transporting goods around the country, boost property values outside of Lagos, and make travelling around the country safer.
When Lagos-based Miftah Adediran broke ground on his cashew and other cash-crop businesses in Ibadan about five years ago, he banked on the government’s promise of a railway that would help haul his crops to Lagos, whence they could make their way in trucks to the congested Apapa port for export. Next year, Adediran might finally get to export his crops from Ibadan, via a railway that goes all the way to the port.