Despite Public Outcry, FG Awards Railway Project To Niger Republic

The Federal Government has awarded the controversial rail project linking Nigeria to Niger Republic to a Portuguese construction firm.

The Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi announced on Monday that the contract has been awarded to a firm, Mota-Engil Group.

The Federal Executive Council had in September 2020, approved $1.95bn for the construction of Kano-Dutse(Jigawa)- Katsina- Jibia – Maradi (Niger Republic) rail line project.

The opposition Peoples Democratic Party and some civil rights groups had taken a swipe at the government, 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 National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Kola Ologbindiyan, had stated, “The problem of this administration 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.”

Despite opposition to the project, Amaechi said the firm would build a university as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility while undertaking the project.

Amaechi said, “Today, we signed the contract documents for the commencement of the Kano-Maradi, Kano-Dutse railway project. The contractor, Mota-Engil Group, a Multinational Engineering and Construction firm has also agreed to build a University as part of their CSR while working on the project.”

He said, “The second one is the award of contract for the development of the proposed Kano- Dutsi -Katsina-Jibia to Maradi rail line in Niger Republic and to Dutse, the capital of Jigawa, for a total cost of $1,959,744,723.71, inclusive of 7.5 per cent VAT.”

The 248-kilometre rail line was initially budgeted for in the 2018 Appropriation Act.

The project had drawn reactions from Nigerians who believed the project was “irrelevant.”

Some alleged that the government had abandoned pressing infrastructural needs to focus on a rail project outside its boundaries.

A social media activist, Onye Nkuzu, had alleged on micro blogging site, Twitter that, “It is quite instructive the same people who claim ‘investment in ports outside Lagos is a waste of money, and Niger Delta is better off using Cameroonian ports.”