Igbo group urges FG to include South East, South South in railway project

Igbo Ekunie Initiative has called on the federal government to include the Southeast and Southsouth geopolitical zones in the national railway project.

In a statement signed by the president, Tochukwu Ezeoke, and secretary, Lawrence Nwobu, the organisation urged the Minister of Transport, Chibuike Amaechi, and President Muhammadu Buhari to urgently review the rail projects and ensure that contractors are paid.

The group noted a deliberate effort to exclude the Southeast and Southsouth in the rail projects, noting that the Southwest had been enjoying such services since 2012.

“Southwest has been enjoying railway services since 2012, with the Lagos to Kano and Lagos to Abeokuta rail lines, and whereas the North has had the Lagos to Kano lines since 2012, Kano to Nguru since 2013, Minna to Kaduna, Ilorin to Kano since 2014 and Zaria to Kaura since 2015,” it noted.

According to the group, the administration of Goodluck Jonathan awarded railway contracts across the country in 2011, which were abandoned when Buhari came to power in 2015.The contracts, which were at 85 per cent completion before Buhari’s emergence, covered Port Harcourt to Aba, Umuahia, Enugu, Oturkpo, Makurdi, Kafanchan, Kaduna and Kuru in Jos, Bauchi, Gombe, Maiduguri, it added.