Despite the public outcry trailing the proposed Kano-Maradi rail project with its economic viability still a subject of debate among Nigerians, the Federal Government is going ahead with the groundbreaking of the rail line on Tuesday (today).
The Kano-Maradi line is a 284-kilometre standard gauge rail and it is being handled by the contractor, Messrs MotaEngil Nigeria Limited, a Portuguese firm.
The project is planned to have a total of 15 stations, including Maradi which comprises two main stations in Kano and Katsina, three medium stations in Kazaure, Daura and Jibiya, three small stations in Shagalle, Dambatta and Mashi, with other Halt stations at the Airport, Kunya Dube, Muduru, Daddara, Anoal Mata and Maradi.
When completed, the project will serve domestic industries and play the role of a viable transportation backbone, linking countries in the West Africa sub-region starting with the neighbouring Niger Republic for their import and export logistics chain.
A statement by the media aide to the transportation minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi said the Kano-Maradi line was crucial to the overall railway development in Nigeria and the sub-region. The rail line represents the last section of the corridor that connects Lagos-kano and subsequently to the Republic of Niger, through the border town of Maradi.
According to the statement, the total population of the three states concerned by the new line which is Kano, Katsina and Maradi has 19,563,874 inhabitants in 2006 and was estimated at 22,166,543 in 2010, which by the estimated annual growth rate of 2.7 percent will amount to 28,933,988 in 2020 which represents 14 percent of the total population of Nigeria.
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The 284km standard gauge railway line traverses Kano-Dambatta-Kazaure-Daura-Mashi-katsina-Jibiya-maradi in Niger Republic. The line has been designed to pass close to major cities; town and villages without dividing them to facilitate public transportation and to stimulate the development of the agricultural economy and manufacturing industries along the corridor as well reduce the cost development.
“In the process, the volume of trade in the country will increase while promoting the realization of Nigeria’s interest in the Africa Free Trade Single Market Area formulation.
The railway will account for average freight carriage forecast of 1,043,980.5 tons annually in the first 10 years of operation within its short corridor and a forecast of average passenger traffic of 3,543,637.9 annually within the same period.
“A geometrical increase in this service is expected when it is linked to the South Nigeria port of Apapa, Tin-can Island, and Warri is realised by the construction of Lagos-Kano and Abuja-Itakpe respectively to the average forecast of 2.2 million tons annually and passenger traffic of average of 5.1 million.” The statement said.
The groundbreaking which will be done by President, Muhammadu Buhari will be attended by the minister of transportation of Niger, governors, ambassadors, ministers of both countries and other important stakeholders in the transportation sector.
Anambra’s Governor, Willie Obiano has a lot of virtues, forthrightness, it appears, is not one of them. His government’s handling of the #ENDSARS protests lends credence to this. When the wave of protests began to erupt in several cities across Nigeria, it would not take much time before it hit Awka, the political capital of Anambra state. For at least three days and two nights, protesters gathered peacefully at the gate of Government House, Awka beckoning on the governor to hear them out and address them, at least.
Anambra had reasons to protest. The state was, at some point, arguably the headquarters of police brutality, criminality and extortion in Nigeria. Hardly will you run into any Anambra resident who has not been victimized or at least know someone who has been victimized by errant police operatives. At the peak of their criminality, the now-disbanded Awkuzu SARS became synonymous with anguish and untold pain. Such was the place dreaded that police operative boldly inscribed “WELCOME TO HELL” on one of the entrances to the facility donated to them by their host community. If the “hell” in Awkuzu was dreaded, the dungeon in Neni was even more so. Although it grabbed relatively less media attention, allegations coming from Neni are more egregious.
Anambra protesters also had reasons to seek the state governor’s attention. In his immediate employ, at the time, was CSP James Nwafor (rtd.) who the government retained as a political appointee despite numerous allegations of his involvement in extrajudicial killings when he held sway at the notorious Awkuzu SARS. But several eggheads in Obiano’s government felt otherwise. They responded through a deluge of well-coordinated online and offline messaging targeted at discrediting the protesters, which this author was one of.
