Needless controversy

Editorial

THE plan by the Federal Government to build a rail line from Kano to Niger Republic was for most parts of penultimate week mired in controversy. Most of the virulent criticisms against the project were prompted mainly by the initial impression that the rail track would be constructed into the heartland of that country.

The Federal Executive Council (FEC) had at its meeting of September 23, presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari, approved $1.95 billion contract for the project. Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, told State House correspondents after the FEC meeting that the 248-kilometre rail project was expected to link Kano-Dutse-Katsina- Jibia to Maradi in Niger Republic.

Immediate reactions to the announcement were testy. A Diaspora group, Yoruba One Voice (YOV), pooh-poohed the project, in a statement by the coalition’s communications director, Zacheau Somorin. “Ideologically,” the statement said, “YOV is not in support of a country that is seeking a loan to develop another country — Niger Republic, to be specific — with a rail network; we are not in support of a country that finds it palpably impossible to provide adequate security, job security, affordable housing, quality education, good public health…”

The opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP), in its own reaction, described the government’s decision as a misplaced priority. “The problem of this regime is that it has never got its priorities right and at the end of the day, Nigerians are the ones who suffer for these poor choices by the government,” the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Kola Ologbondiyan, told a national daily.

However, in a message posted on his Twitter handle on September 24, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, clarified the issue. “Nigeria,” he said, “isn’t building a rail line into Niger Republic but only to the designated border. An agreement between Nigeria and Niger in 2015, coordinated by the Joint Commission for Cooperation, has a plan for Kano- Katsina-Maradi Corridor Master Plan (K2M), as it is called.”

“Going by this, the two nations would each build a rail track to meet at the border town of Maradi,” the presidential spokesman added.

Besides, our checks revealed that Maradi is the capital of a region in Niger Republic, located on the southern border with Nigeria, directly north of Kano and Katsina cities. It is Niger’s second largest city and one of the country’s most prosperous cities. It is also predominantly populated by the Hausa.

Lest we forget, Maiduguri used to be a busy commercial nerve-centre in the past, before insurgents came to despoil the area. We believe that the project would revive this economic hub as well as further boost trade and commerce in that axis. Again, Kano-Katsina-Maradi is a vibrant international trade route with a huge volume of regional trade among Nigerians, Nigeriens and others from West and Central Africa, up to Sudan. This potential is what the rail project is meant to partly explore.

According to Shehu, the objective of the project “is the harnessing of raw materials, mineral resources and agricultural produce.”

“When completed,” he added, “it will serve domestic industries and play the role of a viable transportation backbone to the West African sub-region, starting with the neighbouring Niger Republic for their export and import logistic chain.”

In view of these points, the outcry against the rail project appears to have  been misplaced, especially in view of the government’s clarification that the rail track would stop at a designated border point.

Of course, we acknowledge the view of those who believe that the project should not be done this time when terrorism is plaguing that corridor. But the point is, the project is desirable, and government cannot shy away from doing its job; after all terrorism will not last forever. Indeed, rather than be afraid of it, the government should confront it instead of denying people the much needed infrastructural development on account of that.