Derailing the rail project
As Nigeria seems perpetually consigned to the morass of hopelessness in the hands of a ruling elite that does not know what is best even for its own survival, the nation’s story continues as a heart-rending narrative of waste and wasted opportunities. Nothing exemplifies this most like, the stalled railway project between Abuja and Kaduna.
Roughly five years ago the Federal Government secured the sum of $849,750,903.00 (about N170 billion) from the Chinese Export and Import Bank for the construction of a 186-kilometre standard gauge rail line from Abuja to Kaduna. According to the contract agreement signed with the Government on October 22, 2009, the Chinese construction firm, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), was expected to complete the job in 46 months, which should have been in December 2014. The project is two years behind schedule, and most important aspects are still under construction.
The Chinese government was expected to release the loan in tranches and in the form of physical materials provisioning, such as steel rail tracks, structural equipment, earth movers, concrete bridges, Chinese trucks, concrete sleepers, precast T-beams, for the laying of rail tracks. Nigeria was required to provide modern railway engines, cabins of various categories, personnel, and frequency band for communications.
However, a number of reasons have been adduced for the tardiness that has attended the project. First, is the delay on the part of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to give a ‘final’ approval to the Chinese firm through the Ministry of Transportation for a selected frequency band wave for rail movement, especially communication between engine drivers and ground stations. Second, is the declining value of the naira, which makes it difficult to complete certain contents of the bill of quantity captured with the old rates. Third is the weak monitoring or supervision by the Federal Ministry of Transport, which has the duty to ensure compliance to terms of implementation as well as the meeting of schedules for completion of project as engrossed in the contract agreement. And the fourth, is the stealing of already laid materials and equipment, engendering growing security concerns and unforeseen additional outlay.
There are now worries that the imported equipment from the global giant, General Electric (GE) by the last administration such as speed train engines, new model cabins, wagons and crude carriers may rot away, unless haste is made. The imminent abandonment of the Abuja-Kaduna rail project is a demonstration of the lack of continuity or lack of political will to do right by Nigerians. And this reminds the nation of the Lateef Jakande administration’s laudable metro line project in Lagos on which the country had to incur twice the amount the project would have cost as payment for sheer violation of the contract, when it was terminated by the then military government. Beyond this, a trend would seem to be emerging in which the country is notorious for truncated projects involving Chinese Companies or partners. For example, there is unending renovation going on at the nation’s airports. Naturally, this can only provoke the question: why is CCEC C in Nigeria not as successful in project delivery as its home-based parent company? President Muhammadu Buhari in his last media chat seemed to have pointed to the cause of the debacle when he said that Nigeria seemed not to have met her counterpart funding part of the deals even with the favourable terms of the loans secured from China. So, Nigeria is the problem.
It is important to note that the completion of the Abuja-Kaduna rail project is part of the Federal Government’s 25-year Strategic Modernisation Programme of the rail transport sector comprising the I,342.50-kilometre Lagos-Kano rail line; 181-kilometre Lagos-Ibadan route; the 200-kilometre Ibadan-Ilorin route; 270-kilometre Ilorin-Minna route; 145-kilometre Minna-Abuja and finally the Minna-360 kilometre Kano-Minna rail line. This is a critical project that should not be trifled with. This construction must not be discontinued like the Lagos metro line project. Apart from the fact that the rail project is strategic, the cost of abandonment would far outweigh that of construction. Modernisation of the railway system is a desideratum for this country, and given its rising population, the railway remains the most viable means of mass movement. Importantly too, not only must the rail system be built, capacity must also be built to sustain it. It does not make sense to bring someone from outside to do a job for you and subsequently rely on the same expatriate for maintenance. Countries like India have since transformed the rail system they inherited from the colonialists, owning it and becoming experts in the production of the critical infrastructure.
While available information indicates about 80 per cent completion of the laying of track, expectations are that the remaining part of the work on track laying as well as completion of the nine stop stations would have been completed by now. Given the current administration’s vaunted commitment to infrastructural development, this rail project must be the road taken and attention must be paid to its completion.
