I must, here, tell the story of Nigerian Railways for the education of our new generation of technocrats. My father, Jacob Oguguom Odu, was a Permanent Way Inspector who built the rail line from Port Harcourt to Umuahia in the 1930s and moved up thereafter to Northern Line. He died prematurely in service of one of the most beneficial economic institutions colonial Nigeria bequeathed to us.
He left the flesh at Mada on October 22, 1950 and was survived by five girls and two boys. I was just five. My elder brother, P.J. Odu, a naval officer whose future vanished with the Biafra War for a New Nigeria, was just eight. We interacted with all diligent Nigerians quite early in life, living along the railway line built for evacuation of Nigeria’s produce and minerals by combing Nigerian heartland and shipping same through Lagos and Port Harcourt to Liverpool for England’s fortunes.
The key purpose of this script is to etch events connected with our railway system firmly in the minds of all Nigerians. It bears a sad story of recklessness and infamy which the military inflicted on the Nigerian economy for purely selfish reasons. Ndigbo and the Yoruba were key technocrats in running the railways of the 1950s and ‘60s. I was a class mate of most of them through the new towns along the railway route that ran from Port Harcourt, through Umuahia, Otamkpa, Makurdi, Kaduna Junction to Jos, to Kano and later to Maiduguri and the South through the cocoa and timber belt in Western Nigeria to Lagos Port at Apapa. Colonists were interested in natural resource centres. Passenger coaches complemented Goods Wagons in consistent and relentless movement of produce and minerals to the port of Lagos and Port Harcourt. Ships moved finished goods from England to Nigeria long before airplanes became cargo purveyors. From 1950 until Independence, it was a main transport system for all classes of Nigerians and big business that survived Independence. It was the melting pot of Nigerian disparate cultures. I am privileged to have soaked up all three main languages. Thanks to Nigerian Railways.
As soon as military came into governance, Railways came under the guillotine for many reasons. There was envy from the North that it was too technical to accommodate their less-endowed majority. Though an Igbo magnate, Sir Louis Philippe Ojukwu was pioneer of road transportation. Great giants soon joined him in road transportation from the North and competed favourably. It became shortsighted gambit for government by Hausa-Fulani leadership to cripple the rail system to reduce the command of the South in Nigerian Railway.
General Ibrahim Babangida was responsible for its last throes of death. I was involved in its neglect obliquely. I served with double mind and guilt complex in cannibalising the massive rolling stock that formed the key assets of Nigerian Railway as a sub-contractor. The huge metal derivatives of what was once Nigerian Railway were cut up at Ebute Metta Junction and shipped to Brazil at heaven-knows-what prices. Nigeria Railway sunk into oblivion in the mid 80s. I later wept that I took part in this destructive activity.
It is my delight that half a century of limbo has been lifted for it. The travelling and productive public have known immense hardship for its comatose condition that ought to have relieved the majority of waste and dependence on road transport with its immense collateral disadvantages: road deterioration in tropical extremes, road accidents and more expensive mode of haulage of commodities and people.
Sounds from the Federal Executive Council (FEC) of Wednesday, July 16, bears hope for Nigeria of the future. I salute the courage of President Goodluck Jonathan, his visionary aides and his transformation agenda for rising to priorities that could create a revolution in industrial production with minimum cost. Jonathan has created a new chance for sleeping Nigeria to awaken to its role of harbouring latent productivity which now stands a chance of serving the people and bettering their circumstances.
From the contracts awarded so far, the whole country has been covered in wholesome idiom. Gone are the colonial exploitation tracks that combed our hinterland to two ports and evacuated our resources to Liverpool. Now people and resources for self-actualisation underscore the rail system. Resource centres have been schemed in for industrial revolution.
A new era has been conceived and is actually enjoying attention to make the life of our vast population more meaningful. I am now 70 and can no longer serve on the rail line. I can only connect our current youth with the past. I hope I have done so here. I will probably continue doing this into the far future, since my fingers are not yet arthritic. My mind is still sound because my job of repair is only just starting. Nigeria must change up and take care of its people.
Jonathan, for this, deserves another chance at the centre, though the centre must be weaker for even spread of wealth and welfare.
