lastclaire4:
It amazes me whenever Amaechi talks about money blown away. I can remember vividly that he was part of those that said they should share the money in the excess crude oil account. He was among those that took FG to court because of the money.

What did he do as the governor of Rivers state with the excess crude oil money?

While I don't like getting into politics, it's always important that we say things the way they are.

Amaechi insisted that the excess funds be shared because Jonathan was secretly spending the money while Okonjo-Iweala tells Nigerians that the money be kept for a rainy day. That's a breach of trust.

Coming to what Amaechi did in Rivers State, you probably didn't know Rivers State when Amaechi was governor. I still remember very well that the quality of primary school Amaechi built across Rivers State some 10 years ago, no Nigerian governor builds state schools that beat that standard today.

Go and ask people who come from Rivers State. However, Amaechi lost focus when he joined the APC and started attacking Jonathan up and down.

Useless assertion

Someone7:
If only people with brains advise this administration

Which administration borrowed to fund abj/kad rail?

Vardanes2:
Well, the same old private sector hasn't been investing in rails

Let's be honest, railways needs a lot of money. And the truth is, we haven';t had the money we need. So, we take loans.


The problem is that the government isn't ready to get us off oil or get us off the kind of economy we run...selling raw materials and using the cash to import. We need the economy to be reformatted to being productive enough to give us the kind of revenue we need to avoid borrowing.



Yes, and the uncertainty is happening because the basis of our dolalr earning is oil, and when oil prices stay too low, as has been happening since 2014, CBN has no choice but to restrict dollar flows, or else we would end up being as broke as Zimbabwe.

Oga , Nigeria is running a very useless economy.

If Nigeria economic climate is sound and normal like in developed or developing countries with strong fundamentals, businesses will grow and build rails. in UK, the airports are private investments.

The rails they are telling you its worth $2bn is noh worth more than 1/4 of thesame amount in other African countries. That's $500m. Nigerians can never initiate a project without inflating it's figures to their own detriment.

helinues:


Most of our so called leaders are just empty brain set of people.

They are not a good manager nor creative enough to come up with new income generating without borrowing

they lack managerial and people's skills..they are all thugs..

Finished country

Igbochief001:
Railway , refinery are two low profit margin business u do with excess funds not real capital

Two the demand must be important and very high to warrant such

Lagos Abuja , lagos port Harcourt via onitsha ....are the only routes that requires a rail way now

They will prefer to build it where the passengers cannot afford the ticket fares.

Also areas with lower passenger volume.

Later, they will say economy is not growing.

No thanks to the useless govt of self serving THIEVES!

Vardanes2:


Well, if it helps us to reduce the amount of traffic on our roads used by trucks transporitng stuff to Niger Republic, and helps us see more traffic to our ports since now we have a rail link from Lagos to Niger via Kano and Katsina, what's the problem


Infact the NEXT project should link us with rail to Cameroon, Benin and other African countries.

Niger uses our ports to import stuff. A good rail link would make them use our ports more...since goods and services can be transported easily from port to border. Meanhwile, traffic on our roads would ease up..and note that Niger can't use Benin because Benin has no good rail link.

It's not everything that you should comment on.

Sometimes say, I don't know.

it's going to become worse

400billionman:


It's not everything that you should comment on.

Sometimes say, I don't know.

Thank you very much wise oldman whose wisdom surpasses all the computers.

Good afternoon

Yen yen yen...that is why Richard Branson fled Nigeria

MY OWN QUESTION IS WHAT ARE THEY USING THE RAIL TO DO IS IT FOR TRANSPORTATION OF GOODS SUCH AS OIL OR ECONOMIC CROPS OR IS IT JUST TO TRANSPORT PEOPLE CAUSE IF ITS THE LATTER THEN THEY ARE ALL MAD

Grace001:
Come 2023 the next president will complain and be handicap for the first 4 years because debt full grown yafu yafu

Spare ur time and research the debt met in 2015 and the current debt now pls..

naijadrivablog:
You all see why UAE has overtaken Nigeria? Leadership!

UAE 1991...this is about a 30 years interval. See the change. Now this is how Akwa ibom is now(UAE 1991) but we are investing on many things and people are insulting us. 30 years later we become like UAE 2021

So tell us how government is supposed to generate 5.6bn dollars to build rail..when it revenue has crashed by over 60 percent...oil prices down by more than 120 percent compared to 2013... Only 6 percent of GDP get to the government has tax compared to nearly 25 Percent of SA and beyond 40 percent of the UK....y'all need to understand that many of the largest Infrastructural project being built aren't 100 percent government funded... Ur talking about borrowing..are u aware the UK debt to GDP is beyond 100 percent...I repeat abover � percent...the US exhides 60 percent...SA over 45 percent, Kenya and Ethiopia all have debt above 60 percent of GDP..... Nigeria is hovering around 30 percent and y'all are going haywire...many of the rail and overall viable infrastructure these days aren't 100 percent government funded..the almighty UAE is a big example, the UK follows too...

