₦airaland Forum

Rem22:
To me,being in a train for good three and half hours from lagos to ibadan is a punishment. I'll rather go by road

When completed, we believe we can run Ibadan and Lagos in one hour, 30 minutes from Apapa if we do an average of 120 kilometres per hour.

budaatum:
Op, edit that title please! This is one where we all should be writing to our reps and senators to tell them what they ought to be doing since it seems they have not got a clue.

Lagos — Managing Director of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Engr. Fidet Okhiria, in this interview with Daily Trust, speaks on the ongoing railway modernization, and the free train service on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge corridor.

What was the response of commuters on the free train service declared on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge corridor which is still under construction?

When we started, the first day, we had four people and we had maybe one person from Ibadan. On the second day, it rose to 22, then 14 from Ibadan. On the third day, it went to 50 then 40 from Ibadan. And so we had to caution them. How come you are carrying 50 when you had 40 seats?

So right now we carry 40 passengers. In the week that followed, we have been carrying maximum and when I came now, I saw a lot of passengers on the ground waiting to board but we cannot allow them to sit because we want to maintain the standard set so that we don't return to where people will start climbing the roof again.

I think very soon, when more coaches come, more people would be able to enjoy the benefits free of charge for three months, then we will start commercial operations.

We are expecting a set of two DMUs (Diesel Multiple Units) made up of two coaches each, that's 16 coaches and we are not going to deploy all to this route. We will take one set to Abuja-Kaduna. Then we can now rationalise the other coaches same way. So it is presently on the high seas; we are expecting it by the end of the month or early January. Immediately it comes, we will commission it and deploy it for the trial runs.

Nigerians like good things and we can see from the enthusiasm and we appeal that they keep it and maintain it; that they don't misuse it so that it would last. And we will encourage the government to do more.

How do you control the crowd?

What we do is we have the manifest where people write their names and they are issued tickets and once it gets to the maximum seats available, it stops and they make sure that the security helps in guiding them and we appeal to our people to exercise patience. As we entered now, people forced themselves in, we had to insist that they come down because that is the only way to do it. If we encourage it today, tomorrow more would come.

We appeal to them to exercise patience with us. We have started. Six months ago, nobody thought there would be something like this. Now that we have started, it would continue to grow and we would try and get more coaches. The era of saying we would buy 10 coaches and wait for another 20 years, I think it is over. We would continue to add something every year, that's the only way to do it.

What does it cost to provide this free service?

Anywhere you do a new track it is necessary to do a trial run. Apart from getting the people adjust to using train, you still have to do your timing and scheduling of the train so that by the time you start commercial service, you properly get the timing. So it is also a part of the cost of construction.

Government is there to provide for the people and you can't cover the rail operation with naira and kobo but you cover it with the benefits accrued from having good logistics in the nation. So when the train is working well, the road congestion would go away. Annual maintenance cost on the road would also go down because the roads are always overused. So the rail is designed for heavy household load, frequent use as soon as you carry out the maintenance unlike the road. There is a limit the road can take.

Without good train service, the economy can never grow because it requires the train to move not just passengers but goods. And with train, you can time yourself. You can say, 'I want to leave by 4 o'clock and get there by 6'.

What is the distance we are running currently and what distance are we expected to get to Ibadan from Lagos at maximum capacity?

From Iju to Ibadan now, that is about 115 kilometres. From Ebute-Metta to Ibadan-Moniya is 156 kilometres or thereabouts. But if you carry it from Apapa, it is more than that. Since it is trial run, we are not running at our capacity because some construction works are still ongoing. When completed, we believe we can run Ibadan and Lagos in one hour, 30 minutes from Apapa if we do an average of 120 kilometres per hour.

Talking about track laying, it is in Lagos area that you have a lot of impediments but which have been largely resolved. But how far have you gone with the track laying from Iju to Apapa?

You can see that the formation is in place and the tracks can be laid within a month if the formation is in place.

After the trial run, you are expected to commercialize this service, what is the plan in place to make it efficient?

