‘AfDB’s $350m rail funding won’t affect NRC unbundling’

Rail transport expert, Olawale Rasheed, has said that the recent announcement by the African Development Bank to release $350m to the Federal Government for the construction of the Kano-Maradi rail link will not affect the ongoing unbundling process of the Nigeria Railway Corporation.

 In a chat with The PUNCH, on Tuesday, the rail expert hailed the AFDB for the intervention, adding that the fund in question won’t be paid to the NRC but rather to the Federal Government through the Ministry of Transportation.

He said, “The ministry manages the critical projects in the rail sector. There is a director of rail services at the Federal Ministry of Transportation. He oversees the activities of the NRC under the permanent secretary and the honourable minister.

“So, the funding is not going to the NRC. It would be administered from the ministry alongside all the federal financial management processes. The regulatory structure will enforce the transparent application of the loan from AfDB. We should also note that AfDB has a strict monitoring mechanism.
“The funding has nothing to do with the plan to unbundle the Nigeria Railway Corporation. The ministry is the coordinating point for the implementation of the project. NRC is not playing a direct role in the execution process. So the unbundling process is not impacted in whatever way by the Afdb support for the Maradi- Kano rail project.”

On Monday, The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Land Transport, Senator Adamu Aliero, announced the AFDB’s decision to fund the construction of the rail line connecting Kano to Maradi, Niger State.

This, according to the lawmaker, was an outcome of the recent visit of President Bola Tinubu to China to finalise negotiations for securing 85 per cent of the funding necessary for railway modernisation and rehabilitation.
The industry expert described the intervention as a significant movement by AfDB.

Rail transport expert told our correspondent that the Kano-Maradi rail link was important to Nigeria’s geopolitical interest in the greater Sahel region.

He noted that the AfDB’s intervention would enhance the implementation of the trans-regional rail project.

According to Rasheed, the intervention aims to expedite the completion process and reaffirm Kano’s position as the commercial capital of the historic Sahelo-Sudanese trade route.

He said, “This funding is a welcome development, as it marks the most significant point of intervention in the Nigerian railway sector by the African Development Bank. AfDB has funded several rail projects in other parts of Africa and it is commendable that the bank has finally supported the Kano-Maradi rail linkage.

“The funding is needed and significant as the Kano-Maradi rail link is of strategic importance to Nigeria’s geopolitical interest in the greater Sahel region. The programme was conceived to pull funding from all sources.

“The AfDB coming in will further strengthen the implementation of the trans-regional rail project. It will speed up the completion process and realise the goal of reaffirming Kano’s role as the commercial capital of the old Sahelo-Sudanese trade route,” he remarked.