Senate Supports Nigeria On AfDB Loan For Kano-Maradi Rail Construction

The Nigerian senate has affirmed its commitment in backing railway corporation to achieving its core mandate as the country secured $350 million dollar loan from African development Bank (AfDB) for the construction of Kano to Maradi rail line.

Senate Committee Chairman on Land Transport, Senator, Adamu Aliero made the statement after an oversight tour of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC’s) Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge at Professor Oluwole Soyinka train station in Abeokuta,Ogun state southwest Nigeria.

Senator Aliero who said the Senate remained committed to ensuring that the NRC meets its mandate of modernization and rehabilitation of the national rail assets, restated the commitment of the National Assembly to the railway modernisation and rehabilitation under the Renewed Hope Agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

He disclosed that the rehabilitation and modernization agenda was part of the 25 year Nigerian Railway Masterplan, which started under President Olusegun Obasanjo in 2000 before the immediate past president, Muhammad Buhari completed some portions of the projects.

Aliero said the oversight visit was the third by the committee to the NRC national asset across the country, as it had earlier visited the Abuja-Kaduna Train corridor and the Kano-Maradi corridor.

He said: “We have been to the Kano-Maradi-Dutse and Abuja-Kaduna corridors and this is the third one that the committee would be visiting in demonstration of our commitment to the NRC’s mandate by providing all the legislative support they needed to succeed.”’

A supplementary budget of N530 billion had just been passed for the 2024 while the 2025 budget proposals is already been prepared, adding that the supplementary budget is meant to be sourced through counterpart funding where 85 percent is supposed to be sourced from either the China Exim Bank of International Finance Corporation (IFC) or Africa Development Bank (AfDB), for railway modernization and rehabilitation. Aliero said.

Loan approval

He confirmed that the AfDB only recently announced the approval of $350million loan for the construction of the Kano-Maradi rail line.

“Just last week AfDB President told us that the sum of $350million dollar has been approved for Nigeria, for the construction of rail line between Kano-Maradi, and equally the President of Nigeria was recently in China where he renegotiated the release of 85per cent counterpart funding for Ibadan to Kano by the Chinese government.”

He said the committee was impressed with what it has seen so far from Lagos to Abeokuta and from Abeokuta to Ibadan, adding that the committee is happy to note that a rail link has been achieved between Ebute Metta and Apapa Ports and freight services have resumed from Apapa to the Inland Cargo Depot (IDP) of Ibadan on the standard gauge and also on the Kano narrow gauge.

While reacting to the adverse effect of vandalism, the Senate committee on Land transport called for collaborative effort of the government and the governed to prevent economic saboteurs from vandalizing the assets which ordinarily belong to every Nigerian.

Facility inspection

The highpoint of the event was inspection of facilities at the Mobolaji Johnson train station at Alagomeji, Wagon assemblage plant in Kajola and the Professor Oluwole Soyinka train station in Abeokuta in Ogun state.

The facilities tours has in attendance other members of senate committee, acting Managing Director,NRC,Ben Iloanusi, Directors, Deputy Directors and management staff of Nigerian Railway Corporation.

Olusola Akintonde