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10 Comments
please president Buhari complete this one project. elections shouldnt make nigerians lose.
That is not his style. Firstly the project has to be probed and looted money recovered which will then be put to completing the project. The man is simply brilliant. Kwo?
As the Nation grapples with the very disturbing trend with regards to poor revenue from sale of oil. An efficient railway system/sector will substantially reduce the over dependence on roads and provide more space for the movement of goods and persons from point to point. It is indeed worrisome that as we project to join the comity of emerging global leaders we still have a rather ineffective transport system.
it is very sad to see Nigeria government and leaders continue to waste the blessing that is Nigeria. we have everything that any country would want just 1% of It. isn’t there an east African president that said, he would just want oil to sell at $10 a barrel, yet Nigeria continues to waste their resources. If we had leaders, they would have understood the critical importance of a rail system in a country like Nigeria. completion of this project should have being the main focus of the ministry of transportation for this year. The president should have given each MDA a single project that needed to be completed this year. The other question is this, why can’t NRA use the completed part now, and start generating revenue that could be used to expand it or other project. when America build it railway, every tracked laid was put to use until the next section of the track was laid. meaning when the track were laid from town A to town B, the train would be operation within those towns, while tracks were being laid towards town C. The government is busy wasting time and resource on new project, yet projects started years ago are being wasted or left to rot. The focus should be on completing all critical project this year. No new project and capital generating project like this railway should be given first priority.
Does it mean that because Goodluck Jonathan started this project is sufficient reason to abandon it with 80% of track laid and rolling stock in place? I hope not.
A very elementary arithmetic shows that it is better to complete this project fast now as costs of repairs etc will escalate in geometrical proportions with time.
Please where did you get your 80% competition figure from. Please read the article well. I am not saying it should be stopped or not but quote the correct figures
It is quite disheartening that editorial board of Guardian could not have done a better job than this. It could ascertain that about 295k workers were registered within 5 years of implementation of IPPIS but could not inform readers that over 60k ghost workers were detected and removed by that process.
I keep asking a question for people that believe in magic, why is it that Buhari have not waved a magic wand on national ID agency for them to complete the registration. The last administration started so many scientific processes and with all new projects, it requires delicate and painstaking piloting in order to derive maximum benefit. I will repeat my regular mantra, Buhari administration does not need strong man attitude to fight corruption in Nigeria but careful implementation of scientific policies of previous administration while reviewing some that requires amendment and over time, people will understand that corruption does not pay.
The issue of ghost workers has grown to such an extent that it will take more than a “new system” and a mere month to unravel. Lets not forget that so many Unions -powerful and intimidating- protested against the inclusion of their members in the IPPIS. many were probably showing off their prowess but many are undoubtedly egged on by corrupt officials to keep the ghosts working as it were.
There is a real need to spruce up the internal auditing and accounting Units in all government offices. The frauds are hatched, started and finalised within these two Units and yet there have been very few if any arrests. All we hear are announcement of the discovery of ghost workers. Were the bank officials not compromised by the personnel who opened and operated such ghost accounts? Each individual besides the corporate bodies must be held to account as a first step to solving the Ghost-workers syndrome.
Excuses, excuses and excuses. These excuses by a editorial board is a shame. The board sound like a bunch of collaborators. Go f.. yourselves.
If someone had earlier opened a salary account in one bank and later abandoned it and opened yet another salary account in another bank and this is registered in against his in his ministry, how can become a ghost worker by refusing to update the BVN for an account that is dormant? This is what you get when out of sentiment you appoint inexperienced managers in positions much higher than they. The Finance Minister is overwhelmed and gets confused, mixes figures (6+16 =24). She ought to have investigated properly before running to the public to announce her discovery. If the government establishes and maintains a fool proof payroll system, we will not rely on banks to discover ghost workers through a mere BVN registration. She never told us if the bank accounts of these 23,000 resurrected dead workers are active or dormant. Enough of these hysteria.
We will review and take appropriate action.