The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, has stated that the Federal Government is not building a rail line into Niger but to the border.
Yesterday the decision by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to build a $1.96bn rail line that will connect Nigeria to Niger Republic was met by stiff criticism.
Questioning the rationale behind the rail project, Nigerians on social media described it as misplaced priority.
The federal government has now replied critics with the below statement;
“Nigeria isn’t building rail line into Niger but, only to the designated Border point.
An agreement between Nigeria and Niger in 2015, coordinated by the Nigeria-Niger Joint Commission for Cooperation has a plan for “Kano-Katsina-Maradi Corridor Master Plan, (K2M)” as it is called.
Going by this, the two nations would each build a rail track to meet at the border town of Maradi.
Nigerian delegates to that meeting comprised officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, National Boundaries Commission, Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Water Resources as well as those of Kano and Katsina states.
The objective of the rail is the harnessing of raw materials, mineral resources and agricultural produce. When completed, it will serve domestic industries and play the role of a a viable transportation backbone to the West African subregion, starting with the neighboring Niger Republic for their export and import logistic chain.”
