payless:


What are you talking about? Buhari's government was overthrown during the time when the whole world was still using locomotive trains; including Nigeria. Buhari is no more in government, so we cannot judge him on the train service introduced and paid for by Obasanjo and being implemented by Jonathan.

No one is derailing your thread. I am here to keep you straight.

Sincere 9gerian:
You'r obviously confused. From telling us that what has been done so far is mediocre to now bringing in "part payment" made by Lord Lugard. You remind us of the "part payment" made by OBJ (with NOTHING to show in 8 SOLID YEARS) and at the same time try to discredit GEJ who has something to show for his 2-3yrs in office. You'r confused. You better keep yourself straight first

ballabriggs: OKOKOBIOKO!!!

Transformation with 1925 train. Hehehehehe, ara agbago ndiara. Mind you England still use some 1800 steam trains, you find such trains in tourist areas like the Isle of Wight, ilkley and the Yorkshire areas. However, that is not the best they have.

To pass off such trains as "transformation", shows you are not a serious person. I keep saying something and that is, development is a competitive process. In the raise for development, you are not in it alone, you are competing with other nations. When other nations building rail infrastructure to reduce travel time and boost safety; and you pass of locomotive trains as "transformation", then it shows you are not even ready.

payless:


God bless you! I don't know where he got his transformation from. I bet he wouldn't recorgnize transformation if he sees one.

ballabriggs:

They will tell you, "you will start from somewhere". Do you know how devastated Japan was after the second world war? If they had folded their arms and kept to that mediocrity of "we are just starting", will they have come out of the devastation caused by the war?

payless:


Keep celebrating mediocrity while people who know what "transformation" looks like keep wondering why our government are so inept. I can now understand why you couldn't make it in medical field.

Sincere 9gerian: @Payless is a mischief maker. He should be ignored.

By the way, if the past clueless leaders had done the basics, the current president would have taken it up from there. But since they did nothing, the current president would start from ground zero . Restore the narrow guage lines and gradually build fast trains. That is the sensible thing to do

Sincere 9gerian:
I knew APC e-warriors will definitely foam at the mouth on this thread. These are the same guys that popped champagne when Fashola commissioned street lights and drainages. This is the foul smelling hypocrisy associated with APC e-warriors.

Anyway, let me state categorically that this thread is reporting PROGRESS. When the president was campaigning in 2011, he PROMISED to revamp the existing narrow guage line and modernise the railways. There was a PROBLEM- comatose railways- and GEJ PROMISED to solve that problem. 2yrs down the line, PROGRESS has been made. The narrow guage lines are being revamped. The Lagos-kano railway is already back to life. That is PROGRESS. Mischief makers can, from the discomfort of the hell homes, call it mediocrity. A promise was made and that promise has been KEPT. The railway modernization is also going. N1.3billion contract was awarded for the design of 5 fast train lines (see the OP). That is PROGRESS.

Haters can continue to hate while PROGRESS is being made

IGBO-SON:


^^^The bolded is the sad truth! One would have expected that Obasanjo would have at least tried to do something in the areas of power and the railways, but i just don't know what that man spent 8 years doing walahi!

I hope they've added a few more trains to that Lagos-Kano route, because when it started a few months back they only had one train which is just not acceptable.

Adura_ngba: Obasanjo Legacy: Lest We Forget

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE ECONOMY PRE-1999

Near Collapse of Economic and Social Infrastructure
• Slow Growth in GDP – 1.19% in 1999
• High Double-Digit Inflation in the range of 20 – 25%
• Loose Fiscal Policy with fiscal deficits averaging 3.5% of GDP
• Low growth in oil sector due to lack of investment – 7.5% in 1999
• Huge debt overload – external and domestic debt 70% of GDP resulting in difficulty in debt servicing


The Economy SINCE 1999

• FDI and Portfolio inflows more than doubling every year – about US$7bn in 2006; non-oil exports grew by 24% in 2006 and China and India becoming preferred partners.

• In 2006, the Nigerian economy grew by 7% (GDP growth rate). Inflation rate dropped from 17% to 10% by September 2006

• In 2006, the non-oil sector, especially agriculture, grew by 8% up from 6.5% in 2005 (almost twice as fast as the oil sector)

• Nigeria has the most profitable Stock Market in the world with an average Return on Investment (ROI of over 31%)

• Stable prices (exchange rate, inflation) and stronger banking system powering NSE; thousands of Nigerians are making money out of the capital market; NSE capitalization expected to be about US$100bn in 2008, ahead of Egypt and second only to JSE

• The Pension Reforms Act 2004 established for Nigeria a new and contributory pension scheme for both the private and the public sector. Pension Fund now in excess of N600bn

• 21 companies with market capitalization of US$1bn and above. There are 22 companies with such profile in West Africa, out of which 21 are in Nigeria – none in 1999.


