Were I in Allen Oyema’s shoes, I would be looking to launch a railway subsidiary called Rail Peace that will provide me with a vertically integrated transport structure

Ayo Akinfe

[1] Air Peace has laid down a market in the international aviation market. For me, this needs to built upon, first of all with progression to becoming a national carrier and then proceeding to merge with other African airlines like Ethiopian Airlines and Egypt Air. This needs to happen if Air Peace wants to compete with the likes of Emirates, KLM, BA, Virgin, Air France, Turkish Airlines, etc

[2] To remain competitive, however, I think Mr Onyema needs to diversify into the domestic rail industry. In aviation, the profit margins do not exceed 5% because of the large capital outlays and huge operating costs. Much more money can be generated in the domestic railway market

[3] Across Europe, companies like Virgin offer integrated transport solutions. Nothing stops us having Air Peace, Rail Peace, Maritime Peace, etc

[4] Do you know that we do not have one kilometre of electrified railway track in Nigeria? This is an area where our industrialists can make a killing. What stops say Innoson Motors or Dangote Industries from manufacturing railway carriages and Rail Peace acting as a franchise operator, running a national railway network?

[5] We should set ourselves the target of linking all our 774 local government areas by rail by 2030. As part of this plan, Abuja and Lagos should be linked by a high speed network allowing travel within two hours

[6] We should also have a coastal high speed rail link that connects Calabar to Lagos within two hours. I also want to see is Rail Peace launch an Ecowas service linking Accra, Abidjan, Dakar, Freetown, Niamey, Bamako, Ouagadougou, Banjul, etc

[7] As a nation, we should set ourselves a target of ensuring that by 2030, the entire network must be electric-powered. Our network must have its own electricity generating and distribution capability, so it has nothing to do with the national grid

[8] At the local level, Rail Peace should also champion municipal rail services on our urban centre. For instance, by 2040, we should seek to ensure they every state capital in Nigeria has an urban metro service

[9] Lagos and Abuja must have underground services befitting their status as international cities. One just needs to look at London Underground to appreciate the kind of structure we need to put in place

[10] By 2039, every port, airport, refinery, heavy manufacturing facility and major industrial estate must have a railway link. Rail Peace would obviously have a freight division to deal with the movement of industrial goods