The Nigerian government on Wednesday approved a $1,959,744,723.71 contract for a rail line that would link the country with Niger Republic.
Approval for the rail line was given at the Federal Executive Council meeting in Abuja, according to Rotimi Amaechi, minister of Transportation, who spoke to State House correspondents at the end of the meeting.
Amaechi disclosed that funding approved for the rail line running from Kano-Dutse-Katsina-Jibia and to Maradi in Niger Republic included Value Added Tax.
The rail line covers a distance of 248km, and is planned to aid the transportation of crude oil from the south to the northern part of the country.
But the opposition Peoples Democratic Party and some civil rights groups took a swipe at the Buhari regime, saying the project was a misplacement of priority in a country facing intractable problems of insecurity and harsh economic conditions arising from hikes in fuel price and electricity tariff.
The Federal Government’s decision to approve $1.96bn for the construction of a rail line linking Nigeria to Niger Republic attracted criticisms on Wednesday.
The PDP described the decision as another proof of the misplacement of priorities by the President.
The National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbindiyan, in a telephone interview with The PUNCH, in Abuja, stated, “The problem of this regime is that it has never got its priorities right and at the end of the day, Nigerians are the ones who suffer from these poor choices by these people.
“Let’s even look at it from the point of view of the economy. What is the economic benefit of this project to Nigeria? The Nigerian economy, as it is today, is not in a state to contain this kind of wasteful spending.”
Also, a political economy and management expert, Prof Pat Utomi, told The PUNCH, said the government had to explain the rationale for its decision to approve the development of the rail line.
He said, “The first question, you ask is which is the most commercial axis in the country that needs rail service? In my view, by far the commercial axis is the Lagos-Benin-Onitsha-Port Harcourt-Calabar corridor. That is the busiest commercial track in the country
“In terms of use, that is the heaviest use traffic that requires rail transportation. But those who make the decisions must understand what drives their own priorities. This is the priority I would choose. But I am not sure what is the basis that forms the government’s choice
“If there is a regional decision to link the countries of the sub-region and there is a rationale justifying it, say for example produce-aggregation across borders. I can understand that, but everyone must be made to understand what produce is being aggregated on the Kano-Dutse-Katsina-Jibia-Maradi route
“I have no problem with cross border traffic if it can be justified on a produce-aggregation level for example a corridor for cotton or something which can have an economic impact. But if it does not, then clearly the judgment of those who are doing the allocation has to be questioned by the people.