AGRICULTURE SINCE 1999
• Growth rate in Agriculture sector increased from 2.9% in 1998 to 7% in 2005.

• Annual production of fingerlings and table fish increased from 2.0 million metric tones and 30,000 mt in 2004 to 50 million metric tones and 80,000 mt respectively in 2006.

• The Nations silo storage capacity increased by about 100,000 mt.

• The current growth rate is slightly higher than the 6% target set for the sector under NEEDS and NEPAD’s Comprehensive Africa Agricultural Development Programme


Agriculture, Water Resources
and Rural Development
SINCE 1999
• Water supply coverage increased from 35% to 65% between 1999 and 2007, hence increased food production through irrigation.

• A total of 2,170km rural feeder roads awarded for rehabilitation under the 2006 MDG Poverty Reduction Fund Release.

• The output of cash crop such as rice, cocoa and rubber also grew by 24%, 36% and 10% respectively.

• Cocoa production increased from 170,000 mt in 1999 to about 460,000 mt in 2006.

• Five new improved cassava varieties with potential yield of 30 - 80 tons/ha compare with the present yield of 12 - 15 tons/ha have been formerly released to farmers nationwide.
• 89 boreholes, 41 open wells, 24 micro earth dams, 480 tubewells and over 536 fish ponds constructed under the National Special Programme for Food Security (NSPFS)

• Annual production of cassava tubers increased from 35million metric tonnes in 2005 to over 49 million metric tonnes in 2005.

• 1,044 water pumps distributed

• Annual production of over 10,000 mt of assorted vegetables

• The construction of the Gurara water transfer project (capacity 850 million cubic metres), is a tremendous achievement in the development of dams and reservoirs.

• One of the global leaders in poultry production


Agriculture sector
Ensuring Food Security before 1999
• Scarcity of seedlings for farmers
• Unavailability of fertilizer to farmers
• Wastage of farm produce
• Lack of emphasis in agriculture
• High importation of locally produced food
items such poultry products, fruit juices, plantain chips, leading to undue pressure on
the Naira


Agriculture sector slide 8

ENSURING FOOD SECURITY SINCE 1999

• Presidential initiative on rice, livestock, cassava, vegetable oils, tropical fruits and tree crops have led to a significant boost in agricultural production
• Increased interest in agriculture due to improved government policies
• Improved allocation and distribution of fertilizer and farming implements
• Enhanced local and foreign markets for farm produce
• Increased in agricultural research funding
• Increased in output of major crops such as maize, millet, sorghum, rice, beans, yam, cassava etc.

ROAD & RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE

• Between 1999 and February 2007, FGN spent N116bn to complete 117 roads and bridges covering 4,747km

• Currently there are 118 new and on-going projects covering 632,428km with some attaining completion levels of 96.6%. Amount spent on this so far is N187.35bn

• Total length of road projects awarded (completed and on-going) since 1999 is 19,801.05km estimated at N229.019bn

• Some of the road dualisation projects are Ibadan-Ife; Benin-Asaba; Mile 3 diobu – P/Hacourt; Benin Bypass; Kaduna Refinery road; Onitsha-Owerre; Nyanya-Keffi; Ibadan-Ilorin; Benin-Warri; Lagos-Otta-Abeokuta; Kaduna Eastern Bypass; Abuja-Lokoja; East-West and Kano-Maiduguri

• Many roads are aklso under design for future dualisation, including Kano-Kongolam; Lokoja-Benin; Keffi-Jos; Akwanga-Lafia-Makurdi

• The plan is to dualize all major federal roads by 2020

Adura_ngba: NEW RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE

[b]
• Federal Government has approved new railway plans for the standard gauge
• $8.3bn estimated for the project. $2bn is obtained as a soft loan from the Chinese government
• 3 longitudinal lines: Lagos – North; Warri – North; and Port Harcourt – North
• 4 Latitudinal lines, with extension lines to cover all State capitals and major commercial cities

ELECTRICITY PATHETIC PAST

• 1986-1999: No major overhaul carried out on existing plants
• 1990-1999: No new power stations built
• 1999: Only 19 out of 79 generating units in operation, with actual daily generation averaging 1800MW
• The last transmission line built in 1987

ELECTRICITY SINCE 1999
Major Infrastructural Expansion

• Geregu Plant, Kogi State: completed and commissioned February 2007
• Omotosho Plant, Ondo State: completed and commissioned May 2007
• Papalanto Plant, Ogun State: On going
• Alaoji Plant, Abia State: On going
• Egbema Plant, Imo State: On going
• Omoku Plant, Rivers State: State complted, Federal On going
• Calabar Plant, Cross River State: On going
• Gbarain Plant, Bayelsa State: On going
• Ihovbor Plant, Edo State: On going

