A civil society group, CRA27 Advocacy Network, has rejected claims by veteran Nollywood actor and elder statesman, Pete Edochie, that former Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, “cut off the South East from the railway system”, insisting that historical records show the region’s rail corridor was instead revived during Amaechi’s tenure.

In a statement titled “Setting the Record Straight on the Eastern Railway,” which was shared with The Guardian on Monday, the group’s representative, Ifeanyi Obasi, said the claim made by Edochie in a widely circulated video had attracted attention because of the actor’s national stature but did not reflect the factual history of Nigeria’s eastern railway development.

The statement noted: “In a widely circulated video late last week, veteran actor and elder statesman Chief Pete Edochie alleged that former Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi ‘cut off the South East from the railway system’. The remark has attracted understandable public attention, given Chief Edochie’s stature and the weight his voice carries in national discourse.”

However, Obasi argued that the claim was inconsistent with documented developments in the sector.
“However, the statement does not reflect the factual history of Nigeria’s eastern railway corridor,” he said.
According to the group, when Amaechi assumed office as Minister of Transportation in November 2015, the railway line linking Port Harcourt to Maiduguri had already fallen into decades of disrepair.

Obasi stated: “When Rotimi Amaechi assumed office as Minister of Transportation in November 2015, the eastern railway line linking Port Harcourt to Maiduguri had been largely moribund for decades. Large portions of the narrow-gauge track had deteriorated after years of neglect.”

He added: “In many places trains had not run for a generation, stations were abandoned, and sections of the line were overgrown. The first priority of the Ministry of Transportation at the time was therefore not expansion, but revival.”

The group said one of the earliest actions taken by the government was the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt–Aba section of the eastern narrow-gauge line.

Obasi explained: “Within months of taking office, the Nigerian Railway Corporation rehabilitated the Port Harcourt–Aba section of the eastern narrow-gauge line and returned it to service.”

He continued: “Passenger train operations between Port Harcourt and Aba officially resumed on March 15, 2016, reconnecting two of the most important commercial centres in the South South and South East.”
According to him, the development restored rail operations to a corridor that had been dormant for years.
“That step alone restored rail activity to a corridor that had been dormant for years,” he said.

The group further stated that the Federal Government subsequently moved to reconstruct the broader eastern narrow-gauge corridor stretching from Port Harcourt through Aba, Umuahia, Enugu and Makurdi before terminating in Maiduguri.

Obasi said: “During Amaechi’s tenure, the Federal Executive Council approved approximately $3 billion in 2020 for the reconstruction and rehabilitation of this existing narrow-gauge network, allowing work to begin on restoring freight and passenger capacity across the corridor.”

He added that the ministry also pursued a separate long-term modernisation project involving a new standard-gauge railway line across the eastern corridor.

“At the same time, the Ministry pursued a second and more ambitious project: the construction of a modern standard-gauge railway running parallel to the eastern narrow-gauge line,” he said.

Obasi explained that the proposed line would pass through major cities in the South East and extend into northern Nigeria.

“This proposed standard-gauge corridor was designed to run from Port Harcourt, Rivers State through Aba, Owerri, Umuahia, Enugu, Abakaliki and Awka before continuing northwards toward Makurdi, Jos, Bauchi, Gombe and Maiduguri,” he stated.

He added: “Estimated to cost roughly $11–$12 billion, it represented one of the largest railway modernisation projects ever proposed in Nigeria.”

The group noted that federal approval had already been secured for the project while discussions with international partners on financing were ongoing during Amaechi’s tenure.

Obasi said: “During Amaechi’s tenure, federal approval was secured for this eastern standard-gauge corridor and negotiations began with international partners to arrange the financing required for its construction.”

He explained that the rehabilitation of the existing narrow-gauge network and the proposed standard-gauge project were two different but complementary initiatives.

“These two efforts are often misunderstood,” he said.

“The first involved reconstructing and rehabilitating the existing narrow-gauge railway in order to restore immediate train operations. The second involved building a completely new standard-gauge railway designed to modernise the eastern transport corridor over the long term.”

He emphasised that both initiatives included the South East as a central component.

According to him, progress on the projects slowed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Progress on reconstruction and financing negotiations continued until the global disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, which slowed infrastructure financing and delayed major construction projects worldwide, including railway programmes in Nigeria.”

Obasi maintained that historical records clearly show the sequence of developments.

“When Amaechi assumed office in 2015, the eastern railway line was largely inactive. Within months, train services returned to the Port Harcourt–Aba corridor.”

He added: “Federal approval was secured for the multi-billion-dollar reconstruction of the existing narrow-gauge line, while a parallel standard-gauge railway passing through major South East cities was advanced toward financing and construction.”

The group said claims that the region had been excluded from the railway system were therefore inaccurate.

“Seen in that context, the suggestion that the South East was ‘cut off’ from Nigeria’s railway system does not align with the historical record.”

Obasi concluded: “The record shows instead that a railway corridor abandoned for decades was revived and placed on the path toward full modernisation.”

He added that public debate on infrastructure development was welcome but should be based on verifiable facts.

“Public debate about infrastructure is important and welcome. But such discussions are best served when they are grounded in verifiable facts,” he said.