₦airaland Forum

I am now ready to board the train. You can see the train with NRC's thematic colours. It's same with the other trains on the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibada railways.

I opened my phone to display my ticket QR code. The staff stationed at the entrance scanned it and affirmed that it's genuine, the granted me entry.

There are seats at the waiting area. But passengers prefer to briskly move to their various coaches to sit

Porters are available to help you handle your heavy loads. Roving POS operators abound. I collected 10k for 400 Naira. Things cost for here o.

The coming of the train station to this community is telling positively on the surroundings. Many structures are coming up. I saw a fine hotel under construction.

I arrived at the Ujevwu train station by 7.30am. The train runs a trip daily from Ujevwu to Itakpe and return same day.
Passengers have queued up behind the ticket booth struggling to book manually. Most of them will end up getting standing ticket. It seems they don't know about the online ticketing.

On the day of travel, I picked my luggage and headed to the Ujevwu train station. Ujevwu is located in the outskirts of Warri, a distance of about 10km. Coming from DSC and Effurun roundabouts, you can use korope bus to Mofor Junction then take keke from there direct to the train station.

This is the station junction with which teed off the Ovwian-Transcorp road.

For preparations, you need to book a ticket. You can do that online via nrc.fane.ng which is specific to the Warri-Itakpe Train Service (WITS). You can also book manually at the various stations(not advisable because you might end up getting standing tickets).
There are two classes of tickets - standard and business. Standard costs 5k while the business class costs 9k. In the standard coach, there are 88 seats while in the business class 56. Currently, there's only one business class coach. About 5 others are standard. Via the online platform, you can choose the seat you want (based on availability sha). As a lover of adventure who wants to see the countryside, I chose a window seat right of the aisle.
Note that ticketing opens 24 hours before the day of travel. That means you can only book for a 7th April train, starting 12am on 6th April. This info comes handy during festive periods.
NRC sends the ticket to your registered mail. It contains a bar code which will be scanned at the station

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KennethOkonkwo:
Defective reasoning

If you find my broth unsavory, cook yours

perfri:
I am almost certain this will turn into a white elephant project, the cost of this project will be x2 if or when the project is completed. i dont think they have done a thorough cost analysis, which should also involve briberies and kickbacks to Government officials

Not really a white elephant, but it will later be abandoned. What's the essences of doing a new route for say Benin - Warri or the East West road? All the main towns are already connected. The project is meant to develop Lagos. That's just it. If the SSers are smart, they should ask Tinubu to start the project from the Calabar end also, with priority given to the railway.

Background

The history of railway in Nigeria goes back to at least a century ago. The colonialists had constructed narrow gauge lines linking the hinterlands to the ports. These railways were used convey agricultural produce, mineral resources, passengers amongst others. Post-independence, the railway remained a major transportation medium across the country. The usage of the trains significantly waned towards the 80s and 90s occasioned by neglect by successive governments.
Only in the last decade of the 2010s that serious efforts were put in to build a modern railway system on a standard gauge platform. The FG in conjunction with the Chinese construction giant CCECC initiated and completed the Kaduna-Abuja railway. It was commissioned in 2016.

The Warri Itakpe Railway
The contract for the construction of the the Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri railway was awarded in 1987 by the administration of Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida. The rail line runs for about 270km which crosses three states namely Kogi, Edo and Delta states. Remember that behemoth, the Ajaokuta Steel Complex? Its major raw material which is iron ore got to be transported from Itakpe where the ore is beneficiated. Thus, the Itakpe-Ajaokuta line. Another steel complex sits at Aladja in Delta State. It also needs Itakpe's iron ore. There lies the conceptual pillars of the railway.

We all know what happened thereafter. The Ajaokuta project is yet to be completed, Delta Steel is moribund. Mek we waste the lines already laid? Hell No.

The FG revived the project in 2009 and completed the laying of tracks. It was repurposed to offer passenger services alongside the intended cargo operations . About a dozen stations were sited along the line. It cost more than $200 million dollars to complete. That's aside the initial costs injected from 1987 o. Let me not forget to mention that it is a standard gauge line unlike the obsolete railways across the country.

This is just a brief about the Warri-Itakpe railway system. I thought it necessary because most Nigerians know nothing about it, while it's the longest modern railway in the country. Follow me as I ride aboard the train. Forgive the camera quality and handling, please. The Nigerian Railway Corporation(NRC) staff fumed at my snapping pictures around. But I felt I need to share the experience with fellow NLers

Father4all:
Lies, I want to be miserable in the UK

No dey pray for wetin you no know

Apart from substation equipment, Discos rarely maintain other equipment. Electric pole, transformer, fuse, black oil etc. Yet when people contribute to buy such equipment, they force them to do an asset transfer without any arrangement for payback to the contributors.

Since 1999 that he was godfathering the state , what heights has Taraba reached? A state with great potentials but lacks basic infrastructure. The current efforts are those of Kefas and not TY. Let them not rub off his sheen abeg. Allow the guy to work

Morbeta11:
https://punchng.com/miyetti-allahs-leader-established-vigilante-firm-not-ethnic-militia-brother/

Make dem hold am. Let it serve as deterrent to others. You don't go forming vigilante without involving security agencies. Amotekun saw the light of the day because it was supported by the SW governors. That gives it some form of governmental backing and accountability. Else, it's also an ethnic militia

Carlylepneuma:
would really appreciate it if u enlighten me more on the correlation between oil theft and dollar rate falling or rising... Happy 😀 iftar to u too

The dollar issue is a function of demand and supply. Currently, our supply can't satisfy our demand. Meaning that many manufacturers can't get good-rated dollars to buy raw materials and then process in Nigeria. So, if we were getting say $1b from crude oil sales when the production is 1m barrels, we'll get $0.5b with 50% increase in production. Besides that, FG will get more from royalties and taxes. Again, oil companies will import more equipment thus more customs duties. More jobs too for contractors. A whole lot of benefits.