Nigeria is 50 years backward...if it takes loans to get the right things done let it be...almost every piece of infrastructure is viable and can be commercialised so repayment should be a big problem...the Lagos Ibadan rail line which cost 1.6bn...am very optimistic when it begin to move freight from apapa and run and Maximum capacity..it gonna generate more Dan enough to pay back the loans. .. something useless Jonathan didn't think of before doing Abuja to Kaduna..

The only creative way government can generate such huge money is to tax u more and remove subsidies...Oh yeah..
they did but u will complained!!
Since Oil has lost it glory and value..is government supposed to be looking?

As daft as buhari is..his administration has invested heavily into viable infrastructure than any other leader since 1914....from the Lagos Ibadan express road,2nd Niger bridge, AKK gas line, the rails..etc...
All this are viable...
He even wanted to borrow money from Russia to fix ajaokuta steel mill and the refinery too..this is how nations are built..no country is ran 100 percent by government funding..know this and know peace..
Most projects are financed by PPP or loans ..study those two terms ..they have similar characteristics

If other government borrowed to fund infrastructure..we won't be in this mess...

Common SA has more debts than Nigeria..it citizen aren't complaining much cuz they can see results...
We are borrowing to achieve similar results too

helinues:


Most of our so called leaders are just empty brain set of people.

They are not a good manager nor creative enough to come up with new income generating without borrowing

Some of y'all are very shortsighted in reasoning....
Weather u like it or not Lagos to Maradi (Niger) is the most viable rail line in Nigeria..
Y'all open ur brain..is the railline going to fly over the air...this is a line linking almost all the most heavily industrialised state and cities Including high population... this includes Lagos , Ogun ibadan Abuja,Zaria Kaduna and Kano....
Inshort the entire industries in the SS and SE combined is not up to Ogun state alone not to mention the other state and Lagos....

Y all think rail line should be built in regions with people who travel the most (SE) ...and fail to understand the economics of railines.. freight and cargo will be the biggest source of revenue.. imagine all the freight needed by all this cities go on that rail ..u now include entire cargo and freight Niger uses being imported through the Lagos port and transported through the rail..the revenue will be huge this is the advantages other regions lack..go to Kano and see the number of factories, including Ogun, ibadan and Lagos...tell me which region has up to a quarter..it on record that Lagos to Maradi can move 30 million tonnes of cargo ...PH to Maiduguri will crosses the SE can only mange 10 million tonnes..Lagos to Calabar is yet to be calculated but it obvious it can never beat that of Lagos to Maradi .. because the only major place is Onitsha...

This means government will make 3x more money in Lagos to Maradi compared to pH to Maiduguri if it is to be built instead

lastclaire4:


As well as Daura to Niger right? Rail is not what you construct anyhow how many economic activities are going on between Nigeria and Niger that they borrowed huge money. Obviously, they cant pay back the capital from money that will be generated on that route.

Speaktruth88:
BS under OBJ there was a huge drive for privatisation in all sectors including power and transport where are those things today Aside from Atiku and co using us to catch cruise what can we show for it?

A lot of the programs implemented now including this were arranged by GEJ government just completed/implemented now. The idea is that Nigerians should now be able to use these infrastructure to make money they can tax to pay China back.


We’ll see how realistic that is. Let us have peace and light first

You mean other than the very same private-sector telecoms investment that allows you to write such nonsense on here? Or Seun's entirely private efforts which provided the very forum on which you spout such nonsense? Or do you think the phone you wrote this on came from NITEL?

Tekrify:
Some of y'all are very shortsighted in reasoning....
Weather u like it or not Lagos to Maradi (Niger) is the most viable rail line in Nigeria..
Y'all open ur brain..is the railline going to fly over the air...this is a line linking almost all the most heavily industrialised state and cities Including high population... this includes Lagos , Ogun ibadan Abuja,Zaria Kaduna and Kano....
Inshort the entire industries in the SS and SE combined is not up to Ogun state alone not to mention the other state and Lagos....

Y all think rail line should be built in regions with people who travel the most (SE) ...and fail to understand the economics of railines.. freight and cargo will be the biggest source of revenue.. imagine all the freight needed by all this cities go on that rail ..u now include entire cargo and freight Niger uses being imported through the Lagos port and transported through the rail..the revenue will be huge this is the advantages other regions lack..go to Kano and see the number of factories, including Ogun, ibadan and Lagos...tell me which region has up to a quarter..it on record that Lagos to Maradi can move 30 million tonnes of cargo ...PH to Maiduguri will crosses the SE can only mange 10 million tonnes..Lagos to Calabar is yet to be calculated but it obvious it can never beat that of Lagos to Maradi .. because the only major place is Onitsha...