We are just running train, we have been doing that for years. The only thing is we have a modern train that can run faster, modern coaches that are more beautiful and relaxing as well as modern facilities. You have your monitor you can watch and a better seating arrangement. That is what is happening. There is modern signal and communication technique so that train monitoring and train control would be mostly by technology.

What about the online ticketing solution you have been working on because people want to avoid this issue of racketeering on the Abuja-Kaduna train?

Cuts-in: The so-called racketeering... The e-ticketing would be in place hopefully and we would just roll it in. We are pressing that the infrastructure required for control would be part of the station infrastructure that would be in place. We are not limiting the e-ticketing to Kaduna-Abuja, the solution we have is nationwide. We can now start configuring it by adding any new line you have.

Apart from that, other things have to be in place. You have to put a control system physically in place so that people don't jump on the train, they don't even get to the platform without tickets and people don't exit without the ticketing with the stations being controlled and access is limited to those with the appropriate tickets. But that does not stop the physical buying of tickets. If you go to the airport, you still buy your ticket, you can buy through an agent, those things would be available. You can also get the tickets in a supermarket.

What is the update on Itakpe-Warri?

Itakpe-Warri is being done. You know we had broken rails which are being done by the contractor. What we do now is the train runs between Warri and Agbor. Where we have problem is between Ajaokuta and Itakpe and we have two coaches there now because we moved some of the coaches to Abuja-Kaduna when the pressure was too much. When the new coaches come, we will re-strategise and go commercial on Warri-Itakpe, by then the stations they are building would have been completed.

On the planned resumption of the narrow gauge operation from Lagos to Kano, what have you done on the maintenance of the tracks having used it for this long?

We have sent the district engineers to ensure the tracks are in good condition before then. The CCECC has worked on areas where we have major washout. We are just waiting for the Lagos area to be okay so that the locomotives can come out.

Can we safely say that train operation is back in Nigeria after going moribund for years? What does this portend for our country and how do you feel as the man in charge at a time we are experiencing railway modernization?

We say thank God that it is happening in our time, not just me but you and other people. As I tell people, you need to do it now so that you have more people enjoying it. I am not a financial person, people say we are borrowing. If you borrow and use it well, because those things are relevant things you must do, why not do it? If you do it now, people will enjoy it and people yet unborn are not coming to repeat it, you have done it. So if you borrow and put the infrastructure in place and you are now paying but you have started enjoying what you have put in place, that is the way I look at it. It is better we expand as fast as possible and as far as the money is judiciously used and not being squandered.

You can imagine the standard gauge getting to Kano?

People will live longer because they would travel with peace of mind. If I am going on the road now, I will become an assistant driver whether I am sitting at the back or I am sitting at the front. The time the driver holds brake, I will also join to hold brake but here I am relaxed. That is the beauty of train and you are seeing what is happening, development is springing up all over the place. You see buildings coming up, structures coming up and it is an interesting thing to have this type of thing in place. You can remember how this place was during construction, this place was like a bush area. It is a good thing.

Where do you see railway in the next five years with the various projects that are ongoing?

We still need to do more and people should appreciate what the government is doing. It is for us. I don't think the President is coming to ride the train, we should try and maintain it and keep it. Government property is for us. It is only when we change our attitude and try to maintain government things and if we see somebody trying to vandalize or spoil it, we apprehend him, advise him and talk to him... Imagine if you have trains like this every 30 minutes, people would enjoy Lagos more because the population will reduce and the economy will still grow and people would be encouraged to do more things.

I believe the rail is the way to go in terms of mass movement of both persons and goods. I think we should all put our hands to protect what we have done. So I see Nigerian railway under this condition growing bigger because by the time we get to Abuja, people now continue to appreciate that if we have a working rail, life will be better.

How much do we need to cover the whole of Nigeria?

To cover Nigeria, you would be talking about over $36bn. There is nowhere we would have such money before. Like my former governor, late Ambrose Alli, used to say, 'money can never be enough.' When he was young the father was looking for money, when he became governor, government is still looking for money. So you just do what you can do to make the people happy because after God is government. So government provides everything free - health, water even food, it is just for human beings to organize it and who is to organize it, it is government, to make the people comfortable.

