South-East: Will Tinubu’s pledge deliver a new era in a troubled region?

After several years of alleged abandonment by the Federal Government, some residents of the South-East were exhilarated by President Bola Tinubu’s promise to complete the Eastern Rail Line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri and reposition the Anambra Basin – two initiatives that could turn things around in the region, if well executed. LAWRENCE NJOKU reports that soothing as his words were, cautious optimism is still the word as many remain sceptical.

President Bola Tinubu’s recent announcement that his administration would complete rail rehabilitation works on the eastern corridor, as well as complete the development of the Anambra Basin as a significant energy reserve lit up the faces of the Igbo.

While the rail line connects Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, the Anambra Basin is estimated to hold up to one billion barrels of oil, and 30 billion cubic feet of gas. These two projects hold enormous potential to turn around the economic fortunes of the South-East if effectively explored.

The Anambra Basin has been neglected since the discovery of oil in the Niger Delta, and its exploration would increase the country’s oil and gas reserves.

The president, who was in Enugu on a one-day working visit, where he commissioned projects executed by the Governor Peter Mbah-led administration, assured leaders of the South-East, at an interactive session, that their heart desires would be met.

Responding to the request for the completion of the rail line, Tinubu stated: “It is a work in progress. I inherited some of these critical problems, and I am committed to solving them.”

On the Anambra Basin project, he said: “Sure, gas is an alternative to petrol. There is no more wasting of time than to invest more in it. We will do it together.  I am lucky I have good governors.”

The immediate past administration of President Muhammadu Buhari, in March 2021, flagged off rehabilitation works on the rail line to be funded by an 85 per cent foreign loan, and 15 per cent counterpart contribution from the federal government, with a delivery timeline of two years.

The Guardian learnt that the project, which measured about 2,044.1km with 61 stations and passing loops, was estimated to cost $3.2 billion. But since it was flagged off, work simply lagged behind.

At the end of the scheduled delivery date in March 2023, the then Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo announced the federal government’s inability to complete the project and attributed it to paucity of funds.

Investigations by The Guardian then revealed that the Buhari-led administration was unable to raise the 85 per cent of funds it needed from foreign partners for the project. What it did, however, was to resort to a piecemeal funding approach that culminated in the snail speed that the rehabilitation works witnessed.

Early last year, however, the piecemeal approach led to the completion of rehabilitation works from Port Harcourt to Aba, in Abia State (about 2,000km), just as train services resumed in the area. Since then, however, the rest of the sections have remained untouched.

While the project was “stalled,” the contracting firm, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) mobilised and removed the old iron tracks, a development that elicited worries among the residents.

However, since the iron tracks were pulled off, illegal businesses and activities returned to the rail tracks, and some property belonging to the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) was converted for purposes other than the original purposes.

A visit to the railway station in Umuahia, Abia State, recently showed emergency businesses springing up here and there amid the overgrown surroundings.

Last year, as part of its urban renewal programme, the Enugu State government demolished offices, training schools, workshops, and residential quarters belonging to the corporation. The property destroyed were said to be worth over N21 billion. In the area where these facilities were demolished, the state government is erecting a modern transport terminal.

Aside from the demolition, several empty plots of land belonging to the corporation have been leased out with buildings and businesses sprouting up within them, and the rate at which these businesses are being set up makes many residents doubt whether rail services would be restored in the region.

But the Public Relations Manager, Eastern District of the Corporation, Dr Onyekachi Onovo had told The Guardian that the corporation was not worried about the spate of emergency businesses springing up along the rail tracks.

He had also dispelled notions that the corporation was selling land, stressing that the land and empty spaces were “leased” and that the corporation possessed the right to recover them any time there was a need to do so.

Although the pronouncement by President Tinubu comes as a big relief, worries still persist over how the president intends to realise these projects when provisions for their rehabilitation were not made in this year’s budget.

While many saw the president’s response as positive, others said that it could be a bait to the region as chances of the project coming on stream soon were slim.

A political activist, Gabriel Nwosu said: “What President Tinubu said was expected given the occasion. You don’t expect him to turn down the request, knowing that he will someday come back to seek our support. But what he did not tell us is when and how these projects that have become part of our ugly history in the South-East would come on stream, and whether his government ever thought about investing in them. It is only after an action has begun that I will agree that he is committed to it.”

He, however, agreed that with the president’s perceived commitment to changing narratives in the region, he could use the projects to right the wrongs of the past.

The failure to capture the eastern corridor rail line in the 2025 fiscal budget is a red flag for the senator representing Anambra Central Senatorial District, Chief Victor Umeh.

Umeh, who said that he has, since 2018 (during his first term in the Senate) campaigned for the construction of a Standard Gauge Line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri said: “When I saw the lapse during the budget debate, I stood up pointed out that there was a great omission – rail line – in that document especially as he announced two legacy projects – the Lagos –Calabar Coastal highway, and the Badagry to Sokoto highway. I was waiting to hear the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri railway line, but Mr President didn’t do it. So, I complained bitterly. I said that I hoped that omission would not be real just as the presiding senate president said that the budget breakdown had not come out. But I have since received the budget breakdown and the rail line is not there. So, we will go back.

“However, I am happy that when President Tinubu came to Enugu, somebody raised it with him during the interactive session, and he promised to complete the Eastern Rail Line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri. That promise is not the way it should be. What we demanded was the construction of a Standard Gauge Rail Line. So, we go back and continue with the struggle for the construction of a Standard Gauge Rail Line here,” he stated.

Umeh observed that there was an approval recently from the Chinese Development Bank for the release of $254 million for the 203-kilometre Kaduna to Kano Standard Gauge Rail Project, stressing that similar efforts should be made towards the Eastern Rail line.

A finance expert, Dr James Munonye, observed that the two projects would do a lot in improving the economy of the South-East region.

“One thing you may like to know about the economy of the South-East is that it has depended less on manufacturing. This can be attributed to the power situation in the region and the fact that the majority of her businessmen are commerce-inclined. But I know that we can begin to change the narrative if we are allowed to explore the gas and oil here. It will not only attract more manufacturing firms, it will boost the small and medium-scale enterprises scattered in the region. So, I can say that restoring the Anambra Basin is something that should boost this region if the level of deposit there is anything to go by. More than 30 billion feet of untapped gas and oil is not easy to come by. Exploring it will help this region,” he stated.

He suggested that there was a need for the government to approach investors and come up with terms on how they could support the realisation of the projects, explaining that it was not something that the federal government could do alone.

“The enthusiasm expressed by President Tinubu about the projects is good enough. I don’t think he was being political in any way when he said that he would complete the rail line and invest in the Anambra Basin. But one thing is making a promise, another is seeing to its realisation. The people are eager to have train services back because it will alleviate their sufferings, improve commuting, as well as, the movement of their goods and services. They will also be grateful to any government that can make this possible,” he stated

For Mrs Grace Ikechukwu: “For the promise that has been extracted to come to pass, our political leaders must be committed to it; they must see it as part of the service that they owe the people and pursue it with all the strength they can muster.”

Ikechukwu, a businesswoman, stated that it was time for the Igbo to stick together and use any available opportunity to pursue the realisation of projects, and end the nightmare associated with the area.

“There is still time to do this since the president is not leaving now. The rail line has not been realised because those who mooted the idea were not prepared to accomplish it. I want to believe that the incumbent government wants to make a change in its relationship with the South-East using these projects. So, our duty is to key in for the betterment of our people. The truth is that President Tinubu would have wiped away tears of several years if he accomplished these projects during the lifetime of his administration,” she stated.