KEY POINTS
- The $350m AfDB rail funding intends to bypass NRC, targets Kano-Maradi link.
- None of these funds go to NRC, the funds go to Federal Ministry of Transportation.
- The Kano-Maradi project enhances the influence of Nigeria’s Sahel region.
Rail transport expert Olawale Rasheed clarifies that there is no conflict between the recent injection of $350 million funding from the African Development Bank (AfDB) into Nigeria’s Kano-Maradi rail link to Niger Republic with the ongoing unbundling of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC).
Rasheed also told The PUNCH that the funds will be at the custody of Federal Ministry of Transportation and the NRC will not have any involvement in the restructuring process.
NRC Unbundling process will not be Impacted by AfDB’s funding
Funded by the Ministry of Transportation and under AfDB strict monitoring the project aims to fund the construction of the strategically important new Kano-Maradi line which will also serve to strengthen Nigeria’s geopolitical role in the Sahel.
Furthermore “The funding boosts the implementation of the trans-regional rail project accelerating completion and reinforcing Kano’s place as the commercial capital of the historic Sahelo-Sudanese trade route,” Rasheed said.
The Kano-Maradi rail link a strategic importance
President Bola Tinubu led diplomatic negotiations that brought the AfDB funding, Senator Adamu Aliero, Chair of the Senate Committee on Land transport noted.
Additionally the project is vital for Nigeria’s clout in the broader Sahel region and its cooperation with AfDB will help ensure timely counterpart of this transregional railway, Rasheed says.