MAMBILLA HYDRO PLANT: 2000MW: Contract signed and civil works have begun.
[/b]

WHAT has CHANGED?
• Energy generation increased from 1,800MW in 1998 to about 2700MW in 2004

• Funding increased from about $50m in 1999 to about $380m in 2005

• 19 new power stations under construction to generate 4,500MW of power

• 7,000km of transmission lines nationwide and 22,000 transformers to be installed

• Over 600 project sites nationwide to bring electricity to about 1000 rural communities. The entire project will involve about 20,000 shipments comprising:
• - 200km of gas pipeline
• - 10,000 tons of material for power station equipment
• - 67,500 tons of transmission tower materials
• - 15,000km of distribution conductors
• - 25,000 distribution transformers



INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION SINCE 1999

Market Liberalization
International Recognition
Telecommunications Sector Reform
Communications Infrastructure Development

• State Accelerated Broadband Initiative (SABI Project)
• Wire Nigeria Project (WiN)
• Internet Service Exchange (IXP)
• Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF)

Unprecedented Impact in Socio-Economic Development

Phenomenal Industry Growth (connected mobile line grew at about 100% annually)

Improved Tele-density (tele-density increased from a mere 0.45 lines per 100 persons in 1999 to 25 lines per 100 persons as at January 2007)

Nigeria was adjudged the fastest growing telecoms market in Africa and one of the fastest in the world by 2006

Private investment rose from $50m in year 1999 to $9.5b in 2007. This was also influenced by the revolution in the telecommunications

Over 34million connected lines

Massive employment generation

Two major projects initiated to provide rural telephony in 108 local governments spread across the country

Massive rural telephony project launched two weeks ago by Mr. President

NIPOST now a world class postal institution


HEART OF AFRICA PROJECT
A cohesive information programme for Nigeria's image management and economic progression.

Arguably the most ambitious marketing and ethical blueprint designed by any Nigerian government to tell the Nigerian story.

Ensured the right kind of information is received about Nigeria, both locally and internationally.

Repositioned Nigeria to serve as Africa's preferred destination for political, business, social and cultural events.

Embraced a value orientation programme involving attitudinal and behavioral change tagged PRIDE - Patriotism Resourcefulness Integrity Distinction Enterprise.

Hosting of the largest colloquium of Nigerian mothers - “Mother's Summit”. The summit became the plank for the implementation of PRIDE - The internal component of the project.

Nigerian brands marketed abroad through bus, escalator and tube branding.

IGBO-SON:


^^^The bolded is the sad truth! One would have expected that Obasanjo would have at least tried to do something in the areas of power and the railways, but i just don't know what that man spent 8 years doing walahi!

I hope they've added a few more trains to that Lagos-Kano route, because when it started a few months back they only had one train which is just not acceptable.

GeneralJ: The giant of AFRICA indeed, mtcheww, using WW2 era locomotives, while south africa and other countries are getting High speed rail mtcheww

ballabriggs:

You want to know what OBJ did? Here it is below

ballabriggs: Federal Government has approved new railway plans for the standard gauge...

payless: And you are not ashamed of yourself to call what you displayed up there as train. In this age of modernization, you are displaying locomotive nonsense as train. It was Obasanjo who started this nonsense idea and approved the contract of this locomotive crap of a train that you are now celebrating. If you forgot, we stopped using the locomotive train in Nigeria back in the 1980s. Why do we have to continue to celebrate mediocrity in this country? Nigerians deserve better than this rubbish.

Below are the befitting trains Nigerians deserve:

Sincere 9gerian:
Haters can continue to hate while PROGRESS is being made

Sincere 9gerian:
And who's to blame? Do you expect GEJ to build high speed trains in 3yrs? Anyway, the process of building high speed trains has commenced (see the OP).

By the way, the president was not elected only to build high speed trains. The president has roads to fix, schools to build, hospitals to fix, agriculture, security, etc. So many areas begging for attention. The president cannot just sink all the funds into building fast trains. That will be senseless

anonimi:

Let us ask what the AD/AC/ACN administration of Tinubu and Fashola have done in continuous, unbroken 14 years of so called "progressive" government on similar issue in Lagos.

Let us not forget they had a blueprint and master plan that UPN's Jakande launched over 30 years ago for METROLINE before he was overthrown and the project cancelled by jealous Ayatollah Buhari who threw him into jail while keeping his fulani brother, president Shagari in luxurious house arrest in Ikoyi.

Ricky_Ross: Anyone who doesn't appreciate the ongoing railway rehabilitation is daft and enemy of progress. These rail lines has been shut down for decades and none of you complained, now that something is being done you are still complaining? In as much as I want luxury also, but half bread is better than none. I agree that we Nigerians deserve better but we must start from somewhere. The railway sector has been dead for long and i don't expect bullet trains just yet.

