By Stephen Ehimare
One of the areas that the incoming administration of President-Elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu will need to take seriously is rail development, as no modern economy thrives without providing for a mass movement of people and cargo. Besides saving the country’s huge investment in road construction from frequent wear and tear, this will also be a consolidation of the gains of the Buhari government in the sector.
Apart from the historic commissioning in 2020 of the 326-kilometre Warri-Itakpe standard gauge central line, which construction began 33 years ago, the completion of both the 187-kilometre Abuja-Kaduna and the 157-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan lines by the Buhari administration have been game changers that have transformed the long gone comatose railway transportation in the country. The administration should also be commended for its policy to ensure that all seaports in the country are linked by railway.
Importantly, the Tinubu government should continue on that laudable path by ensuring the connection of both the Lagos-Ibadan and Warri-Itakpe lines built on standard gauge, to the Federal Capital Territory Abuja to make them more viable by linking them up to the northern parts of the country. While the Ibadan-Abuja line is 437 kilometres, Itakpe-Abuja which is conceived with a spur to Lokoja is just about 230 kilometres. The new government should also ensure that all the encumbrances for the movement of cargo from Apapa Port and the six-kilometre rail link to Tin Can Island Port are completed to save the Apapa residents from the traffic bottlenecks that have made living unbearable in the erstwhile serene and plum neighbourhood. Without doing this, it will be difficult to realise the full potential of both the Western and Central Railways as alternative transport modes for commuters across the country. It will also impede the northern parts of the country from access to the Apapa Port, Tincan Island Port, and the Warri Port by rail.
Perhaps what Tinubu should consider as his enviable legacy and big win project is the construction of the 1400-kilometre Lagos-Calabar line, estimated to cost $14.4 billion, that will connect the western to the eastern parts of the country by railway for the first time. This prime project which has been on the drawing board for many years was conceived according to former Transport Minister, Rotimi Amaechi, to pass through Calabar, Uyo, Aba, Port Harcourt, Yenagoa, Otuoke, Ughelli, Warri, Sapele, Benin, Agbor, Asaba, Onitsha, Ore, Ijebu Ode, Sagamu and Lagos. It will certainly be the key to unlocking the industrial potential of many of these cities and nearby communities and generating massive jobs since it is also planned to link up all the seaports in these areas. Apart from facilitating easy movements of commuters across these cities, it will also provide for seamless movement of cargo and by extension reduce the heavy load on vital highways like the Lagos-Ibadan, Benin-Shagamu, Benin-Onitsha, and the East-West roads.
It was really deplorable for the Buhari government to have given priority to the 284 Kano-Maradi railway estimated at $1.959 billion while dancing around what ought to be a viable line. In slating this project on its priority list, the Tinubu government must avoid the prevarication and double speak that characterised the project by the outgoing Buhari administration as revealed in Tony Iyare’s analysis on the issue titled, “Amaechi’s shifting goalpost on Lagos-Calabar Railway”.
While delivering the 34th convocation lecture of the University of Calabar in March 2021, Amaechi disclosed that the Federal Government was going to sign a loan agreement for the commencement of the project, and before the end of the year, contractors would move to the site. He also told the nation assertively in July 2021 that a London bank had consented to fund the project. According to a report by thenewsguru.com, an online publication, Amaechi was quoted as saying that the “London-based Standard Chartered Bank offers to fund the Lagos-Calabar coastal rail with $11bn of the $14.4bn needed for the project”.
But between the interview he granted to ThisDay later that year and the Transport Ministry’s budget defence at the National Assembly, “we are now being told that the government is still sourcing for money to fund the Lagos-Calabar railway or what’s otherwise called the West-East Coastal rail line, a novel project that will link the western and eastern parts of the country,” Iyare wrote.
Hear Amaechi in a ThisDay interview published on November 1:
“I am looking for money to do Lagos-Calabar, which covers my area, South-South; it is not there, $11.1 billion. We have seen some movement of cash; they have told us that they will give us $300 million to start while we look for $1.65 billion. Supposing we finished the $300 million and they say they don’t have money, what will you do? But so far, they have not given us any money, which is why I said I have seen because once you put pen to paper, they will raise the first $300 million for us to commence construction.”
The same government earlier assured the nation after Buhari’s official trip to Moscow that the Russian government will fund the railway project but nothing was heard thereafter. Tinubu as a financial wizard should bring his expertise to bear on this project which can also be the key to revitalizing our country’s tourism potential. By ensuring its connection to Obudu Cattle Ranch, Mambilla Plateau, and Yankari Games Reserve with a link through Jalingo, Yola, Jos, and Abuja, in its second phase, it could open up our rich country sides to holidaymakers both within and outside the country.
Rather than spend energy and resources looking for foreign loans to build the Lagos-Calabar railway, why not tap into the growing Diaspora funds to implement the project? Vice President Yemi Osinbajo had earlier broached the idea that a great deal of Diaspora funds should be committed to development projects rather than the present practice where a large chunk is frittered on social activities and welfare issues. Tinubu may need an engagement with Nigerians in Diaspora on this. As a new kid on the bloc, he does have a lot of convincing to do that the funds will be properly applied for the project and not cornered to satisfy the appetite of some elite. If discussions go well, there may be some whooping pool of funds to also complete all the other outstanding rail projects.
Tinubu definitely has a task to transform our rail lines from their decrepit years. The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) presently operates a network of 3,505 kilometres (2,178 mi) of single track lines 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge, as well as 1,435 mm (4 ft 81⁄2 in) from Abuja to Kaduna and between Lagos and Ibadan. None of the lines is electrified. The rail tracks also have to be immune from terrorist attacks as was witnessed on March 28, 2022, in Katari, Kaduna state to make it safe for commuters and other users.
In spite of the obvious drawbacks that affected the commencement of work on the West-East railway, Amaechi must be commended for his commitment to driving the Buhari administration’s rail projects and holding the contractors to their promised deadlines of delivery while he lasted as minister. The ball is therefore in Tinubu’s court to look for a very energetic and resourceful person to serve as Transport Minister since much is at stake. Only the best hands are suited to be allotted to oversee the vital Transport Ministry. One of the most critical responsibilities of the eventual appointee is to free our rail tracks from human and vehicular traffic so that our trains can run faster and be an effective alternative to other modes of transportation in the country. We need to stress that our trains cannot be running at 80 kilometres per hour when trains in Europe and China are running at between 350-650 kilometres per hour.
•Ehimare is a transport and development analyst based in Lagos.