The Federal Government has spent two hundred and forty six point One one billion naira to service railway-related debts between 2016 and 2022, according to the Debt Management Office.
The total spent on servicing railway debt kept rising in 2018, taking a total of sixty three point nine two million dollars between January and December that year.
The Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) took $50.81million dollars, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) gulped $2.82million dollars and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulped $10.92million dollars.
In 2022, security challenges threatened revenue from train services, especially the Abuja-Kaduna train services.
According to the Managing Director of the NRC, Fidet Okhiria, the Federal Government lost about one hundred and thirteen million naira due to the non-operation of trains at the Abuja-Kaduna railway for over eight months.
There are indications that Nigeria risks losing key national assets to China in the event that it defaults in paying back loans obtained from China.
