Senate Launches Full-Scale Probe Of Buhari-Era Railway Projects

The Senate has set up an ad hoc committee to conduct a full-scale probe of all railway projects exe­cuted during President Muham­madu Buhari led administration, focusing on project financing, implementation standards, and maintenance practices.

The investigation is to cover the quality of engineering, super­vision and maintenance of the project.

This is coming on the heels of concerns by the senators over derailments, vandalism, and me­chanical failures along the Itakpe– Warri rail corridor.

In a motion in plenary on Tues­day, Sen. Ede Dafinone expressed concern over the “disturbing and persistent technical breakdowns” on the Warri–Itakpe standard gauge line.

Dafinone recalled that the rail line completed under the Buhari administration had recorded no fewer than ten derailments and several service interruptions be­tween 2023 and 2025.

He said it has become a na­tional concern that the incidents which occurred in quick succes­sions have endangered passen­gers, undermined public confi­dence in rail transport, and raised serious questions about the qual­ity of engineering, supervision, and maintenance of the project.

Dafinone urged the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to carry out an independent technical assessment of the Itak­pe–Warri corridor to determine the causes of the failures and implement corrective measures urgently.

He also called for an on-the-spot oversight visit by the Senate Com­mittee on Land Transport to the affected sections, particularly the Agbor axis in Delta State and the submission of a detailed technical and safety report.

The lawmaker further pro­posed the establishment of a Na­tional Rail Safety and Standards Unit to conduct periodic safety audits, enforce compliance with international best practices, and promote transparency in rail op­erations nationwide.

He also recommended acceler­ating the extension of the Itakpe line to Abuja to ease passenger congestion and improve reliability.

Supporting the motion, Abdul Ningi decried the failures as “a na­tional embarrassment that speaks volumes about the inefficiency of those managing the rail sector.

“This is not about politics. The government borrowed billions of dollars to construct these lines, yet they are failing barely two years after completion. We cannot con­tinue to waste public funds and endanger lives because of neg­ligence and mismanagement. Those responsible must be held to account,” he stated.

Supporting his position, Pat­rick Ndubueze also backed the motion and called for a total over­haul of the NRC, describing it as an agency that had fallen below acceptable operational standards.

“We should reorganise the NRC completely,” Ndubueze said. “The agency is no longer func­tioning as it should. Our roads are deteriorating because freight that should move by rail is being moved by road. If we fix the rail system, it will decongest the high­ways, reduce accidents, and save lives.”

But in his contribution, Solo­mon Olamilekan Adeola demand­ed transparency and accountabil­ity.

He noted that so much debt was incurred by the Federal Govern­ment for the railway project and urged the Senate to determine how much was borrowed and spent, who handled the contracts and whether due process was fol­lowed.

According to him, the recur­ring mechanical and technical faults point to “substandard work or poor supervision during con­struction.”

He was supported by other senators who added that the investigation be extended to all railway projects executed during the Buhari administration. They argued that the pattern of derail­ments and failures might not be peculiar to the Itakpe–Warri line but part of a wider problem affect­ing the entire rail sector.

After an extensive debate, the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, commended his col­leagues for their contributions and described the motion as “timely and necessary to protect lives, re­store service reliability, and safe­guard national investments.

“This is not a partisan issue. The derailments began even be­fore this administration took of­fice. We must find out what went wrong—from how the loans were obtained to how the projects were executed and maintained. The Ni­gerian people deserve answers,” he said.

The Senate thereafter man­dated the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the NRC to immediately fix the Itakpe–War­ri line, deploy more coaches and raise safety standards.