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Credits for the progression of Nigeria’s railway formula go to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), says Bola Tinubu, the party’s presidential candidate.
Speaking at the launch of the party’s women’s crusade council in October 2022, Tinubu lashed out at the Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP), which hopes to topple the APC in the February 2023 elections. The PDP was in place from 1999 until 2015, when it lost to current APC President Muhammadu Buhari.
Tinubu highlighted the time it takes to travel the country’s roads and how it is becoming as APC puts new railways into operation.
“Our warring parties have been [in power] for 16 years. They had forgotten that roads are the economy, that electric power is for industrialization,” said Tinubu, a former governor of Lagos state and an influential figure in the party.
“They don’t even perceive the strength of the transmission lines and their maintenance. . . They couldn’t even make a down payment for the railroad. “
Buhari put into operation 3 railway lines during his presidency, which he lists among his achievements. These are the Lagos-Ibadan Railway, the Abuja-Kaduna Line and the Abuja Tram.
But were all those projects started through APC, as Tinubu claimed?We take a look.
An argument that will pass
Several existing PDP leaders and beyond have claimed in the future that the railway progression is a success for the party.
A rapid step back in time brings more light.
In 2006, PDP President Olusegun Obasanjo announced that his leadership would spend $8300 million to rehabilitate the railways. The task of improving Nigeria’s railways would be carried out gradually over 25 years.
The signing of the assignment contract was widely publicized. It would be partly funded through China, with Nigeria committing $1. 5 billion, the president said.
But in 2009, the new PDP president, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Obasanjo’s successor, invested $875 million for the loan.
Nigeria’s debt control documents show that in December 2010, the country obtained a $500 million loan from the Export-Import Bank of China for the Abuja-Kaduna segment of the railway modernization project.
Another $500 million loan obtained in November 2012 for the Abuja Tramway Project. Rotimi Amaechi, Buhari’s minister of shipping from 2015 to 2022, showed in a 2021 interview that the loans had been used to build the railway lines.
And in 2014, the Federal Executive Council purchased two diesel-electric locomotives (engines) for the Abuja-Kaduna railway line.
Jonathan and Buhari recognize PDP paintings on rails
In 2016, after his swearing-in, Buhari commissioned the Abuja-Kaduna railway.
“This commission was conceived through a past administration, it was presented through the last government and I am pleased to finish it and commission it,” he said at his launch.
“Construction of the Abuja-Kaduna People’s Gauge Railway began in 2009 and fortunately, we are close to introducing Nigerians to a popular gauge rail service that will be safe, fast and reliable. “
At the launch, Amaechi said Goodluck Jonathan’s management, chairman from 2010 to 2015, had been on rail projects.
“We recall that the contract for the Lagos to Kano Railways awarded through President Olusegun Obasanjo, partially executed through President Goodluck Jonathan and finalized through President Muhammadu Buhari. “
And Jonathan in the afterlife has used social media to point out his administration’s role in building railroads.
Available evidence that the progression of railways in Nigeria preceded the APC.
“A marathon, a long-term project”
The progression of the railways is a long-term procedure that goes beyond the framework of a single administration, Bamidele Badejo told Africa Check. He is Professor of Transport Geography at Olabisi Onabanjo University in the southwestern state of Ogun.
“The railway progression will be achieved in 4 or 8 years, which is the useful life of a political management in Nigeria. This is an ongoing infrastructure effort that refers to construction, reconstruction, planing and maintenance,” he said.
“Buhari’s management has done paintings on the rail networks, but it’s a marathon race, a long-term project. Continuity through successive efforts is the means to obtain the maximum benefits for people.
Kayode Omojuwa, a political science professor at Ahmadu Bello University in the northern state of Kaduna, has previously told Africa Check that politicians have inflated their achievements to gain merit over their opponents.
Investment in rail has a direct effect on a country’s economy, Adekunle Olowosulu, a professor of shipping engineering at Ahmadu Bello University, told Africa Check.
“Transportation is important to human civilization and the progression of the shipping formula within a society shows the point of human progression. In the case of Nigeria, there is a delay in progression in the sector, so any action through any government to expand shipping is welcome,” said Olowosulu.
“The effort made through Buhari’s leadership is commendable, but we want more. “
Olowosulu also stressed the importance of the railway in countering the country’s security problem, a major factor in the campaign.
Conclusion: Investment in Nigeria’s railway formula predates current APC government
As politicians seek to attract voters ahead of the February 2023 elections, Bola Tinubu, the ruling presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), has been targeting the main opposition party’s track record.
The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) had failed infrastructure when it was in place from 1999 to 2015, he said. But records show that the railway progression that was willing to accredit only the APC predates the ruling party’s election in 2015.
Analysts say that for Nigerians to reap the benefits of major infrastructure like railways, successive governments will have to recognize that their progression is a marathon.
Written by Oluseyi Awojulugbe, researcher, Africa Check
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