Nigerian rail assets are being sold off in secret – CSO raises alarm

A civil society organisation, the Alliance for Public Asset Protection and Accountability (APAPA), has petitioned the National Assembly over what it describes as a “coordinated and deliberate scheme” to secretly strip Nigeria’s railway system of valuable infrastructure under the guise of scrap sales.

In a detailed petition addressed to both the Senate and House of Representatives, the group accused the Minister of Transport, Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali, of colluding with officials of the Railway Property Management Company Limited (RPMCL) and select consultants to unlawfully dispose of railway assets worth billions of naira without due process or transparency.

The petition, signed by APAPA President Dr. Aminu Garba, described the ongoing activities within the Ministry of Transport as a “brazen betrayal of public trust” and called for the immediate dismissal of the minister.

“We have credible intelligence that the Minister of Transport, in collusion with RPMCL officials, has engaged private consultants—handpicked without competitive bidding, to oversee the hurried sale of critical railway infrastructure falsely labelled as scrap,” the petition read.

According to the group, many of the assets being sold, including locomotives and signalling systems, are still in functional condition and were acquired less than a decade ago.

It claims these assets are being sold off at “rock-bottom prices” to mostly Chinese firms, with proceeds allegedly unaccounted for.

“These are not obsolete machines. They are valuable national assets being stripped and shipped abroad under the cover of darkness,” Dr. Garba stated.

The group further lamented the deteriorating state of Nigeria’s railway system under the current administration, noting that railway operations have suffered setbacks, with frequent breakdowns, lack of maintenance, and no significant investment in safety or innovation.

“Instead of building on the gains made under the previous administration, the Ministry appears fixated on backdoor asset sales and personal enrichment. Trains now break down in remote and unsafe areas, putting lives at risk,” the group said.

APAPA also alleged that the Transport Ministry has ignored established regulatory bodies like the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) and the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), bypassing them in the disposal of public assets.

“There is no visible reinvestment of proceeds. The government has not provided any financial records or evidence that funds from these sales have been remitted into public coffers,” the petition added.

Calling on the National Assembly to act swiftly, the group demanded the immediate sack of Minister Alkali and a public inquiry into the activities of RPMCL and the consultants involved.

The CSO warned that if no action is taken within 30 days, it would launch a nationwide civil mobilisation campaign to expose what it called “the systematic looting of Nigeria’s railway infrastructure.”