₦airaland Forum

MrsRighteousness:
The true gospel is the message of good news about the coming Kingdom of God. It is a message of hope—for this entire world and for you and your family. It is the message that God is building a family that will soon rule the entire earth, bringing peace and happiness.

The established Christian churches have lost that true gospel message. Discern magazine and the Life, Hope & Truth website exist to continue the proclamation of the true gospel. Even though we are a minority voice in the world of religion, we are dedicated to teaching the same message that Jesus Christ taught.

We try to spread Jesus’ gospel message about the Kingdom of God as far and wide as possible. We want to help as many people as possible adopt Jesus’ message as the central focus of their lives. Seeking first the Kingdom of God can change your life in many way

deepwater:
You are a fool
You brought hardship into this country by closing that border.
People moved from givers to beggars after that border closure. What did it profit anyone?

Shut up, u are scared that rice will get to 50k per bag by December 2020. That is y u want to bring rice through the border, Shane on u

MrsRighteousness:
The true gospel is the message of good news about the coming Kingdom of God. It is a message of hope—for this entire world and for you and your family. It is the message that God is building a family that will soon rule the entire earth, bringing peace and happiness.

The established Christian churches have lost that true gospel message. Discern magazine and the Life, Hope & Truth website exist to continue the proclamation of the true gospel. Even though we are a minority voice in the world of religion, we are dedicated to teaching the same message that Jesus Christ taught.

We try to spread Jesus’ gospel message about the Kingdom of God as far and wide as possible. We want to help as many people as possible adopt Jesus’ message as the central focus of their lives. Seeking first the Kingdom of God can change your life in many way

MrsRighteousness:
The true gospel is the message of good news about the coming Kingdom of God. It is a message of hope—for this entire world and for you and your family. It is the message that God is building a family that will soon rule the entire earth, bringing peace and happiness.

The established Christian churches have lost that true gospel message. Discern magazine and the Life, Hope & Truth website exist to continue the proclamation of the true gospel. Even though we are a minority voice in the world of religion, we are dedicated to teaching the same message that Jesus Christ taught.

We try to spread Jesus’ gospel message about the Kingdom of God as far and wide as possible. We want to help as many people as possible adopt Jesus’ message as the central focus of their lives. Seeking first the Kingdom of God can change your life in many way

adolfHitler1934:
What difference has it made since the closure other than untold hardship here in Nigeria and humiliation by Ghana and other tiny West African countries.

This government does not have any economic policy as they didn't prepare before grabbing power which was their major target.

adolfHitler1934:
What difference has it made since the closure other than untold hardship here in Nigeria and humiliation by Ghana and other tiny West African countries.

This government does not have any economic policy as they didn't prepare before grabbing power which was their major target.

dave234:
Do you do anything with border,and are you buy something from labouring countries you are not,better shut your mouth if you don't know anything about government policy, better make good thing for your life and stop criticizing your government.

DonMekino:
Nigerian railway to Maradi in Niger Republic? No way!
Nigerian railway to Maradi in Niger Republic? No way!

*JANUARY 8, 2018*
By Ochereome Nnanna

For some reasons unknown to me, Nigerians are no longer paying attention to things that matter about the way they are being ruled. They no longer pay attention to some of the things their rulers say. Otherwise, a strange item in President Muhammadu Buhari’s New Year Day speech should have brought millions of Nigerians to the streets in angry protests.

When first I listened to the President making that speech I could not believe my ears. So I had to wait until the mainstream media published the full text of the speech, and there it was in cold print: “Negotiations are also advanced for the construction of other railway lines, firstly from Kano to Maradi in Niger Republic passing through Kazaure, Daura, Katsina, Jibia to Maradi”.

Maradi is the third largest city in Niger Republic with a predominant Hausa/Fulani population. It is about an hour’s drive through a bumpy road from Jibia, the border town near Buhari’s hometown, Daura, in Katsina State. When I went to cover the 2007 presidential election in which Buhari ran on the All Nigerian People’s Party, ANPP, in 2007 and the late President Umaru Yar’ Adua of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, I had joined a team of journalists that went to Daura to visit Buhari for an interview. We also monitored the election in Jibia, which is a border town with Niger.

I realised how easy it was for people from the two countries to cross the rickety border post manned by a man dressed virtually in rags. He only smiled when we decided to set foot on Niger Republic soil. Indeed, it may interest Nigerians to know that Daura Emirate stretches deep into Maradi and Zinder Departments in Niger Republic. During the 2015 election, there were reports of thousands of people from Niger Republic crossing the porous borders to vote in an election that was none of the business of their country. In the far North Nigerian electoral officials hardly ask questions about the eligibility of voters. That is why you see millions of under-aged voters voting, and at the end the polls are declared “free and fair”.

Once Buhari achieved his life’s ambition of matching Olusegun Obasanjo’s feat as a former military ruler who became an elected President of Nigeria, his visit to Niger Republic became the first of the 22 foreign trips he made within 11 months before he was slowed down by ill-health. He was received by the President and people of Niger like a triumphant son back from the battlefield. Niger Republic President, Mahamadou Issoufou, gave him a white horse and a golden sword. In fact, Issoufou, in 2016, emblazoned Buhari’s photograph beside his own on vehicles during political campaigns.

