The Federal Government spent $548.67m (N246.11bn using the official exchange rate of N448.55 to a dollar by the Central Bank of Nigeria ) to service railway-related debts between 2016 and 2022, according to Nigeria’s external debt service payments reports by the Debt Management Office.
Between January and December 2016, railway debt servicing gulped $19.99m, with the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project taking $11.37m and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulping $8.26m.
By 2017, railway debt servicing gulped $21.53m, with the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project taking $12.14m and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project incurring $9.39m.
The total spent on servicing railway debt kept rising in 2018, taking a total of $63.92m between January and December that year.
The Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) took $50.81m, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) gulped $2.82m and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulped $10.92m.
The Federal Government spent $74.25m to service railway-related debts in 2019.
The Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) gulped $49.91m, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) gulped $12.68m and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulped $11.66m.
The amount spent on serving railway debts kept rising the following year, as the debts cost Nigeria $121m in 2020.
The Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) gulped $48.97m, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) gulped $21.28m and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulped $50.75m.
By 2021, the total amount spent on servicing railway debts had risen to $122.92m.
The Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Idu-Kaduna Section) gulped $47.96m, the Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project (Lagos-Ibadan Section) took $24.08m and the Nigeria Abuja Light Rail Project gulped $50.88m.
