General Electric to establish locomotive factory in Lagos ' NRC

Nigeria is set to become a hub of railway services in the West African region as a United States company, General Electric, has indicated an interest in setting up a locomotive manufacturing firm in Lagos.Already, a team from GE has visited the Nigerian Railway Corporation to assess the current state of facilities at its loco workshop at Ebute-Meta.The Director, Mechanical, Electrical, Signal and Telecommunication Department, NRC, Mr. Freeborn Okhiria, confirmed in an interview with our correspondent on Wednesday that the team came two weeks ago.GE recently supplied 25 locomotive engines to the corporation as part of efforts by the Federal Government to resuscitate the ailing railway transport system.The NRC, established in 1898, used to be the hub of engineering practice in the country before the rot, which almost grounded its operations, set in more than three decades ago.Okhiria said the American locomotive manufacturer and the corporation were excited by the prospect of having a locomotive factory in NigeriaHe, however, attributed the delay in the commencement of the project to the problem of getting the commitment of neighbouring West African countries to buy their locomotives from Nigeria.He said, They (GE) are ready to bring in the necessary workshop equipment to assemble locomotives in Nigeria, which will make the NRC workshop the hub of its West African market.But they may not bring in the investment if we cannot guarantee that we will consistently buy the locos from them for the next five years.The NRC director said GE had commenced the production of locomotives in South Africa.The South African government, he said, had agreed to an annual purchase of 100 locomotives from the firm, provided GE would assemble the engines in Pretoria.Meanwhile, Okhiria, who just bagged a fellow of the Nigerian Institution of Structural Engineers, has said that NRC is capable of assembling railway engines if given the necessary encouragement.Although he said the corporation might not achieve the required perfection at the beginning, he insisted that there were competent engineers and technicians at the NRC that could handle the task.He said many other countries where railway technology had advanced started that way, adding that the NRC team should be allowed to make faulty starts until it got it right.
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