We would have had a modern railway system if that mumu called yaradua had not cancelled the contract which Jonathan later came in to squander and steal .
You can also see the evil iweala people in the world bank do. They are never there to block the looting of funds but you can always expect them to sabotage anything which would benefit the people .


Assitant Editor The Presidency is in a fix over the $8.3 billion contract for the modernisation and expansion of rail lines awarded in the dying days of the Obasanjo administration.

A committee set up to review the project submitted a report that did not favour its continuation. So also is the report of the World Bank on the gargantuan project.

The Federal Government had paid $250 million mobilisation fee to China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCEC), the main contractor of the project which involves the construction of a standard gauge rail covering 1,315 kilometres from Lagos to Kano with a loop from Minna to Abuja. The $2.5billion loan promised by the Chinese government is yet to be consummated.

Shortly after assuming office last year, President Umaru Yar’ Adua stopped the project and set up a committee headed by Finance Minister Shamsudeen Usman to review the funding options already planned for the project.

A source in the Presidency told The Nation that the committee’s report recommended the suspension of the project.

The committee, which also has Minister of Transportation Mrs Diezani Alison-Madueke and her counterpart in National Planning, Senator Sanusi Daggash, as members, cited “procedural errors” in the award of the contract, such as lack of competitive bidding and inflation.

The Usman-led committee advised the government to ask the contractor to stop work for a proper feasibility study to be conducted, renegotiation of the contract sum and loan terms as well as involving the private sector in its funding and execution.

But the President whose seven-point agenda accommodate the revival of the ailing rail system is in dilemma over the committee’s report, which he does not want to set aside, it was learnt.

On one occasion, the President was reported to have emphasised the need to resuscitate the rail system in the shorttest possible time to allow the railway have the desired impact on the on-going economic transformation of the country.

The indecision of the Presidency is not helped by the international politics that has come to bear on the project. A source hinted that some world powers have shown interest in the project as they are getting worried over the growing influence of China in the Nigerian economy.

The source cited the World Bank report which he said had dampened the government’s morale. The bank advised the government to go about the rehabilitation of the railway system systematically by restricting the job for now to the Eastern and Western rail. The report advised that the East–West line connecting Lagos to Enugu/Umuahia (800km) and Calabar to Aba (150km) should be evaluated for financial viability based on projected traffic volume and preferably built on Public Private Partnership (PPP) basis with minimum support from the government to fill the viability gap.

It added that the Ajaokuta -Warri standard gauge line with interchange with narrow gauge system at Baro should be evaluated for financial and economic viability.

According to the report, the narrow gauge connection between Apapa and Tin Can Island (seven km) and between Port-Harcourt and Onne (19km) should be constructed either on PPP basis or funded by the Federal Government after a financial and economic viability evaluation has been carried out.


http://www.nigerianmuse.com/20080319201221zg/sections/other-peoples-essays/obasanjo-s-8-3b-rail-deal-unsettles-yar-adua/

Obj is trying jonathan patience!silent is the best answer for someone like him anyways

I watched the interview on channels, though not a supporter of Obasanjo but the man marshalled his points logically.

Yar Adua sent Nigerian back many years by cancelling the sale of 2 refineries and refunding Dangote his money.

GEJ made amends by building on OBJ power policy but totally lost it with regards to Railways.

The solution is outright privatization using the UK model.

Na wao,see the kind people we call X - president

Obj destroyed Nigeria as president. I wonder which Nigeria leader past and present have that vision. Buhari as current president is there becos of 'i must rule Nigeria syndrome' Obj should keep dumb at his age. For now, we are yet to have a visionary leader.

eleko1:
Hope U hear Baba Talk say no hidden place for thief/thieves in his own party.

The he should probe OBJ's administration.

Stupid old man! Jonathan is also the cause you did not run for third term! if you had done that Nigeria would have been worse than Burundi by now! Keeping having heart ache and sleepless night over Jonathan & PDP

obj d visionary

What stopped Jona from probing OBJ?.

Tallesty1:
The he should probe OBJ's administration.

Who tied his hand/he dey cripple den?

yomsad:
Baba Iyabo is here again... This man should free Jona

He should free himself. He keeps having sleepless night over Jona!

$8.3 Billion for Rehabilitation . Only in Nigeria

shaiba:
and OBJ had vision? So what did he tangible thing did he do for Nigeria?

Aren't you typing this rubbish on the internet through your mobile device?

Obasanjo, u dey see GEJ for your sleep? Everyday GEJ this, GEJ that, it's clear the man do you strong thing. Don't worry sha, Nigerians are not fools, they can compare both of you and know which one is the true democrat. GEJ was not perfect, but at least he never tried to rubbish the constitution for his own gain, and he never violated traditions by by sleeping with own relatives.
History will be a LOT kinder to GEJ then it will for you baba.

ISpiksDaTroof:


Aren't you typing this rubbish on the internet through your mobile device?

OMG are you one of those ignorant people who really think OBJ had ANYTHING to do with mobile communications coming to Nigeria? A little education for you, the enabling law for mobile communications was passed by the previous military administration. People were already applying for jobs with MTN to start setting up base stations BEFORE OBJ was even sworn in. Please don't come to the internet and expose your ignorance.

And he would have waited until a new high train was working before decongesting our roads?
He did not hear of the Lagos-Warri line that had been awarded which was adjudged one of the best 100 in the world.
This guy is very vindictive. I am not surprised for someone who still boasts with his atrocities during a civil war that ended so many years ago. he will probably attack Jonathan for making him irrelevant in his government until he(OBJ) dies.