•Reels out Buhari’s scorecard in transportation, others
By Mashe Umaru Gwamna
The Minister of Transportation, Mua’zu Jaji Sambo has offered explanation as to why the Abuja to Itakpe railway line has delayed to come on board. Itakpe is in Kogi State.
Sambo spoke yesterday in Abuja at a Press conference on the score card of President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration between 2015 -2023, which was coordinated by the Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed.
Sambo said that although the Federal Executive council had approved the take off of the Abuja-Itakpe rail project, the concessing company defaulted and could not deliver on the project as planned.
The Transportation Minister said the Abuja-Itakpe rail line was to have a branch at the Baro Port in Niger State in the masterplan, adding that but for the default, the project should have been completed by now.
He said the FG is making efforts to revisit the contract and to fine tune the process to dust up the project again.
He disclosed also that the Abuja to Kaduna railway is due to begin operations November, after it was shut down following the attack on a perssenger train recently by terrorists who abducted many travellers.
He said the government had resolved not to resume operations of the rail line until all the abducted rail victims were freed. “We thank God they have all been freed unhurt,” he said.
The Federal government secured the release of the remaining 23 kidnapped hostages in October and promised to resume services on the route after adequate security measures where put in place.
Sambo said while answering quations: ”Like you said, yes, indeed, lessons have been learned. And these lessons will be put into place.
”What are the lessons, safety and security surveillance, constant monitoring 24/7 and 7 days a week, 12 months a year, all around the clock.
”The Minister should be able to sit in his office and look at the rail corridor and see what is happening there.
”The president should be able to do that. The director-general of the State Security Service (SSS) should be able to do that and so on and all other security agencies.
“These are the measures we have put in place. Nobody will again shave our heads behind our backs.
”This month of November, we shall resume that service. Remember, I told you that we will not resume this service until every Nigerian held in captivity was reunited with their families,” he said.
He said from 2015 to date, the moribund commercial railway services in Nigeria were resuscitated by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.
“Locomotives and coaches were procured and others refurbished; The Abuja – Kaduna rail corridor commercial operation was flagged off in July 2016; The Warri – Itakpe corridor started commercial operation in April 2021; While the Lagos – Ibadan double track standard gauge began commercial operation in June 2021. The Kajola Ogun State railway wagon Assembly Plant had its groundbreaking in December 2019,” Sambo said.
He said Transportation Ministry has taken charge of the safety and security of the nation’s international waters, inland waterways and railway corridors in collaboration with a wide range of stakeholders.
Some of the implemented interventions, he said, include the implementation of the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure (Deep Blue Project).
The main goals of the Deep Blue Project, according to him, were to prevent illegal activities in Nigeria’s Maritime waters and aid regional security in the Gulf of Guinea and MOWCA jurisdictions, and to enforce maritime regulations to enhance the safety of live at sea.
He said the existing seaports are being maintained in conformity with IMO standards and conventions, adding that apart from the Onne and now Lekki seaport, all other seaports from Lagos to Calabar are inland river ports which are maintained through regular dredging.
He said that the development of the Inland Dry Ports (IDP) was upheld by the Buhari administration as an Economic strategy of bringing shipping close to shippers in the hinterland of the country and providing a platform to serve our landlocked neighbours in line with the Almaty Convention.
Two dry ports have since been declared as ports of origin and destination, he said, one of which is the Kaduna Inland Dry Port (KIDP) declared a port of Origin of Exports and Destination of Imports and commissioned by President Muhammadu Buhari on 4th January 2018.
The second, he said, is the Dala Inland Dry Port Kano was declared as a Port of Origin and Destination in August 2022, adding that present at the ceremony were delegation of the business community from Niger Republic who said the Kano Port is good for them because it is the closest indistance compared to other routes they used for their import and export transaction.
Others he said include the Funtua inland dry Port is the next inline to be so declared within the month of November. Other inland Dry ports at various levels of completion are: Isiala-Ngwa; Aba; Erunmu, ibadan; Heipang, Jos and Maiduguri.
Speaking earlier during the opening of the press conference, the Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed said the Buhari’s administration has a lot of achievements to showcase from 2015 to date.
The minister who listed the administration achievements said “We have completed the Abuja-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri Standard Gauge Rail-lines,
we have commissioned brand new airport terminals in Abuja, Lagos and Port Harcourt, we have completed housing projects in 35 states, and we have constructed or are constructing road projects in every state”.
He added: “We have the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme that has almost weaned us from dependence on imported rice and other crops, we met 15 standard rice
mills and now we have over 50.We have our unprecedented National Social Investment Programme under which 9.8 million school children are fed one meal daily, under which 1 million youth have been empowered and another 500,000 who are undergoing trainings under the N-Power and the 1,632,480 households that have been enrolled in the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, and we are proud of the Integrated National Security and Waterways Protection Infrastructure
(also known as Deep Blue Asset), aimed at managing, controlling and protecting Nigerian waterways towards the advancement of coastal prosperity”, he said
He also spoke on what he called ‘an absurdity that is being bandied about by the opposition, that the Buhari Administration has nothing to campaign with in the run-up to the 2023 general elections.’
He added: “It’s a cruel irony that the party that presided over the affairs of this great country in a time of plenty, but could not complete a single modern rail line, is the one accusing an administration that has completed at least three standard gauge rail-lines of lacking in achievements.”
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