…says it is a continued trivialization of economic development

The Pan-Yoruba sociopolitical group, Afenifere has raised alarm over the proposed $60 billion railway project by the federal government, cautioning that such move is a continued trivialization of the country’s economy.

The group made this known in a press statement signed by Afenifere National leaders, HRM.Oba Oladipo Olaitan and the National Publicity Secretary, Prince Justice Faloye, stating that Nigeria has witnessed an increase in national debt approximating N100 trillion within the two years of this administration.

Recall, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Senator George Akume, alongside the Ministers of Transportation, Sa’idu Alkali and State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Ekperikpe Ekpo announced a proposed N100 trillion railway project by the federal government of Nigeria.

Afenifere mentioned that according to media reports, that there are plans for a “$60 billion 4,000km high-speed rail from Lagos to Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt coming to Nigeria in 36-48 months by two foreign construction firms, with funds sourced from an Asian investment Bank, querying the financial and technical viability of the railway project, which according to them, appears to be a continued trivialization and foul play of a key economic development driver since 2015.

Afenifere stated that there is befuddling confusion regarding the source of funding, noting that the mentioned financial institution is not in existence, and that an existing Asian development bank has no such project in its books.

“For the records, China CREC or CCEC government mega companies are the only known railway builders outside China, so how could China Liancai Petroleum Investment Holdings Limited, a privately owned Hong Kong registered company build railways greater than the aborted $12b Lagos-Calabar railway which was China’s largest foreign investment ever. A petroleum investment company? Which railway project has De-Sadal Nigeria Limited and China Liancai Petroleum Investment Holdings Limited ever undertaken before engaging in the world’s largest railway project?

“The stated scope of ‘$60billion/N100 trillion to cover the first phase of the project that links four major cities -Lagos, Abuja, Kano and Port Harcourt’ has already been commissioned by the previous Jonathan and Buhari governments for far less than the amount being touted in this project. In 2006, the Nigerian government awarded a $8.3 billion contract to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to construct a standard gauge railway from Lagos to Kano. Due to lack of funding, the Lagos-Kano railway was divided into several segments.

“The construction of the Abuja–Kaduna segment was awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) China for less than a billion ($876 million), consisting of $500 million in loans from the Exim Bank of China and the rest from the Nigerian government. In 2012, a contract of $1.53 billion was awarded to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation for construction of the Lagos–Ibadan segment covering 156 kilometers.

“In October 2019, the government signed a $3.9 billion contract with the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) to extend the railway from Warri to Abuja, connecting it to the Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway, and was officially inaugurated on 29 September 2020 by President Buhari.

“On 15 May 2018, the Nigerian Minister of Transportation signed a $6.68 billion contract with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to complete the remaining segments of the Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway. Ibadan-Osogbo-Ilorin (200 km), Osogbo–Ado Ekiti, Ilorin-Minna (270 km), Minna–Abuja, Kaduna-Kano (305 km),” it stated.

The group in its statement, requests to know where the 4,000 kilometers railway would be laid, noting that even if it includes the Lagos-Calabar railway, along the East West Road, it is only $12b and 1402 km long, adding that the whole project still falls far short of the starry eyed 4000km claimed for it.

“Afenifere might have chosen to overlook the N142 billion to build just four car parks, regarded as the administration’s paying back its key political constituency of political touts towards 2027 elections, but this railway project is a stab at the heart of our long term development and abuse of our collective intelligence. Afenifere ranks railways high on its development agenda, with a vision of a railway station in every local government, to stimulate heavy industry and reduce agricultural waste. Therefore Afenifere has closely followed issues surrounding railway development, especially alarmed from the inception of APC that brought the abortion of the Lagos-Calabar and Lagos-Kano railways.

“There is a clear history of trivialising our railway development starting from the cancellation of the Chinese agreement to finance and build the $12 billion Lagos-Calabar railway. The project was passed to GE USA that neither had the financial nor technical capability, then hawked to Russia, before allegedly claiming finance by Standard Chartered. At the inception of this administration, some laymen were reported to have registered a new railway company in London UK that was to be awarded our railway projects. So this new plot is a cynical twist in Nigeria’s developmental wounds. This project is either to be the biggest fraud ever to be committed or just a diversionary tactic to keep leading the people on.

“Railways are central to development paradigms, and its measurement is a development index as often quoted in the case of India that builds 14km of railway everyday like China. In Afenifere’s development model to provide abundance for all, with respect to the last two of Afenifere Four Cardinal points – rural development and integration and full employment, we advocate for massive public works to build at least 10km a day of railway to stimulate our productive sectors, as well as social housing of about 20,000 units a day, not a year as proposed in the 2025 budget, to stimulate our consumer market and capital wealth.

“To reduce leakages through corruptly expensive and nepotistic contracts like this proposed project, our developmental Big Push can most efficiently be accomplished through massive direct labour programs. This was how the greatest transfer of wealth in a century was accomplished with USA President F.D Roosevelt 1933 New Deal, Mao’s China and other developed nations. Even this administration plan of feeding 50 million youth in the army to build infrastructure might suffice.

“Afenifere implores the Tinubu administration to take massive railway development seriously, and not fritter the nation’s opportunities away on the altar of false hopes or as a means of affording filthy lucre by way of massive contracts to cronies and political jobbers.”