It is when people are comfortable that we can talk about people making contributions to government. Everybody cannot be in power but in your little way you can contribute.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Ita Enang, said the federal government has requested funding support from SuKuk bond to finance the completion of Calabar-Itu highway.

Mr Enang, who was fielding questions from journalists, in Uyo on Friday, said this would be through the Debt Management Office and other multilateral sources to enable it finance the Calabar-Itu road project.

The presidential aide said he had personally written to the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Works and Housing to assist the project with loan from the SuKuk bond.

“Right now we are looking at multilateral sources of funding the road.

“I have written and I am requesting for funding support from the ministries, from the SuKuk bond through the Debt Management Office, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Works and Housing to help the road with loan from the SuKuk bond.

“SuKuk bond is one of the avenues of funding major projects and it is from there that a N100 billion was raised to finance Abuja-Lokoja road project and some other projects in the country. So, I have requested for funding from that window,” Mr Enang said.

The presidential aide added that government would ensure the completion of East-West Road as it had been captured in 2020 budget.

On the proposed nuclear plant in the state, Mr Enang urged Akwa Ibom people especially the Oku Iboku community to remain calm as the federal government would not do anything at the detriment of the people.

He said the project was on preliminary stage to sensitise the people on the benefits of nuclear plant over thermal and solar project.

He said the project was at Environmental Impact Assessment stage, adding that it will be after this stage that the federal government will know the next line of action.

Mr Enang said sensitisation did not mean the establishment of the nuclear plant in Oku Iboku, stressing that the federal government will continue to sensitise the people on the benefits of establishing nuclear plant in the state.

The New Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that last week, the Nigeria Atomic Energy Commission (NAEC) organised sensitisation campaign to address the benefits of nuclear energy.

The commission through its project Manager, Matthew Agu, had said there were numerous benefits of nuclear power plant in a locality.

He said nuclear energy is friendly, safe and cheapest than thermal and solar.

He added that nuclear energy was quite environmental friendly.

“The nuclear power energy industry plays an important role in the socio-economic growth of the country.

“This ranges from job creation, provision of basic amenities to generation of substantial domestic economic value in electricity sales and revenue.

“A recent analysis has found that nuclear power plants create some of the largest economic benefits compared to other electric generating technologies due to their size and number of workers needed for the operation of the plants.

“Operation of nuclear plant requires 800 to 1, 200 direct permanent jobs per reactor,’’ Mr Agu said.

He, however, said the challenge confronting the establishment of nuclear plant in spite of the numerous benefits was people acceptance.

(NAN)

However, the statement indicated that Ghana opposed plans to keep the eco pegged to the euro, urging regional authorities to work quickly toward "adopting a flexible exchange rate regime".

On April 20, 2000, in Accra, Ghana, the leaders of six West African countries declared their intention to proceed to monetary union among the non-CFA franc countries of the region by January 2003, as a first step toward a wider monetary union including all the ECOWAS countries in 2004.

source

The meeting was attended by three heads of state, Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, Jerry Rawlings of Ghana, and Lansana Conté of Guinea, as well as representatives from Liberia, Sierra Leone, and The Gambia. Cape Verde, the remaining non-CFA ECOWAS member, has a currency peg to the euro with the support of Portugal, and was not a signatory of the "Accra Declaration on a Second Monetary Zone."

source

The four primary criteria to be achieved by each member country are: a single-digit inflation rate at the end of each year; a fiscal deficit of no more than four per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP); a central bank deficit-financing of no more than 10 per cent of the previous year's tax revenue, and gross external reserves that can give import cover for a minimum of three months.

Source

ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ghana's government said it is determined to join a West African currency that will replace the France-backed CFA franc as soon as next year in eight regional countries, but it urged members of the currency union to ditch a planned peg to the euro.

Ghana's adoption of the new currency, which is called the eco, would make it the bloc's largest economy, ahead of neighbour Ivory Coast.

Ghana is not part of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) of mostly former French colonies that uses the CFA franc and has its own currency, the cedi.

Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara and French President Emmanuel Macron announced this month that West Africa's monetary union had agreed to cut some financial links with Paris that have underpinned the region's common currency since its creation soon after World War Two.

