Christy Anyanwu
Ing.Fidet Okhiria, Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation is a wonderful thrill for interviewers.With no air around him while this reporter was taken to his office, all he asked was how long this interview lasted and he kept running on his laptop.Just a few questions and we’re done. He talked about railway modernization, challenges, their way of life and more in this interview with Saturday Sun.
Rail turns out to be returning to his lost glory in Nigeria, what do you think?
I’m proud, I feel smart. I would say that I thank God that this is happening in my day and that it is also of interest to Nigerians that we have smart infrastructure, I would say that we are waiting for bigger things to happen, more expansion.God bless us with the cash we want to do it.
Someone sent me an image of the newly acquired exercise and asked if the image had been taken in Nigeria due to the good look of the exercise and the season.Can we have such a facility in Nigeria?
Why not? We cannot be any less other countries; We’ll have to work hard to keep up.Do we want these comforts in a modern way? Yes, it took us a long time, it is not the same railway formula all over the world, we have to comply with the call and the wishes of the population, we deserve to be able to put up with it in the same way that we do.I think they are not good, it is more difficult because we have to remove the spare portions that are commercially available, we have to order them, especially when, I do not want to use the word obsolete, we take a look to catch up with the global and it is less difficult and faster to get the replacement component Array to contain what we have brought now.That’s what they’re doing in China and they’re doing in Europe.
What’s the call from this train?
Multiple diesel unit
Nigerians love loads, you see men and they carry heavy luggage, are these new amenities for that?
There’s what we call packages. If you bring a lot, you don’t take them and don’t get on the plane, the same on the rail service. We have what we call luggage bags, your ebook your much. People can ebook their lot and don’t necessarily stick to the exercise and ask someone to pick them up.We also have this installation. When you bring your shipment that cannot be carried as carry-on baggage, you will have to check in what we call a baggage van, weigh it, rate it and deliver the corresponding document (car letter) so you can retrieve it.when you get to the assigned location.
How many exercises does the day equal?
For Abuja in Kaduna, our goal is to make 14 trips a day.Lagos-Ibadan, 16 trips a day, then Itakpe-Warri, 4 trips a day, is for passengers.We are waiting for the cargo carts, the ones we use to transport containers, grains, cement, have already arrived for the modernized tracks but we have them on the old tracks.
Could you give us a figure on the number of Nigerians who exercise daily across the country?
Only in Lagos, public transport before COVID-19, I think we move around 10,000 per day between Apapa, Iddo and Agbado.In Abuja – Kaduna, we move around 5,000.Many Nigerians use the exercise service.If you check it once, it’s convenient, you travel in peace and you’ll come back.
What is the long term for this maritime sector?
There are no two tactics to do this. A country with a smart rail system, its industry and economy will flourish because you move intelligently smoothly through exercise and others can travel in peace day and night.What I’m telling other people is that there’s nothing like traffic on the railroad.your time. You can continue on time, as the evolved global that already has fashion exercises in place, whoever you are, take the exercise, the top, the back and the powerful, they go through the exercise.We have to be waiting for, greater service, we have to be waiting for the expansion of railway facilities in Nigeria, not just where we have covered now.We pray that the government will still have the courage, interest and willingness to continue the expansion, because if we do it now, we will not repeat it tomorrow.That’s the advice.
Some other people feel we can’t get those trains without the help of the Chinese, how true is this?
The Nigerian railway has been there for a hundred years.
I’m talking about this particular exercise formula.
We have what we call a point-of-service agreement with brands, because if you have a new product, the manufacturer will have to be with you to move the generation and our workers will be informed of it.We have a two-year program so brands are with us, not the ones that work it, at least they will teach our workers and advise them to make sure they are soaking up the required maintenance culture For the track infrastructure, the agreement is that they will be here for 3 years so that after the structure they are with us while they inform us about how to catch up with the generation. Now we are talking about trendy tracks, we are talking about concrete naughtys, before we are used to metal or wood ties.they are very light, which means that to hold them, you need appliances and machinery because Americans cannot move the rail and its frequently used rails, so appliances are needed for proper maintenance.
Are there still demanding situations despite massive investment in the Nigerian railway?