I went into all this to let you know that the planned new Nigerian railway network from Kano through Daura and Jibia to Maradi in Niger Republic is a selfish project that has nothing to do with other Nigerians like you and me. Even though a president’s oath of office indicates: “….that I will not allow my personal interest to influence my official conducts or my official decisions…”, Nigerian presidents and governors brazenly disregard their oaths of office and oaths of allegiance and divert the state’s or nation’s resources to their pockets, and after that, to massively develop the infrastructures of their hometowns no matter how remote such places are.

For me, if Buhari had merely sought to connect his hometown, Daura, and even Jibia to the new national railway network, I would not have minded it too much, though it violates the principle of economic viability and bankability, which the largely borrowed funds will emphasise in order that we repay the debts in good time. The same logic that led the British colonialists to pass the Eastern rail line through Eha Amufu in today’s Enugu State and terminate it at Nguru in today’s Yobe State and pass the Western line through Kaura Namoda in today’s Zamfara State can also be adduced to extend the new rail network through Daura to Jibia, even if a president did not hail from there.

The offensive aspect is extending the railway 55 kilometres into a foreign land just because the President considers the region as part of his hometown.

When the Minister of Transport, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, was called upon by critics of this unviable extension of our railway to defend it, his response was vacuous and of very little use as a justification. By the way, the proposed new rail addition from Kano through Kazaure, Daura and Jibia to Maradi covers a whopping distance of 806 kilometres, which is more than the distance from Lagos to Abuja (779km) and Lagos to Calabar (770km). It is important for Nigerians to know the scale of the rail line and the amount of borrowed and oil money we are going to dump on this aspect of the project just to gratify the personal whims of the President.

Hear the Minister: “We realised that we had competitors for our landlocked neighbours, competitors like Ghana, Togo and even Benin Republic. Our landlocked neighbours are importing through these countries because we don’t have rail lines that go to them. So, to address the situation Mr President approved a rail line that will go to Maradi in Niger. But that rail line which will come from Kano to Maradi in Niger must pass through some cities. So the rail line passes through Kazaure, and then Daura before proceeding to Jibia and then Maradi”.

The questions the President and the Minister should answer are: Did “our competitors” like Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic build rail lines into Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali and thus stole the “competition” from Nigeria? The answer, obviously, is no. Secondly, why don’t we also extend the favour to Chad and Burkina Faso if indeed we need their patronage? Thirdly, what “competition” is Amaechi referring to? How much do Ghana, Togo and Benin Republic make from imports that our landlocked neighbours route through their countries that makes it enviable which Nigeria should scramble to snatch?

It would be a different ball game if Nigeria and Niger Republic signed a memorandum of understanding to share the cost of the rail line, each country taking the financial responsibility to build the lines that run through their respective territorial jurisdictions.

One thing Nigerians must never forget is that we are borrowing heavily from China, Europe and the Breton-Wood institutions to build our standard gauge railway network. Repayment for the loans which outlay is not available to me at this moment will span decades. Most of us will be gone from the surface of the earth while the repayment will devolve to our children and possibly their children.

This is why we must never keep silent when the ruling party and leaders so brazenly violate the nation’s interests and abuse their offices by throwing projects from these loans into unviable remote hamlets, including hamlets in a foreign country that happens to be a part of their hometown.

I am very sure that our National Assembly, especially the very responsive Senate, will thoroughly examine this railway plan and its funding and protect the interests of all Nigerians, including those of their future generations. Sanitising the implementation of this railway plan will be a prime opportunity to prove that this country belongs to all of us. Nobody, no matter how highly placed, will be allowed to take what belongs to all of us for himself and his kinsmen alone.

We are in a democracy, not a military autocracy. Even if we must accommodate Daura and Jibia to make Buhari happy, the rail line must NEVER be extended an inch into a foreign soil.

copied

TheRareGem1:
https://punchng.com/we-hope-to-reopen-land-borders-soon-osinbajo/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1601165457

paulolee:
borders still closed?? maybe he means the border used in transportating or bringing in market products "officially" because my uncle av been making trade with his brother in togo through our borders...
maybe border get different types shaa...

TheRareGem1:
https://punchng.com/we-hope-to-reopen-land-borders-soon-osinbajo/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1601165457

deepwater:
You are a fool
You brought hardship into this country by closing that border.
People moved from givers to beggars after that border closure. What did it profit anyone?

Shut up, u are scared that rice will get to 50k per bag by December 2020. That is y u want to bring rice through the border, Shane on u

okefrancis:
Guy this is for the benefits of all

Digitalstarlite:
Dis VP is always showing us d road map and not showing us d road

SLAP44:


An not sure your president will agree. Now that the north are the import entry point for foreign rice and other goods?

The VP is from the south west and so will want the borders opened because his people are losing taxes and illegal smuggling profit.

The ruling cabal will want the southern borders closed so that their own people in the north will enjoy what the SW has been enjoying since independence.

It's a power play really.

Demystification of Lagos State

Then disarm Tinubu

Power well played

TheRareGem1:
https://punchng.com/we-hope-to-reopen-land-borders-soon-osinbajo/?utm_term=Autofeed&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1601165457

pantigha2:
Hmmm... Nice

SILVERLINES:
Crazy government

Open schools first, children are desperate to return back to schools