Nigerian Railway Corporation announces revenue of N1.4 billion in 2020

NRC announced a revenue of N1.4 billion as at September 30.

By William Ukpe

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has announced a revenue of N1.4 billion as at September 30,  which is way less than it’s projected revenue of N4.4 billion for the same period.

The reduced revenue was due to the effects of the pandemic on the economy according to the NRC.

This was disclosed  by the Managing Director of NRC, Mr Fidets Okhiria, during the 2021 Budget Defence to the Joint Committee of Land and Marine transport at the National Assembly in Abuja on Friday.

He added that the company remitted N245 Million to the TSA during the same period.

What you should know

Nairametrics reported in March that the Nigerian Railway Corporation  notified all passengers using train service that it would stop operation due to the increasing cases of Coronavirus in the country.

Despite reduced operations this year due to the pandemic. The NRC has acquired more trains for the Lagos-Ibadan railway project set to open soon. In August, The NRC announced the purchase of 24 coaches to operate the Lagos-Ibadan Railway.

The Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, stated this week that the Federal Government needs a total funding of $656 million to complete work on the Lagos-Ibadan railway project.

The NRC MD  told the House Committee that the pandemic heavily affected operations, which caused a 32% performance of the company’s projections for the year so far.

The Joint Committee should  also note that for the year 2020, the Corporation presented a separate Internally Generated Revenue & Expenditure Budget.

He said, “The sum of N1.4billion has been generated as at Sept.  30 against the projection of N4.4billion from our core activities, representing 32% performance.

“It is necessary to mention that our train services were stopped and significantly reduced upon resumption due to the impact of COVID-19 Pandemic.

“The construction work within the Lagos corridor including access to Apapa Port also impacted on our ability to provide train services.

“It is important to mention that during the period under review, the Corporation started making payments from its IGR into the Federal Government dedicated TSA as directed by the Federal Executive Council. A total sum of about N245.5million has so far been lodged into the account as at Oct. 31.

“The Railway Property Management Company Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary company of Nigerian Railway Corporation. As at Oct. 31, the Company has generated about N1.4 billion representing 91.5 per cent of N1.5 billion which was the revised approved revenue target for 2020.”

He added that the NRC forecasts a revenue of N5.3 billion in 2021 as the company would have more coaches available for its operations deployed to operational routes across the country.

“For the year 2021, the Corporation plans to generate a total of N5.3billion as IGR. More coaches are expected to be deployed to Abuja-Kaduna Train Service, full commercial operation has commenced between Warri-Itakpe and the Lagos-Ibadan Train Service is expected to commence soon,” Okhiria added.

He also added that 94% of the NRC’s Capital Appropriation for the year 2020 has been released so far, which has been used mainly for procurements.

“In the year 2021 Budget (Capital and Recurrent) of the Nigerian Railway Corporation for year 2020 budget, the sum of about N18 billion was appropriated for Capital Budget.

“This amount was subsequently revised downwards to N16 billion due to the economic downturn as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic which led to shut down of economic activities as well as the dwindling revenue from crude oil.

“As at today, about N15 billion representing 94 per cent of 2020 Capital Appropriation has been released and procurement process is on-going,” he said.