Further Nigerians Adopt Rail Transportation as Income Increases By 53% To ₦1.69 Billion in Q2— NBS

With revenue rising to ₦1.69bn in the second quarter of 2024—a 53.14 percent increase over the ₦1.10bn recorded in the same period of 2023—more Nigerians are starting to embrace the rail transportation system.

The National Bureau of Statistics made this information public in a report that it published on Thursday.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation received ₦1.07 billion in passenger income in 2023.

The data states that compared to 474,117 passengers in the equivalent quarter of 2023, a total of 689,263 passengers traveled by rail in Q2, suggesting a growth rate of 45.38 percent.

Rail traffic increased significantly as well; in Q2 2024, 143,759 tons were handled, compared to 56,936 tons in Q2 2023.

In addition, the Nigerian Railway Corporation announced that in Q2 2024, 5,940 tons of cargo were moved through pipelines, up from 2,856 tons in the same time the year before.

In Q2 2024, revenue from commodities transported by rail totaled ₦537.36m, a phenomenal 206.68% rise over Q2 2023’s ₦175.22m. Revenue creation was further aided by the flow of products through pipelines, with ₦42.08 million collected in Q2 2024 as opposed to ₦12.81 million in Q2 2023.

In Q2 2024, other revenue receipts were ₦994.68 million, a startling 5,206.68 percent increase over the ₦18.74 million registered in the same period the previous year.

Nigeria spent 2,470 percent more on railway debt servicing in the first quarter of 2024 than it did on income from train services.

In the first half of 2021, the Nigerian Railway Corporation achieved record revenues of ₦2.12 billion, up 31% over the previous record revenue during the same period in 2019.

Concurrently, freight transport income decreased, with the new standard gauge mostly contributing to improvements in passenger transit between Lagos and Ibadan.