₦airaland Forum

Aconomist:
If they construct Port Harcourt to Maiduguri before constructing Calabar to Lagos, we need a second civil war in this country. These rails are just subsidizing the north, they don't benefit the south.

The Calabar to Lagos is not a priority. We can use shipping and road to move goods between the East and West.

Lagos -Ibadan - Kano
Port Harcourt - Enugu- Maiduguri

Who forced him to become governor.

Akaujaa:
In this country, a certain former president took loans to pay salaries & today, you see him as a "hero". Here you see a president taking loans to build massive rail line infrastructures across the country & you think he's mortgaging the country to China. Many of you have criticized the cost of rail transportation but then forget that the loan taken to build those infrastructures must be repaid through same means.

Buhari didn't replace GEJ to continue GEJ's corrupt system of government.

It's been 6 years and we still continue with excuses why Buhari is a failure. How will Nigeria pay back the $5 billion debt, we can barely pay back our current debt with the fall in oil price and foreign remittance.

Even Iwealla wasn't that stupid to borrow in dollars, the majority of the loans were in the local currency. Buhari has devalued the Naira to the point that it's now too expensive to borrow in Naira at N500 to $1 dollar and still falling.

African Reliance on Foreign Debt is ‘Madness,’ Warns Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam

Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam says it is “madness” for African nations to rely on loans in foreign currencies to fund vital infrastructure including roads, power and clean water.

Lenders in African nations must instead find domestic savings to invest in local projects, said the Ivory Coast-born banker who took charge of Zurich-based Credit Suisse in June.

Mr. Thiam’s warning comes after countries on the continent where he was born sold $11 billion of foreign-currency bonds in 2013 and a further $8 billion last year, raising concerns among some analysts that a new debt crisis may be developing.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/african-reliance-on-foreign-debt-is-madness-says-credit-suisses-thiam-1444125696

rossoki:
That's exactly what the USA does, which is why they are the heaviest indebted nation on earth.

In return, they got a developed country.

Development is not free. Someone's gotta pay for it.

Are you serious?

The USA developed with local and international investment in its local currency. Where will Nigeria get the dollars to repay the debt?

How will Nigeria repay an $11 billion railway, who will use the railway poor Nigerian or poor farmers? Will Nigeria now have to introduce another rail subsidy like the fuel and electricity subsidies.

Nigeria should take foreign loans to complete the Ajaokuta Steel plant, build gold mines and repair the three refineries, the proceeds from these productive institutions can be channeled into building service infrastructures using local currency. Nigeria can export steel, refined oil, and gold.

African Reliance on Foreign Debt is ‘Madness,’ Warns Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam
Swiss bank’s CEO backs view that a new debt crisis could be developing in the region

Credit Suisse Group AG Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam says it is “madness” for African nations to rely on loans in foreign currencies to fund vital infrastructure including roads, power and clean water.

Lenders in African nations must instead find domestic savings to invest in local projects, said the Ivory Coast-born banker who took charge of Zurich-based Credit Suisse in June.

Mr. Thiam’s warning comes after countries on the continent where he was born sold $11 billion of foreign-currency bonds in 2013 and a further $8 billion last year, raising concerns among some analysts that a new debt crisis may be developing.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/african-reliance-on-foreign-debt-is-madness-says-credit-suisses-thiam-1444125696

Aconomist:
I already told you, the coastal rail will allow for easy export of products from Lagos (and Lekki Free trade Zone) to southern and eastern Nigeria. It would also facilitate the import of natural commodities such as palm oil from Benin, Coal from Enugu, LNG from the delta, etc.

Here is a GDP per capita map of Nigeria. Clearly a SW to SE rail would generate more economic impact.

Lagos can get natural gas via the West Africa Gas Pipeline, Lagos doesn't need coal, and palm oil can be shipped.

The only benefit from an East-West railway will be the industries in Eastern Nigeria. A Lagos to Kano railway will open up the North and reduce poverty.

Madness!

Building infrastructure with foreign currency loans.

yanabasee:
Why destroy it...

why not make better use of it and probably arrest the people involved?

Dummy (Olodo), why build an unauthorized bridge in a forest reservation.

Countries across the world are preserving their rainforest (A valuable asset) while stupid Nigerians are selling it off to Chinese. Do you want the South West to become another Niger Republic or Northern Nigeria?

They should lock you up for being stupid.

NGpatriot:
Gold and silver is not everybody's measure of success. A lot of successful people are sad and end up committing suicide.

Be happy with what you have in life.

So you will rather compare Nigeria with USA failure. Goodluck with Nigeria's future.

Typical Nigerians taking pleasure in comparing their failures with USA failures.

Why not compare Nigeria with USA success. Start with Medicare/Mediaid, section 8 housing, security, USA education systems, innovation, mass industrialisation, functioning airports and seaports, electricity, broadband and water supply.