This means government will make 3x more money in Lagos to Maradi compared to pH to Maiduguri if it is to be built instead

All of this "east vs north" speculation is pointless, and only illustrates why this would have been best left to profit-seeking investors. The point of allowing the private-sector to fund and build the rail lines is that unlike you and everyone else on here, they'll be motivated to do the due diligence to learn where the market truly is rather than indulging tribal sentiments, because they'll be putting their own funds on the line: investment banks, hedge funds and big companies like GE have no time or energy to waste on "Igbo vs Hausa" nonsense. If they make the bet that it's in one direction vs. another, and they turn out to be wrong, any resulting wahala will be between them and their bondholders and shareholders, instead of every Nigerian having to shoulder the burden of paying the loan.

We are still in the same direction..
The Chinese are more or less the investors..and ofcourse there is an interest rate on their loans...
The thing is government just did what any sane economist and investor will do by working solely on Lagos to Maradi line...it is the lunatics and tribal bigot amongst us are consigned about which region get the rail first...and am glad amaechi and the government are not moved by such dull reasoning...the Lagos Maradi route remains the only viable line..
.
On the part of private investors..lol..where are u gonna see investors that will be willing to pay 5.6bn dollars ooo to complete the remaining portion of Lagos to Kano...so the best thing is seek for loans and invest it in viable projects...

omohayek:

All of this "east vs north" speculation is pointless, and only illustrates why this would have been best left to profit-seeking investors. The point of allowing the private-sector to fund and build the rail lines is that unlike you and everyone else on here, they'll be motivated to do the due diligence to learn where the market truly is rather than indulging tribal sentiments, because they'll be putting their own funds on the line: investment banks, hedge funds and big companies like GE have no time or energy to waste on "Igbo vs Hausa" nonsense. If they make the bet that it's in one direction vs. another, and they turn out to be wrong, any resulting wahala will be between them and their bondholders and shareholders, instead of every Nigerian having to shoulder the burden of paying the loan.

Tekrify:
We are still in the same direction..
On the part of private investors..lol..where are u gonna see investors that will be willing to pay 5.6bn dollars ooo to complete the remaining portion of Lagos to Kano...so the best thing is seek for loans and invest it in viable projects...

One would think the part in bold above from you is where sensible people would concentrate their efforts: rather than going on a borrowing spree to fund investments private-sector operators consider too risky, why not make Nigeria into the kind of place they would feel comfortable investing not just $5.6 billion but even $56 billion? It's not as if this requires rocket science to figure out either, as the original article actually provides advice on what to do: abolish the opaque multi-tier currency regime, deregulate the economy (including removing all subsidies), privatize wherever possible and strengthen private property rights. These are all things which would be worth doing anyway, whether or not we are looking at the railways. No modern economy has ever been built mostly on Buhari-style massive borrowing.

It a valid point... question..did buhari not remove the subsidies on electricity and fuel... how did that sound to Nigerians... Lol.. the part in bold is very glaring...u see investors are not daft ...for example ..the lekki ikoyi link bridge cost 30 billion naira and was built by Investors....that bridge alone has the capacity to generate nearly 300bn in 30 years before the Lagos state government takes over it as part of the agreement...the story even if u do all those things u mentioned is very different for the rails... In government is taking 5.6bn to invest in the rail it will take more than a decade to recover the Complete money before u even think of making profit..that why rails most times are financed by government not investors cuz it not something an investor will recover his money in 3 years or so....
So borrowing loans with low interest rates and agreement of payments within 2 to 3 decades are the best ways of building such kind of infrastructure...if u want investors or private bodies to put in their money.. expect the price of ticket to be half of that of airlines cuz investors will want their money fast...this is basic economics...

Those steps above removing subsidies have no direct effect on the rail... that should be done on fuel import and electricity.. buhari has done that..this is why tony elumelu was able to confidently partner with the government for the taking over of some power plants with the hope that he what ever money his company (transcorp) invest they can get it quickly since the market willl be free from government interference.. the same thing with petroleum and Dangote is gonna profit from that too....

Why do u think we had no growth through out those years we ran on subsidies despite the fact that any investors knows that if he invest in power or petroleum refining he or she could have a monopoly...