Under the deal, African countries in the bloc will not have to keep half of their reserves in the French Treasury and a French representative will no longer sit on the currency union's board.

"We, in Ghana, are determined to do whatever we can to enable us (to) join the Member States of UEMOA, soon, in the use of the eco, as, we believe, it will help remove trade and monetary barriers," President Nana Akufo-Addo's office said in a statement.

However, the statement indicated that Ghana opposed plans to keep the eco pegged to the euro, urging regional authorities to work quickly toward "adopting a flexible exchange rate regime".

The countries due to change from the CFA franc to the eco are Benin, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo - all former French colonies except Guinea-Bissau.

The group is aiming to have the new currency up and running by the end of 2020.

Comptroller general of Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS), Muhammad Babandede yesterday declared that foreigners whose biometrics have not being registered will be deported from Nigeria after January 15 2020 deadline.

Babandede who made the disclosure at the graduation ceremony of 529 officers held at the Immigration Training School in Kano State, assured that millions of illegal immigrants would be deported after the six months amnesty period elapses for them to have their data registered.

He noted that while the law allows for immigrants to be registered on arrival into the country, President Muhammadu Buhari gave a six months amnesty for all foreigners to be freely registered.

He said, “People are registering and anybody who overstayed in Nigeria could register again, and be forgiven for that overstay, you start a fresh life and you will be considered for a new application  for stay in Nigeria”.

The comptroller added that “as from January 15, 2020, anybody who has not registered would be penalised and the penalty simply means removal.”

Babandede said the service aims to encourage foreigners to quickly register and save themselves from the embarrassment of deportation as well as being charged to court for other offences.

Speaking on drug test for personnel, Babandede said the service will soon commence the testing of all its staff starting with himself to show the seriousness of the program.

He stressed that as a paramilitary outfit empowered by law to carry arms, the service cannot afford to allow its personnel carry arms without being properly tested for drug abuse as part of measures to avoid harm to innocent Nigerians.

“Amongst our personnel, anybody that is found to have drugs in his blood, will be rehabilitated. We will guide him on how to make a good living, after which we will conduct another test. By the time we do three tests and there is no change it means he cannot work with us.

“The first test we intend to carry out will be on high blood Pressure. If you are one with that problem it means we can’t give you weapons. You can’t have contact with ammunition. This is very important in terms of national security, government cannot buy weapons against its citizens” he declared.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) says the corporation would soon introduce e-ticketing for train services across the country.

Fidet Okhiria, the NRC Managing Director, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Abuja that the processes involving the commencement of the e-ticket platform were at its final stage.

“The e-ticketing has gone to advanced stage, the process is on, we are just at the final stage of getting the necessary approval for them to be deployed.

“It has passed through ICPC, BPE, we hope very soon it will kick-off. I can’t give the time exactly when it will start but the FEC will decide,” he explained.

According to Mr Okhiria, the e-ticket will be sold at various designated places and platforms to enable people to access tickets easily with fewer hurdles.

He said: ”It can be sold through phones and in designated outlets hence there will be franchising and it will still be sold at the stations.”

He said measures were in place to ensure the e-ticketing for the country’s train line meets international standard.

Mr Okhiria said the e-ticketing platform would not only guarantee orderliness in purchasing of tickets but would address some major security challenges.

Besides, he said that the e-ticketing would ensure the database of all passengers boarding the train were captured in case of emergencies. (NAN)

“The African continent is a place where global competitors like Russia and China are actively competing, and looking to become great.”

The Pentagon is considering significantly cutting back its U.S. presence in West Africa, according to a new report.

U.S. troops in Africa have focused on defeating Islamic State and al-Qaida-linked militants such as al-Shabab. But several hundred U.S. troops in Niger, Chad and Mali are most likely to be pulled from the region as part of the Pentagon’s plan, the New York Times reports, citing officials familiar with the internal discussions.

In particular, reduction options on the table include vacating Nigerien Air Base 201, which just became operational in November and cost $110 million. U.S. Africa Command announced last month that intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations previously conducted out of a base in Niamey, Niger, are now being conducted out of Nigerien Air Base 201 in Agadez.

