The line was intended to bolster a bid for the Commonwealth Games; the games went to Glasgow, but Abuja didn’t adjust its transit plan to better serve residents, and ridership was less than 1,000 people per day.
Photographer: William ClowesNigeria’s Train to Nowhere Shows How Not to Build Public Transit
A light rail system in the capital shut down after less than two years in service.
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In July 2018, Muhammadu Buhari, the president of Nigeria at the time, boarded a gleaming new train linking the capital city, Abuja, with its airport. At the ribbon-cutting ceremony, Buhari hailed the system as “evidence that we are a government that delivers on its promises.”