Some goats are mentioning India and South Africa but they have never been to these places. India is a place i travel at least 2 times yearly and they have very very old trains. Only in Delhi they have a modern train. The old and ancient rail tracks in India is not stopping India from becoming a world power. Some of the modern train pics we are posting here costs billions of Pounds/dollars to build. The same way we want world class airport with 8 billion naira? People go to Thailand and UK and they want the same airports in those countries, the Bangkok Airport is world class but costs billions of dollars. yet we want the same with 10 billion naira bubject? When OBJ was building Abuja stadium many people kicked against it, there were even demonstrations Let just one president approve just 1 billion dollar for one single airport in Nigeria lets see if there wont be massive street protests to kick against it.

otokx: since the poor cant afford high speed trains lets keep importing scrap locomotives from europe and america abi? mediocrity at its best. Poor man cannot afford gsm na so lets go back to the stone age. Those who say OBJ did nothing are just plain liars. He had praise singers like sincere nigerian then but the things he did either were not finished or were abandoned by Yar Adua or cancelled outright like in the case of the refineries or did not last.

Sincere 9gerian: Below are highlights of the massive transformation that had taken place in the rail transport system in the last 2yrs AND what to expect in the next 2yrs of the GEJ administration.

1 Restoration of the Lagos-kano narrow guage line. This is arguable the most significant achievement of the govt in this sector. This particular rail line was DEAD for over a decade but it came back to life December last year. Currently, only twice weekly train services is offered on this line but efforts are being made to offer daily train services to reduce congestion.

2 The eastern narrow guage rail line (Port-Harcourt-Enugu-Makurdi-Lafia-Jos-Gombe-Maiduguri) was DEAD but is now being revived. Ongoing works on is expected to be completed this year.

3 Inter-city passenger narrow guage train services have been introduced in Minna-Kaduna route, Kaduna-Kano route and Kano-Nguru route

4 Intra-city narrow guage train services are already operational in Lagos, Kaduna and Kano states.

5 The Abuja-Kaduna standard guage rail line has now reached 60% completion (up from 50% completion). The line will be completed late 2014. When completed, trains will move on the line at a speed of 150 to 170km per hour

6 The Itakpe-Ajaokuta-Warri standard guage rail line is still ongoing and will be completed by year end. Work on this line started in 1986 but for inexplicable reason, it has remained uncompleted since then. But the good news is that GEJ is here to complete it. Work has reached 70% completion rate. Some people erroneously thought the line was completed early this year but I can confirm that work is still ongoing. When completed, trains will move on the line at a speed of 150-170km per hour

7 The Lagos-Ibadan standard guage rail line was awarded late last year to a Chinese firm. But actual work is yet to commence because the fund for the project (about $1.5billion) is still being packaged. The project will be funded, about 30% from regular budget and 70% from Chinese bank loan. The loan is delaying the project. But actual work is expected to commence later this year.

8 Five fast train lines: the process of developing five fast train lines began late last year with the award of a N1.3billion contract for the design and preliminary works. These lines include:
- Lagos-Abuja fast train line (615km). When completed, it will be possible to travel from Lagos to Abuja and vice versa in 3hrs 30minutes.
- Lagos-Benin fast train line (about 300km)
- Ajaokuta-Abuja fast train line (about 533km)
- Zaria-Illela fast train line (520km)
- Benin-Onitsha-Aba fast train line (about 500km), with an offshoot from Onitsha to Enugu.
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/fg-approves-n1-3bn-for-design-of-5-fast-train-lines/

The designs and other preliminary works for these fast train lines will be completed by September this year. Subsequently, the lines will be built under PPP.

By the way, how come the previous govts did NOTHING in this regard?

payless: And you are not ashamed of yourself to call what you displayed up there as train. In this age of modernization, you are displaying locomotive nonsense as train. It was Obasanjo who started this nonsense idea and approved the contract of this locomotive crap of a train that you are now celebrating. If you forgot, we stopped using the locomotive train in Nigeria back in the 1980s. Why do we have to continue to celebrate mediocrity in this country? Nigerians deserve better than this rubbish.my since 1980 till date how many government has come into power and what have they don for this sector.are they not d once that killed it gabadaya and some 1 jst Remenber this same sector that has been 4got and ur here calling some 1 name,hard it been some thing has been don in the past do u think we will be act this stage by now.why do ppl so much hate this govt is it because this man is not from the north or west have u forgotten that some ppl ruled this country for 48yrs and this man has been in power for jst 2yrs and u expect him to do what ur gud leader's could not do in 48yrs.get a live

Below are the befitting trains Nigerians deserve: