FG Serviced China, Others Railway Debt With N246.35bn in 7yrs While Earning N18.09 Billion From Ticket Sales
- A breakdown of federal government debt from railway line construction has been released.
- The Debt Management Office, which released the information, stated that the Buhari government spent more than N246.3 billion in seven years.
- Within that same period only N18.09 billion was generated from tickets sales from Nigerians and cargo
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The Debt Management Office (DMO) has revealed that Nigeria’s railway-related debts gulped $548.67 million(N246.35bn) between 2016 and 2022.
DMO stated this in its external debt service payments report published on its website.
According to the debt office, Nigeria’s railway debts are tied to Chinese infrastructure loans.
Source: UGC
Breakdown of yearly railway debt payment
According to DMO data, $19.99 million was spent in 2016 to pay railway debts, $21.53 million was spent in 2017, and the Federal Government spent $63.92 million the following year.
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In 2019, debt servicing consumed $74.25 million, increasing to $121 million in 2020. The amount continued to rise, using $122.92 million in 2021, while $125.06 million was spent on servicing railway obligations in the first and third quarters of 2022.
Meanwhile, as of the time of writing, the DMO has not issued railway debt payments in the 2022 fourth quarter data.
The types of Nigeria's railway debt service
2016
Between January to December 2016, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulped $11.37 million and $8.26 million respectively.
2017
In 2017, Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project accounted for $12.14 million and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulped $9.39 million.
2018
The Punch reports that FG spent $50.81 million to service debt on the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section), $2.82 million on the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) and $10.92 million on the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project.
2019
During the 2019 period, $49.91 million was disbursed to service the debt on the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section), the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) took $12.68 million and $11.66 million went to the debt on Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project.
2020
In 2020, $48.97 million was spent on Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section), $21.28 million on the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section), and $50.75 million on the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project.
2021
In 2021, $47.96 million went to the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section), Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project accounted for $50.88 million, while the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) gulped $24.08 million.
2022(Q1-Q3)
According to the DMO, about $24.55 million was spent in the first quarter of 2022 to pay the debt on the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project, $23.58 million on the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section), and $13.60 million on the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section).
The figure increased slightly in the third quarter, with the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulping $24.39 million, Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) gulped $23.41 million, and the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) accounted for $14.95 million.
Meanwhile, supply of rolling stocks and depot equipment for the Abuja light rail project cost the country $580,889.
This is how much Nigeria generated from railway
Amid the high cost of servicing railway loans, data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), disclosed that Nigeria has earned only N18.09 billion from cargo and passenger ticket sales.
NBS disclosed this in its Rail Transportation reports.
Here is a breakdown of railway revenue
- 2017- N1.71 billion.
- 2018- N2.52 billion
- 2019- N2.84 billion
- 2020- N2.03 billion
- 2021- N6.05 billion
- 2022 (Q1)- N2.21 billion
- 2022 (Q2)- N734.47 million( A significant drop after terrorist attack earlier in the year)
Buhari begs lawmakers over CBN's N23trn loan, gives reasons
Meanwhile, in another report, President Muhammdu Buhari has asked lawmakers to consider its proposal to swap the Federal Government's debt to the CBN into a long-term loan
Through its ways and means advances, the Central Bank of Nigeria provided N23 trillion to the federal government
Buhari argues that the debts were collected because there were no other options, and it is important it is restructured
Source: Legit.ng