Likewise, U.S. officials claim another possibility being considered is eliminating assistance to French forces in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, a possibility the Times reported has taken aback U.S. allies in the region like France, which has approximately 4,500 troops in West Africa.

A potential reduction — or total withdrawal — is reportedly part of a larger examination the Pentagon is conducting to re-evaluate global deployments while it looks to redirect forces from counterterrorism efforts so that it can better counter aggression by China and Russia.

The Times reports Congress’ input hasn’t been requested, and that the Pentagon is taking the lead on a potential drawdown. Additionally, the Pentagon has reportedly instructed AFRICOM to craft a withdrawal and troop redeployment plan by January.

AFRICOM referred Military Times to the Pentagon when asked for comment about future force decisions.

“We aren’t going to speculate on future force postures," a Pentagon spokesperson told Military Times.

However, AFRICOM spokesman Air Force Col. Chris Karns told Military Times that AFRICOM was committed to conducting its assigned missions and would continue to “maximize results with its assigned forces.”

“As part of an international effort, U.S. Africa Command continues to address threats presented by ISIS and al-Qaeda aligned groups, such as al-Shabaab, confronting malign activity on the continent with a force footprint that delivers great value for America,” Karns said. “The African continent is a place where global competitors like Russia and China are actively competing, and looking to become great.”

Karns added that continued international efforts in Africa are blocking threats in the region from growing.

According to officials who spoke to the Times, redistributing troops from West Africa is part of a first wave of drawdowns. Officials anticipate subsequent reductions in Latin America, along with Iraq and Afghanistan.

The report comes as Esper has signaled the Pentagon is considering modifying U.S. troop presence in various areas of operations. Esper has also consistently reiterated that China is the Pentagon’s top priority, as detailed in the National Defense Strategy.

“We’ve begun a review process where I’m looking at every theater, understanding what the requirements are that we set out for, making sure we’re as efficient as possible with our forces,” Esper told reporters Dec. 6.

Specifically, he has discussed reorganizing U.S. troops in the Central Command area of operations and said he was interested in cutting back forces in Afghanistan so they can be relocated to the Indo-Pacific region.

“I would like to go down to a lower number because I want to either bring those troops home, so they can refit and retrain for other missions or/and be redeployed to the Indo-Pacific to face off our greatest challenge in terms of the great power competition, that’s vis-a-vis China,” Esper told reporters Dec. 16.

There are approximately 13,000 U.S. troops stationed in Afghanistan, and slightly over 6,000 Department of Defense troops on the African continent

He further stated that by June next year,the state government would deliver 10, 000 conference seaters complex in Awka,the Anambra state capital.

We have paid our workers' salaries till date, while states like Abia state is owing workers 8 and half months salaries and Kogi state owing workers 14months, but Anambra state government has paid December 2019 salary to workers and their leaves allowances" he said.

OgunLaakaye:
Audio Aiport

By Titus Eleweke Awka

National chairman of All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Victor Oye has given hint that the Anambra state international airport,Imueri would be delivered in 15 months time.

Oye gave the assurance on Tuesday during an empowerment programme organised by majority leader of Anambra State House Assembly Hon. Nnamdi Okafor ,where over 500 people received various items in Awka, Anambra state.

The APGA national chairman said that the airport would be bigger than Lagos international airport by .8 kilometres.

According to him, the international airport would be 3.8 kilometres, bigger than Lagos airport which is 3 kilometres.

"We decided to add the. 8 killomtres to make it one of the best in the world. The tarmac will be better than Chicago airport in America" he said.

He further stated that by June next year,the state government would deliver 10, 000 conference seaters complex in Awka,the Anambra state capital.

According to him, the complex would have have all convinces necessary to enable Anambra people to relax, especially during festive period.

He also said that APGA lead government in the state has paid December by 15 and had also paid leave allowances to workers .

This, he said was in the spirit of the party cardinal principles to be people oriented government.

