Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) says it is owed N3.8 billion by state and local governments as well as private organizations.
Muyiwa Adekanmbi, NRC spokesman for Lagos district, said in Lagos last week that some of the amounts have been owed since 1965.
He explained that the debt had mounted due to failure of the debtors to pay road constructions across rail tracks.
"The rail tracks existed before the roads and because of their technical nature, the NRC had to charge fees to construct them for the organizations," he said.
Adekanmbi said that the NRC had always depended on the payment for the maintenance of the rail crossings as well as workers' payment.
He said that although few organizations had paid their dues up to 2000, others especially the local governments, had not settled theirs since 1965.
He said that there were 59 level crossings in Lagos district, 23 of which are privately-owned, while others belong to the state and local governments.
He said that the corporation would be forced to take drastic measures to recover the debts, after pleas from the corporation had fallen on deaf ears.
"We have been restrained from closing the crossings in order not to cause inconveniences to road users and to avoid accidents to our trains," he concluded.
