The data showed that in 2022, the number of railway passengers stood at 3.2 million but fell to 2.1 million in 2023.
A review of the National Bureau of Statistics data has shown that the number of railway passengers in Nigeria reduced by over 1 million in 2023, compared to the number of passengers in 2022.
The data showed that in 2022, the number of railway passengers stood at 3.2 million but fell to 2.1 million in 2023.
This means that the number of railway passengers fell by 1.1 million persons in 2023.
In 2021, 2.7 million passengers were recorded to have boarded the trains and in 2019, 2.8 million persons boarded the trains.
The figure recorded in 2023 is only higher than that of 2020 during the COVID-19 era when 1 million persons used trains.
This development also comes with a drop in revenue.
The amount earned from passengers in 2021 stood at N5.6 billion but fell to N4.4 billion in 2023.
In 2021, the Nigerian Railway Corporation noted that it would fund repayment of railway loans through revenue made from the activities of the railway corporation.
The railway corporation noted that it lost N531 million in six months to activities of bandits on the Kaduna Abuja railway.
In 2021, when the Nigerian railway recorded a revenue of N5.6 billion. In 2022, it fell to N4.5 billion and then N4.4 billion in 2023.
In 2021, the NRC noted that the N5.6 billion could not even cover its personnel cost put at N9.5 billion with the number of workers said to be 10,672.
That means that NRC could not meet its personnel cost, let alone have funds available to repay loans.
In three weeks, Abuja-bound trains derailed three times, causing more worry.
Such incidents and insecurity could be some of the factors responsible for the drop in the number of passengers.