Posted by The incomplete construction of the eastern narrow-gauge railway line has been criticized by the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria, or HURIWA.
The $1.96 billion, 284-kilometer Kano-Katsina-Maradi railway project to the Niger Republic, according to the human rights advocacy group, would be completed by President Muhammadu Buhari before his term ends in 2023.
In a statement released on Friday, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, the national coordinator of HURIWA, said that it is regrettable that the president is more focused on appeasing and consoling his Fulani cousins in the Niger Republic than on the patriotic and legal Nigerians who will greatly benefit from the completion of the 2044.1 km Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge railway project.
The Eastern Railway Project has reportedly been put on hold due to a lack of foreign funds, according to Mu’azu Sambo, the minister of transportation.
This is in spite of the Buhari administration’s earlier guarantee that the project will be finished before he leaves office.
“President Buhari has never been open and honest regarding the Eastern Railway Project from the beginning. There were many justifications offered for the delay, including insecurity, but now this. This is true even though Buhari approved $1.96 billion for the Niger Republic’s Kano-Maradi rail project, according to HURIWA.
“Notably, Buhari sanctioned a number of outside loans for the project in the Niger Republic. According to reports by the Debt Management Office, Nigeria’s total external debt increased by more than 288.18% in just seven years, from $10.32 billion on June 30, 2015, to $40.06 billion on June 30, 2022.
“…What is beneficial to the goose is beneficial to the gander. Equal development should be achieved throughout the entire nation. No component should be given second-class treatment.