Rail transport can create 10,000 jobs annually, if revived, says Mr Raphael Okoro, the President, Nigeria Union of Railway Workers (NUR).
Okoro told newsmen in Abuja yesterday that reviving the system was “very possible”, if government mustered the political will to create a functional and effective railway system.
According to him, the rail system is very key to the growth of every nation even though it is capital and labour intensive.
Okoro, therefore, advised the government to make the revival of the rail system a priority, stressing that if government spent N20 billion on one road, It would soon go bad due to the weight of the goods.
Such goods, he said, could best be transported by train.
He further said that gridlock could also be reduced to the barest minimum, if the number of trucks and tankers on the roads were minimised.
Okoro noted that the Jonathan administration had a good plan for the railway system with Lagos alone having a total number of 16 trains transporting people on a daily basis.
According to him, the railway projects were stalled because the funds were diverted to other projects.
While urging the Buhari administration to embark on massive rail projects, the labour leader also canvassed for an upgrade of the rail system to standard gauge in line with global best practice.
Source - the tide news online