Official government media handlers, joined by several dozen political appointees, argued that the protesters “should take their protests elsewhere and leave our governor alone.” Their stated reason is that the governor had no operational control of the police, which sounds legitimate by the way. More banal ones accused the protesters of being “sadists and hired opposition elements” attempting to remove the governor through surrogacy. These hirelings drew a line on the sand. A vast number of Anambra citizens and residents, even those who couldn’t risk the discomforts of physical protests, were on one side while paid government appointees and hangers-on were on the other. In all these, nobody heard from the governor. His silence was loud enough and the official message of his government was in no way ambiguous.
When it became obvious that the protesters were not in a haste to back down, and their persistent demands, especially for the immediate sack and handing over of James Nwafor for prosecution began to draw national and international attention, the government craftily changed messaging. In an obvious move to counter the “embarrassment” and negative publicity the unfolding scenario gave them, Obiano’s government, in a well-managed photo-op, made a complete turnaround and embraced #ENDSARS protests “in its totality.” The governor suddenly realized the need and brought himself to address the protesters. Paid government vuvuzelas followed suit and adapted their messaging accordingly. They had an overnight change of heart and weren’t shy to announce it. Some even attended a few of the continued protests and took enough selfies to boot.
While addressing the protesters, Gov. Obiano announced the termination of CSP James Nwafor’s appointment. He tactfully demurred on handing him over for prosecution. Nwafor who, until the protests, worked for the government would later inexplicably disappear into thin air. Gov. Obiano also announced the setting up of Anambra Judicial Panel of Enquiry of Police Brutality, Extra-judicial Killings and other Related Matters.
But the highly publicized protest Obiano addressed was not enough. He was so passionate about injustice, he would later take the trouble to physically embark upon “inspection” tours of erstwhile SARS enclaves. All the while, adequate provisions were made to ensure those “inspections” received extensive media coverage. The governor then followed up by announcing the sum of N200million as compensation to victims of police brutality. To prove their seriousness, the Obiano-led government said it included the sum in the draft 2021 budget it sent to the Anambra State House of Assembly for consideration. Thankfully, that draft bill has now been passed into law.
From a public relations point of view, Gov. Obiano’s actions, speeches and the tactful embracement of the #ENDSARS movement was a masterpiece. It publicly cast him in the mould of a governor who listens. The negative publicity was rolled back, though not entirely, and his government accrued some form of public goodwill over their handling of the #ENDSARS matter.
A cursory look at how the government has been following through since the cameras were turned off casts a huge shadow of doubt on the sincerity of Gov. Obiano’s #ENDSARS passions. First, outside a few men and women of honour, the government populated the panel with known government apologists, including those who have little or no understanding of the assignment, and hence cannot add any value.
But this is hardly the only sign of Anambra government’s hollow commitment. In one of the panel hearings, Abdul Mahmood, Esq. lampooned the Anambra panel. He told the panel he has been travelling around the country representing victims on a pro bono basis at the various judicial panels of enquiry instituted across the country. He said it was shocking to him that Anambra panel doesn’t have the courtesy to serve even a bottle of water to counsels arguing cases before them.
Interestingly, while Abdul was complaining about table water, the panellists he was complaining to had greater things to complain about. For instance, the panel’s secretariat struggled to make enough photocopies of petitions and other documents needed for panel deliberations as the government refused to release adequate logistical support to the panel. As unbelievable as it sounds, things like enough photocopies of documents became a luxury Anambra panel couldn’t afford. Panellists also murmured about their unpaid emoluments. If there were doubts as to the authenticity of these chatter from within the panel, they were erased by the chairman of the panel, Hon. Justice Vero Ngozi Umeh (Rtd). During the panel’s sitting on November 17, 2020, she announced that the panel will discontinue hearings “until certain logistical issues” were sorted out.
