The ‘Sinking’ Calabar-Lagos Railway Scam

By

Tatabonko Orok Edem

tatabonko@gmail.com

 

The idea of a railway line starting from or stopping at Calabar, is not new. A cursory glance at British Parliamentary Papers: 1850 – 1908, Volume 78, and the Colonial Office Letters of 12 October 1907; clearly depicts the then ongoing debate about the country Nigeria.  [“a country eight fold that of England (over 400,000 square meters)”] and how best to map out a railway transportation within its territories.

A series of letters exchanged between Sir F. Lugard and Sir R. Moor, who both held sway in the northern and southern territories of Nigeria, showed a tacit agreement that to open up Nigeria, two railway lines needed to be constructed. The primary reason for this approach was the River Niger, which splits the country into almost two equal halves, East and West, because, two main lines, lying east and west of the River Niger travelling northwards made more economic sense, then, and it still does now. At the beginning of last century, by 1903, Lagos Colony had built its own 130 miles’ railway line to Ibadan. This line was to be extended to serve the Western District to include Ilorin, Niger and places adjacent to Benin and Republic of Togo and connect Sokoto. The was to begin at Calabar, traverse the Cross River basin and end in the North Eastern Nigeria or Lake Chad. To demonstrate the significance of this project, a survey was to be conducted on the Calabar - Lake Chad Railway at the enormous cost of £4,000.00., pending the pacification of the Aros. The Calabar Railway as then conceived was never built.

With due respect to Senator Giwa, who voiced out support for the project: “South-South has suffered enough, don’t politicise Calabar-Lagos rail project.”  [Daily Post of April 15, 2016], and Senator Henshaw: “Avoidable controversy of Calabar-Lagos rail” [Vanguard Newspapers of 19th April 2016], ‘we’ thank them for their patriotic intervention over the Calabar to Lagos Railway project and its facetious ‘inclusion’ or ‘non-inclusion’ in the 2016 National Budget, but ‘we’ do not see what the hullabaloo is all about. Quite on the contrary a Lagos – Calabar rail link would not benefit Calabar, as opposed to a deep sea port nestled in Bakassi, which can then be hooked up with its rail line to haul goods northwards. Granted that Calabar and the Cross River State have been starved and cheated by various Nigerian Administrations in the Nigerian State, should not make us jump at any funny project that is half-heartedly thrown our way.

            Most importantly, the present government has no intention or wherewithal to build a Calabar -Lagos Railway line. How much did the present bridge over the River Niger cost in 1965? It cost Nigeria £5,000,000.00, and you see the banks of Onitsha from Asaba. Does anyone think that the Nigerian government that cannot build a second Niger Bridge over dry gullies would embark on a project that would involve construction of a bridge over the lower tributaries of the River Niger, with the tendency of the foundation to sink? Who is selling this project to Cross Riverians? Mr. Amaechi - the current Transport Minister, who once sold a DASH 8 propeller aircraft to Cross River State, which he claimed he sold at the cost of $9m, while the buyer, Cross River State, said it was $6m. Does anyone know the whereabouts of this aircraft today? Why would the two Senators take the word of Amaechi seriously even after he has sold an unseen aircraft worth between $6 - $9 million to Cross River State, in the past?

In my humble opinion, Calabar – Lagos Railway Project is a scam to siphon money in preparation for the 2019 election, nothing more, nothing less. The present government has absolutely no intention of building a rail line between the two cities. A mere look at the total sum that would be involved, confirms my hypothesis. Compare the cost of the present Niger Bridge mentioned above, factor in inflation and the value of that sum today, add 50 times the distance to be covered by a weight bearing bridge over the River Niger swamps, that should tell the unwary that there is a scam developing. The money so ‘budgeted’ by Amaechi, would not pay for the Environmental Impact Assessment for such a gargantuan project, there would be re-evaluation and amended budgets made to cover escalating cost [wink...wink] and the project would later be abandoned. Personally, I wouldn’t buy a used car from Mr. Amaechi.

            The current senator representing Cross River Southern Senatorial Zone, Senator Gershom Bassey, had this to say in a recent interview when asked: “What do you make of the Lagos-Calabar Coastal railway project in the 2016 budget which is still generating controversy”?

“That project was not even in the budget in the first place. There was nothing like that in the document. What was in the budget was a provision for the feasibility studies but there was no provision for the budget itself. That is probably because a project like that is not a one-year project; it is a project that is funded over several budgets, and maybe the executive thought that it will come when needed. The President, as you know, just returned from China and we understand that part of the funding is even from China. The story we now hear is that, having submitted the budget, the Minister of Transport came with a proposal somehow through the back door to include the project.”

[Tribune Newspaper of April 28, 2016]

Nigeria is a nation that should be watched with derisive laughter. Under what concept of public policy and governance would a project that was conceived and approved in 2014, by a preceding government, suddenly become a new project that has been ‘included’ and ‘excluded’ from the national budget in 2016? Who are these people? How did we manage to end up in the same country with them? Is there no decency in the conduct of public affairs? Are decisions no longer made on the basis of national need?

Why would anyone in their sane mind want to build a rail line from Lagos to Calabar? Lagos and Calabar are both seaport towns, what sort of bulk and heavy goods do the conceivers of this white elephant project intend to move from Lagos to Calabar, that cannot be shipped directly to Calabar? Building a rail line involves huge capital outlay, granted it is a public good but why Lagos to Calabar, with its attendant swampy and muddy terrain that has to be built up and maintained? Flight connections between both towns take an hour, thus the need for speed via an inflexible rail line is not there. Would it not cost less to build a deep sea port in Bakassi Local Government and link it up with a rail line to traverse the east-north borders of Nigeria?

A rail line linking Calabar to Lagos would not be to the advantage of Calabar, irrespective of what others might think. It would be underutilized, and would not have full load for its economic viability and operation.

April 22, 2016