US embassy cable - 05ABUJA1745

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 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
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. 
 
----------------------------- 
Nature reclaims the rail yard 
----------------------------- 
 
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