MAIDUGURI CUT OFF FROM NIGERIA RAILROAD 5 YEARS ON

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ABUJA 001745

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

STATE PASS DOT FOR SAMPLE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ELTN ECON ELTN NI
SUBJECT: MAIDUGURI CUT OFF FROM NIGERIA RAILROAD 5 YEARS ON

REF: ABUJA 1514


1. (U) Summary. Embassy Abuja officers visited the
Maiduguri train station of the state-owned Nigeria Railway
Corporation (NRC) on August 19. Theis depot is the terminus
of Nigeria's northeastern rail line, but heavy flooding in
2000 washed away tracks and bridges, leaving Maiduguri cut
off from Nigeria's rail network since. then. This has had
"substantial" negative effects on Maiduguri's commerce.
About 200 of 500 depot employees remain on the payroll, but
salary arrears have reached seven months, while Maiduguri
NRC retirees are 26 months behind in receiving pension
payments. NRC officials have not told the Maiduguri
employeesdepot when the last washed-out bridge might be
replaced - or even whether this will happen in 2005. End
summary.


2. (U) Embassy Abuja economic officer and two U.S. Army
Office of Defense Cooperation humanitarian-assistance
personnel traveled in and around Maiduguri, the capital of
Borno State in far northeastern Nigeria, on August 19-21,

2005. On August 19, the officers visited the Maiduguri
depot of the state-owned Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC).
Theis depot is the terminus of Nigeria's northeastern rail
line, but heavy flooding in 2000 washed away tracks and,
especially, crucial bridges. These floods have left
Maiduguri, a major regional trading center, cut off from the
rest of Nigeria's rail network.


3. (U) Although intact, the Maiduguri portion of Nigeria's
track network - 223 km (139 miles) stretching southwest to
Bajoga - has been inoperative since 2000. Train tracks in
Maiduguri itself were blocked by mounds of garbage and
debris. The Maiduguri terminus used to have four
operational locomotives, but the NRC now has only one
working train engine for this stretch of rail line.


4. (U) Maiduguri is an important "trading port" for Central
Africa and is located near the borders of Niger, Chad, and
Cameroon. The Maiduguri NRC employees, including Station
Master Bashir Abubakar, said the city's loss of the railroad
has had "substantial" negative effects on Maiduguri's
commerce. The severing of the rail connection has reduced
the quantity of agricultural products, cattle, and consumer
goods shipped south from Maiduguri, and decreased the amount
of wheat formerly shipped from Lagos to be milled into flour
in Maiduguri. Flour is now brought by truck and has
increased from 700 naira per sack in 1999 to 1,800 naira per
sack. (Comment: The majority of this price increase is due
to Nigeria's high inflation, which most years since 1999 has
ranged between 15 and 20 percent. End comment.) Also, the
cost of firewood in Maiduguri has increased markedly since
the city was cut off from points farther south.

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Rail workers continue to be paid - but months late
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5. (U) Prior to the bridges' washing out in 2000, the
Maiduguri rail depot had about 500 employees. This number
has now declined to roughly 200 paid employees, in part
because many workers cannot afford the recurring lengthy
delays in receiving their salaries - currently seven months
in arrears. The NRC also is no longer paying various
allowances to its remaining employees in Maiduguri, while
pension payments to railroad retirees there are 26 months
behind.

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Nature reclaims the rail yard
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6. (SBU) The rundown appearance of the train depot was
reminiscent of a horror film in which the inhabitants of an
apparently abandoned building come out to greet outsiders -
as did the depot's employees. Cattle grazed directly
outside the station master's office, while one-yard-high
weeds grew next to the tracks in the main rail yard.
Employees at the rail yard's Civil Engineering Department
had converted their building's lawn to subsistence
agriculture, and elsewhere, corn and crops grew between the
station's rows of train tracks and the staff housing area.
The station has three wells, none of which function, and its
employee health clinic isremains closed.


7. (SBU) The Maiduguri depot still has electric power for
lights, but no air conditioning. According to Station
Master Abubakar, this is because Maiduguri's electricity
infrastructure is insufficient for powering air conditioning
in his office. (Comment: During their three nights in
Maiduguri, embassy officers observed almost no nighttime
electricity that was not produced by privately owned
generators. End comment.) Station Master Abubakar's office
had no telephone, because he received no government money
for this purpose. After detailing the depot's woes,
Abubakar said sadly, "We are surviving by the grace of God."

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Comment
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8. (SBU) As noted, those Maiduguri NRC employees who can
endure the delay in receiving their wages continue to report
to the depot. Given the north's high rate of unemployment,
wages paid somewhat regularly, even if seven months late,
offer a fairly high degree of economic security in the
Nigerian context. It was notable that five years after
Maiduguri was severed from the rest of Nigeria's rail
network, senior NRC officials still had not told the
Maiduguri employees when the last washed-out bridge might be
replaced - or even whether this will happen in 2005.


9. (SBU) The British founded Maiduguri in 1907 as a military
post. While published figures give the city's population as
282,000, itthis figure actually may be as high as 500,000,
according to an Embassy Abuja political specialist. Embassy
officers found very few persons in Maiduguri, both at the
train station and elsewhere, who spoke even reasonably good
English. This was evidence of the continuing deterioration
of Nigeria's educational system - a problem particularly
evident in Maiduguri. Also, Ddespite a diligent search over
two days, embassy officers found almost no newspapers for
sale in this large regional economic center, and found no
newspapers published locally.

CAMPBELL