The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has assured herders and traders of moving their cows from northern Nigeria to the country’s southern region using rail services soon.
NRC Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, disclosed this on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief breakfast show on Wednesday, just hours after President Bola Tinubu announced the creation of a new ministry for livestock development.
He mentioned that the movement of cows and other goods would resume on the Warri-Itakpe route. The NRC, known for passenger traffic, had suspended cattle transportation by train in 2017 due to technical issues.
Okhiria stated that within one or two months, herders would be able to move their cattle using the Warri-Itakpe train services. Itakpe is in Kogi State, North Central Nigeria, while Warri is in Delta State, South-South Nigeria.
He emphasized that the NRC plans to modernize goods transportation in the country, allowing for the efficient transfer of goods from road transport in the north to rail transport in the South-South region, specifically Warri.
Okhiria said the NRC has brought in some wagons that can mobilise livestock and they are being assembled in the Kajola area of Oyo State in the South-West.
“We’ve built 15 wagons for livestock and maybe in the next month or two months, they would be deployed from Itakpe to Warri to drive the economy,” the NRC boss stated.
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