Those are valid point but it not so applicable for the rails... like I gave an example on lekki ikoyi link bridge..let me give u another solid example...u see that Abuja Kaduna railine.jonathan borrowed 800 million dollars to build it...and the profit on that railline in a month when u remove the expenditure isn't up to 50 million naira oo...so if that 800 million dollars came from an investor..do u know how many years that investor is gonna wait till he recovers his capital?...
U see why it can't really work for rails So the terms associated with loans not just from a country but banks inclusively gives room to spread payment within decades as far as an agreement is reached.. such ideas of subsidies and all u said is best for power, transportation and roads... and it not a new thing In Nigeria... That is what allowed BRT to work in Lagos and lekki ikoyi bridge to be built and it is a similar thing that is financing the 2nd Niger bridge by NSIA..

omohayek:

One would think the part in bold above from you is where sensible people would concentrate their efforts: rather than going on a borrowing spree to fund investments private-sector operators consider too risky, why not make Nigeria into the kind of place they would feel comfortable investing not just $5.6 billion but even $56 billion? It's not as if this requires rocket science to figure out either, as the original article actually provides advice on what to do: abolish the opaque multi-tier currency regime, deregulate the economy (including removing all subsidies), privatize wherever possible and strengthen private property rights. These are all things which would be worth doing anyway, whether or not we are looking at the railways. No modern economy has ever been built mostly on Buhari-style massive borrowing.

All these so called economic analysts in most cases talk off ideas. Which private have the capacity to invest in rail in Nigeria. Even if they have, they will avoid it because it again have long time maturity life. Common NEPA has been concession to the private individuals since obasonjo time, yet we can not have light. If there is breakage anywhere, it is either the people around the area tax themselves or pressurise their politicians to fix it for them. The best they do is to collect bill and disconnect. Anything capital intensive, our privates avoid investment in it especially if it's long time recuperation period.
When Telecom came they easily did that because it's easier and has immediate effect on their investment.
They easiest way out apart from the easy way the government is doing now on rail would have been to invite the Chinese to it themselves. But many wouldn't subscribe to that too.
Nevertheless, are the rail rolling? Yes, they have started rolling. Borrowing to invest in capital projects or infrastructures like rail, road, etc is not wrong idea.

Vardanes2:
Well, the same old private sector hasn't been investing in rails

Let's be honest, railways needs a lot of money. And the truth is, we haven';t had the money we need. So, we take loans.


The problem is that the government isn't ready to get us off oil or get us off the kind of economy we run...selling raw materials and using the cash to import. We need the economy to be reformatted to being productive enough to give us the kind of revenue we need to avoid borrowing.



Yes, and the uncertainty is happening because the basis of our dolalr earning is oil, and when oil prices stay too low, as has been happening since 2014, CBN has no choice but to restrict dollar flows, or else we would end up being as broke as Zimbabwe.

Govts that dont have money go into PPP, not into loans. Its a very stupid idea

adenigga:


Source: https://m.punchng.com/News/FG-borrowing-to-fix-rail-is-wrong-priority-PwC-Tax-head

How can the environment be conducive with kidnappers, bandits, killer herdsmen, fraudsters & armed robbers all prawling about looking for who to devour. Only a lunatic or money miss road oyinbo will bring their money to invest here.

Absolutely correct.

Why not borrow to fix the electricity nationwide?

ProfAmaben:
Nigeria as a nation is finished, no thanks to the northerners that drained the country of it's entire resources during the military era. They have made sure that the country Nigeria would always be a laughing stock and they do this by always placing mediocrities in the public service and government offices.

As if that wasn't enough, they invented Boko Haram as a means of siphoning our Oyel money from the south. These northerners can destroy Switzerland or USA in a week if given the opportunity to govern such strong systems.

They keep breeding like rabbits just to keep winning elections since your democracy is based on numbers and not ability. The electoral college system of the US should be implemented here ASAP or better still, let's divide.

is your Governor a northerner?
Your senator nko
Rep?
Minister?
Lga chairman?

omohayek:

All of this "east vs north" speculation is pointless, and only illustrates why this would have been best left to profit-seeking investors. The point of allowing the private-sector to fund and build the rail lines is that unlike you and everyone else on here, they'll be motivated to do the due diligence to learn where the market truly is rather than indulging tribal sentiments, because they'll be putting their own funds on the line: investment banks, hedge funds and big companies like GE have no time or energy to waste on "Igbo vs Hausa" nonsense. If they make the bet that it's in one direction vs. another, and they turn out to be wrong, any resulting wahala will be between them and their bondholders and shareholders, instead of every Nigerian having to shoulder the burden of paying the loan.

Frankly speaking, I think the only reason why Buhari is developing the rail sector is that advanced economies have trains so Nigeria must do the same.

I don't see how these trains will ever be profitable.