Haven't you wondered that despite Saudi Arabia been a top importer, its currency has been stable against the dollar for several years? That's because of their high production. They produce an average of 11m barrels daily(at least 8 times that of ours ). So they have enough dollars to whet their appetite for imported products.

I hope you get my explanation.

If oil theft will be reduced by 80% from current levels, dollar rate will fall. However, there are too many interests in the business. You see that attribute called patriotism - majority of Nigerians lack it. We jump on every opportunity to steal. It's no surprise that we have been rolling in a non-expanding circle for many decades. The problem of Nigeria is Nigeriansm. If me, you, & them decide to turn over a new leaf, our quality of life will improve.
By the way, make wuna help me celebrate FTC. It's not easy to be here. It takes grit, consistency and dedication to achieve this feat. Lol. Happy Iftar

That your number 3 get k-leg o. Most a times, you got work beyond your JD to excel. What matters is how you identify problems and resolve them

These zionists are the heathens of the last 7 decades. A consulate is a sacred haven. Even a country hosting has no right to attack it. But here are these bloodsuckers attacking from across the borders. The end of Israel is nigh

zyphr:
Where in the north and what year? I have been to university campuses in Nasarawa, Gombe, Taraba and Maiduguri, and I can confidently tell you that it is still a menace. It might less prevalent compared to the south tho.

ABU

The argument is quite sensible.

If the Igbos are half politically smart as they are in business, they'd have been at the helm of the nation. But the problem is the hatred they bear against almost everyone besides them. You fight Yorubas denigrate Hausas, not in good terms with SSers, how will you ever be politically relevant in the national equation!

ATBU- Doctrina mater atrium
FGCs- Pro Unitate
Unilorin - Probitas Doctrina
FULokoja- Ad Astra
GSU- Primus Inter Pares

The above are few Nigerian public institutions with Latin mottos. Is Latin our official language or lingua franca? Is Nigeria a christian state? Do Nigerians understand Latin? If we are truly secular, why are we using Latin in mottos of our institutions?

ZKOSOSO:
Regular suspect is Fulani herdsmen.
They are pro in this business

When tomorrow it turns out otherwise, hope you will come here and retract your statement. I marvel at how you guys confidently come to a conclusion on what you don't know

I schooled in the north, I can't relate that this is a menace. The general society frowns at premarital sexual relationships. Those who still go ahead to commit, might be unmarriageable especially if their atrocities are well known. On campus, females are not allowed entry into male hostels and vice versa. Many female undergraduates get married while they are in school. These measures help to minimise the numerous moral depravity we live with today.

Whalis:
If this project is not another APC let it be started from different ends..a project of such magnitude shouldn't just be from Lagos head alone. There should be a simultaneous work from Calabar, Rivers, Delta and so on.

I talk this smae thing. If not, na only the SW states that will probably be completed by the end of his tenure.

crowther15:
There is piece was written by a Northerner and published on their media platform (daily trust). Elrufai took loan of $350m with condition to spend 78% of it on recurrent expenditures, and 22% on capital expenditures. Who takes IMF's loan under this mischievous condition? To me, the loan was not a good one.

Bro, it's not everything we read that's we should swallow hook line and sinker. Truth is universal. It can come from anyone including Satan. If that loan was only 22% opex, there's no way Elrufai would have pulled those infrastructural projects within 4 years. I agree that the loan was not a good one for the fact that it's fully in USD.

Let him bear the brunt. He was the one who facilitated the loan he's currently complaining about. Elrufai booted Shehu Sani out to pave way for his crony Uba Sani who eventually pushed for the World Bank loan. The loan performance by Elrufai was quite remarkable as it's evident across the state. However his albatross was that the loan is fully dollarised. By the time the Naira was floated, it tripled in value. Mind you, the loan was dispensed at the then official rate of the CBN circa 400 Naira. And now the Naira is close to 1300. There lies the big problem.

Elrufai himself inherited about $200m from his predecessors. He couldn't pull big projects because of the paucity of funds. I believe that's what pushed him to get loans. In hindsight, I feel he should have got domestic loans may be worth 200b Naira.
Lest I forget, Elrufai raised the IGR of the state from 15b to 90b in 8 years.
In essence, Elrufai did fairly well in his steering of the state. Uba Sani so far has been woeful. His government is more about propaganda that real governance. It is said that he mostly stays at Abuja. Ask any KD resident, even traffic lights are not working. Potholes are emerging without being remedied. Let Uba restrategise and do the right things. If he feels like, he can prove the Elrufai administration. What matters to the residents is continuity of the good projects kickstarted by Elrufai.

Iykopee:
I want to ask a question. Is this road a brand new road with different direction from Lagos to Cross River, or they want to create a sort of fanfare and later use the same East West road linking Cross River, Akwa ibom, Rivers, Bayelsa, Delta and Edo States respectively?

This is a good question. And I'm yet to get a credible answer to it because the roadmap is yet to be released. However, I'm suspecting that it's only the Lagos part and perhaps a stretch of Ogun state that will be a new route. I think it doesn't make much sense to work out a route through the south south states. The funds should be channeled to make the current Lagos-East-West Road wider and perfectly motorable. The rest should be used to at least kickstart the coastal railway.

Pounded Yam & Co? There's one in Kano. I've known the place for more than 15 years

Might be a blessing in disguise. It will boost the local textile industry

Gazuzz don hammer o. Lol. Congratulations. For me, I think 200 buses is way too much to start. For sustainability, the project should have started with a few buses as pilot test on the most viable routes. As it stands today, there's no CNG supply in the whole of Niger. So even refuelling might be an issue.