There are demanding situations here and there. There is nothing that goes well in life, we all know that the fund is never enough, whether you have or not, there will not be time, it will be enough, so we are in control to make sure that we prioritize what to do at the right time.We also have a challenge of insecurity. The people who check out to smash the rail, not only the rail, but also others, we have this as a serious challenge.Now we are checking out to use generation to monitor our facilities, at the same time, we have a police command here and the Civil Defense Corps is also on the ground, we also have personal security officers on the ground.to deploy the generation, which we are doing gradually.Having CCTV so that when other people go vandalism, there is an alarm to prevent them from doing so.
What about the ruined buildings in the railway complex?Arriving at the Alagomeji complex, Yaba, like LOCO years ago, the buildings are absurd, an effort to get them in shape?
You can see there are new structures to come. If you pass through Alapassmeji, the small, small structures are no longer there.New stations are coming in and we are structuring a replacement for those structures.Little by little, we’re getting there. We’re not going to do all this at once, but the vital thing is to make sure we give clues on our tracks, install the station that will take the cash to other neighborhoods and offices, we can say that the railway complex is a structure site right now because you see heavy cars going up and down and we can’t lower anything until the structure is complete.
Have you been in this formula for a long time or have any other origins?
I have been here. After I graduated from college, I did the service of my youth and applied here. I grew up in the ranks. As an engineering student, I have become a district manager, I have become a director, and through Your Excellency I am the general manager.
What classes have you learned about life?
It’s about being patient; on the railroad, you have all the tribes.You have to be informed, patience. Cultures are not the same If you’ve painted on the railway, it means you’ve painted all over Nigeria because you know all the cultures, other devoted groups, other tribes, so you have to be very patient with the paintings in government and soak up the spirit of loving your neighbor as you.I love you and one day it’ll be good. You don’t have to be in a hurry, whatever project you get, do it as yours, don’t say it’s government paint because you’re the government if, because it paints for the government, you don’t do your homework right, I don’t see how you can replace your brain now that you leave the task of government and do yours.I don’t know if you’ll be educated to do the right thing.Just be patient and cooperate with the other people you picture with.
The impression I had of other people in the railway enclosure on the way to her is that the CEO is accessible, man-style; Does this have anything to do with your growth?
My father taught me that wherever I am, I deserve to go out to be humble.The user you know today, you also know him on the floor below and your condition today through His grace does not mean that the other user cannot bear it.you don’t know everything, you can take one or two things out of the other, I have to leave the doors open and listen to other people’s reviews, even when rarely other people bring you a challenge that you can’t solve, maybe by talking to them., they would realize that what they thought was a challenge is not really a serious challenge.I also make sure that leaving the doors open has no effect on my work.I have to balance that.
What’s your favorite destination?
My hometown, Ekpoma in the state of Edo. I need to be with my people.
Edo! Isn’t it america or England?
America is expensive.
But you can do it.
There are other people, if I can, how many other people can do it in my family.I’m here now as a doctor, if I have someone who can’t afford your son’s school fees and this is my appointment that I deserve.I have to help this person; otherwise, even when you get home or your children come home, your life is not safe.Because they have no education and see you as someone, out of ignorance they think it’s because of you that they have no education and that you are rich.So what you have is more productive, see how you can use it to improve the lives of others.That’s how Nigeria will get better. It doesn’t make sense to have 10 houses, while some don’t have room to sleep.We’ll have to be our neighbor’s guardian. I hardly travel abroad unless it’s for an official mission.I can’t just wake up and say I need to come in and rest abroad.If I need to rest, I pass to my village and rest.
How do you relax?
I’m a squash player. At the same time, I’m a badminton player, I can lock myself in my room and dance but I don’t move on to clubs.
What makes you happy?
If I see others happy, I’m happy. I don’t need to see a bad scenario about a human being.The happier the people around me are, the happier I am.
What makes you sad?
If I can’t, you. If you came here with a challenge and I can’t, I’m not going home happy.
Your favorite dish?
As you get older, they tell you to take this, take it, I loved crushed yams and bitter-leaf soup, but in those days, I bought vegetables, salads, so I joined them.Sweet potato.
Christy Anyanwu Ing.Fidet Okhiria, CEO of Nigerian Railway Corporation is an emotion for interviewers.No airArray..
The Nigerian Diary
© 2019 The Sun Nigeria – Managed via Netsera.