"The Anambra state government is doing well and that is the spirit of APGA. We have paid our workers' salaries till date, while states like Abia state is owing workers 8 and half months salaries and Kogi state owing workers 14months, but Anambra state government has paid December 2019 salary to workers and their leaves allowances" he said.

panafrican:
Paul Bya 's endless tenure is not an issue to English speaking people in Cameroon only, it is also an issue to French speaking people.
So why separate?
Do you want those crooked international weapons smugglers to become rich again on African people's blood ?

Remember Katanga with Moise Tshombe' in the Congo

panafrican:
Independence for what ? because you speak English and other people are speaking French ? What a dumb move!
Make a country trilingual ( French, English and Bamileke or another native language ) and move on .

The roots of Cameroonian English speakers’ grievances go back a century to the League of Nations’ decision to split the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors at the end of World War One.

“The Anglophones, even the moderate ones, want a federal state. This law is not the result of a dialogue.. we were against it,” he said.

“We want independence and nothing else,” said Ivo Tapang, a spokesman for 13 armed groups called the Contender Forces of Ambazonia.

Armed separatist movements in Cameroon have dismissed the approval of a spacial status to Anglophone regions by the country’s parliament, insisting that only independence would satisfy them.

Parliament on Friday granted special status to the North West and South West English-speaking regions to try to calm a separatist insurgency that has killed 2,000 people.

The law, passed in a special session of parliament, says the Anglophone regions “benefit from a special status founded on their linguistic particularity and historic heritage”.

We want independence and nothing else.

It mentioned schools and the judiciary system as part of the special status — a delayed response to protests in 2016 by teachers and lawyers.

Conflict between Cameroon’s army and English-speaking militias seeking to form a breakaway state called Ambazonia began after the government cracked down violently on peaceful protesters complaining of being marginalised by the French-speaking majority.

The insurgency has forced half a million people to flee and presented President Paul Biya with his biggest threat in nearly 40 years of rule.

“This is a law unique in the world,” said senator Samuel Obam Assam, from the ruling Cameroon People’s Democratic Movement, the majority group in the Senate. “It is an answer to our fellow countrymen’s concerns.”

But Jean-Michel Nintcheu, a congressman from the main opposition party, said he did not believe the law would solve the crisis.

“The Anglophones, even the moderate ones, want a federal state. This law is not the result of a dialogue.. we were against it,” he said.

The reforms were recommended at the end of national talks organised by Biya in October to chart a way out of the conflict.

But separatists boycotted that dialogue, saying they would negotiate only if the government released all political prisoners and withdrew the military from the Northwest and Southwest.

“We want independence and nothing else,” said Ivo Tapang, a spokesman for 13 armed groups called the Contender Forces of Ambazonia.

He said the special status made no difference as no law passed in the Cameroonian parliament should be imposed in Ambazonia.

The roots of Cameroonian English speakers’ grievances go back a century to the League of Nations’ decision to split the former German colony of Kamerun between the allied French and British victors at the end of World War One.

REUTERS

SamuelAnyawu:
I'll comment on this as soneone working here in Lake Chad basin precisely Monguno for 2years now.
Brb

The IBB erosion issue is not an issue the state government can deal with because it runs into over N30 billion as at last estimate. World Bank has been here, seen the design and made consultation. World Bank is passionate about assisting and we will put down our counterpart funding.

Firstly, to acquire the right to use the brand name because the name Four Point by Sheraton was illegally written on the hotel. With contact and dialogue with the owner of the brand it cost the present government $7.2million to acquire the brand name.

panafrican:
If you ignored the history of CFA Franc since it was enacted by De Gaulle in 1945 , then linking French military bases to France's control over former French colonies would be irrelevant.
None of the former colonies were given the freedom to choose. Guinea for instance was the victim of blackmails, embargos and military coups engineered by France from the late 1950s through mid 1970s .
In Mali, Modibo Keita was overthrown after refusing to his country be a part of CFA Franc zone. This was in 1969.
In Togo , Olympio was brutally assassinated by former French Army vets , the cover up was Olympio refused to enlist them in the army.

The Defence Headquarters (DHQ) has denied the presence of Boko Haram and Islamic State for West African Province (ISWAP) terrorists in any part of Nigeria.