Agriculture Sector Development in Nigeria: Empirical Investigation of Rail Infrastructure Quality Effect

Ime O. Utuk, Enobong A. Ekaetor & Ededet B. Eduno

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Abstract

For decades, Nigeria’s agriculture intermodal mix has been out of balance, leaning heavily on road transport. Seventy per cent of agro-produce transportation is through a crumbling road system. For stakeholders, the return of rail transport services is a good omen. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the effect of rail infrastructure quality on agriculture sector development in Nigeria spanning from 2000 to 2022, using time series data. The autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) method estimates disclosed that railroad infrastructure quality had an inverse relationship with agriculture value added in Nigeria during the period covered in this study. Nevertheless, the federal government of Nigeria should make more effort to rehabilitate old rail lines and the construction of new ones to complement other modes of transportation across the country. In that regard, effort should be made to attract potential foreign investors in the construction of rail lines. At the same time, engineers should be properly trained in diesel locomotive technology and rail track management.

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