VICE President Kashim Shettima’s official visit to China on behalf of President Bola Tinubu appears to have yielded some concrete results. The People’s Republic of China has renewed its commitment to resume funding our national railways resuscitation programme, which started under the President Olusegun Obasanjo regime.

China had to cut back on the funding as a result of its own domestic economic pressures. At the Third Belt and Road Initiative Forum in Beijing, President Xi Ji Ping recommitted to the refinancing of the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and Abuja to Kano railway lines. An earlier agreement vested the funding of the projects to the tune of 85 per cent on China, while Nigeria has already provided the 15 per cent counterpart fund.

Ordinarily, this should come as good news, but we receive it with sober reflections. It is a shame that after 63 years of independence, Nigeria and its component parts are unable to build railways, roads and bridges without the funding and expertise of foreign powers. Nigeria, as potentially the most significant country in Africa, lags behind countries like Egypt, Morocco and South Africa in self-reliance.

This country is already in its third generation of foreign dependency, which is really a shame. Unfortunately, the future does not hold any encouraging outlook because our leaders consider our dependence on foreign expertise and funding as part of their regimes’ “achievements”.

Be that as it may, we hope that the projects should be commenced and completed as quickly as possible. It is shameful that only the “privileged” areas of our national economy – the South-West, Abuja and Kaduna – have been enjoying train services while the Eastern parts connecting to the North-East were reduced to mere spectators.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari chose to build a rail line from Kano to his ancestral homeland in Niger Republic with borrowed money from China, which all Nigerians will repay.

The British colonial founders of Nigeria configured our railway system in such a way as to integrate our regions and their people socially and economically. But our railway renewal programme was reconfigured as tools of sectional privileges. Yet all Nigerians will be involved in repaying the debt.

If, however, the Eastern railway lines are brought back to life, it is not just the economy that will be boosted, new cities will develop around train stations while national integration will be reinforced.

We call on the Federal Government to ensure that these Chinese financial commitments will be strictly limited to legitimate business and diplomatic protocols. While the safety of Chinese and other nationals must be assured, crooked elements who are here to bleed our economy through illegal activities and criminal acts must not be tolerated.

Our engagements with China must serve our national interests.