AfonjaMuslim:

Dpharisee:
Not under this democratic dispensation

How many years has Nigeria been a democracy? All 260 ethnic groups will get their turn to destroy Nigeria,

Dpharisee:
Nothing wrong since SE and NE are yet to produce the president under this democratic dispensation

Abacha was from the NE

Ironsi was from the SE

RIP, to the young man.

COVID-19 is not a joke. Please protect yourself and keep safe.

Miracle1991:
you didn't vote for him, we that voted for him are proud of him. If you are not happy with him present yourself in 2023 so that you can solve the problems that Buhari failed to solve. Don't be a spectator that play more than the players.

You are the spectator, the fact that you admit that your faith is in Buhari. A man, that is a proven failure.

Miracle1991:
pls present your father to take over from buhari in 2023 so that we can have the best president we have been waiting for.

My father died last year, but as a man, he has more integrity and was a better leader than Buhari will ever be. This is Nigeria where the currency has gone from N180 to N500. Insecurity has increased, all three refineries are still comatose after 6 years.

Common man, what has changedd under Buhari, he was elected to solve problems

Oluwaseun2020:
people travel out to do dirty works they wont dare do in Nigeria. ...
You can be great in Nigeria. ...
Dangote wont trade Nigeria for any part of the world
Its the blessing of God that makes rich an adds no sorrow..

Underline the word no sorrow. ...

This is why Nigerians in Nigeria will never succeed, they want to win without sacrifice.


Nnamdi Azikwe washed dishes in the USA got a Ph.D. in Political science and became the first president of Nigeria.

In the 1990s, I washed dishes in the UK, cleaned carpets for wealthy homeowners, and wash the windows of public high schools. By the year 2003, I was running my own software company after acquiring three university degrees, BEng in Avionic, MSC in AI, and an MBA.

BTW, I came from an upper-middle-class family in Nigeria, I lived in VI Taslim Elias street, studied Agriculture Engr at UI until I dropped out after 2 years and move to the UK.

I wouldn't trade my life for Dangote and any Nigerian that has been part of the Oligarchy or state capture.

Eriokanmi:
Come back 15 years later and share your Canada experience with us young man . But when you come back, hope you'd not hide when you see your friends and mates you left behind Progress .

Nigeria is a land of opportunities to only those who have the inner eyes to see one. Nothing can ever make me take such a decision of relocating. If you want to go, bye-bye but you'd spot the difference in later years if you choose to remain there . Why not apply same spirit on developing yourself here? Go there for studies and come back with opportunities. I'd like to cite a few examples below on some of us who came back, against all odds.

1- I've been around the globe, even acquired certificates, up to 4 different ones and some training skills in amazing facilities. I came back with an opportunity which is seriously proferring solutions to our problems in Nigeria. No manager in the leading oil and gas company in Nigeria can match my worth...no be bragging matter. I don hobnob with world leaders, including Barack Obama. I'd have regretted it, had I stayed back.

..

Nigeria is a land of failure.

I wouldn't sacrifice security, good schools, public healthcare, electricity, good roads to live in Nigeria for a salary of $1 million a year.

Poloyanabo2:
Sowore obviously knows the game he is playing, he isn't doing this for Nigerians, he knows that the more fame he gets before 2023 will make him more appealing and sellable to the masses if he eventually contests.

Nigerians are not doing anything for themselves.

Miracle1991:
when another person come let him do that. Had it been PDP focused on either human or infrastructure by now buhari would have focused on another thing.

Why is it always PDP vs APC. PDP = APC, let's focus on Nigeria, a country with more than 150 million living in extreme poverty. Buhari is a total failure, his policy has destroyed Nigeria.

Miracle1991:
This is what enemies of this country hate. They wish the money would have been shared among them instead of building the infrastructures.
God bless Buhari
God bless Nigeria

Invest in human capital first...education and healthcare.
Then invest in productive industries such as agriculture, refineries, and steel plants finally invest in rails.

Without the human capital who will maintain and use the railways....the unemployable youths that are now working as kidnappers, prostitutes, hoodlums, and militants.

Why not seize the hotel and hand it over to a school or homeless people.

Onuoha1234:
Absolutely correct! AGRICULTURE IS THE BASIS FOR ALL DEVELOPMENT. Do not allow the impotation any food item.It is imperative now that all Media in Nigeria will now mount regular education on alternative ways of preparing the various products we have in extraordinary abundance.Imagine all Europe relying on Irish Potato only as basic carbohydrate!

Not in 2020, you can sell refined petroleum products and import some of your food products.

The basis of development in industrialisation

I don't support Ganduje and I think that he is a vile and corrupt individual, but this is economic reality. Nigeria must slash the cost of government including the salaries of the government executives and NASS.

This needs to stop, why do we produce rulers with no vison or intellect. 70% of Nigerians are already involved in Agriculture with limited returns due to lack of infrastructure and human capital.

The emphasis should be on the industrialisation of Agriculture, steel and petrochemical

Nigeria must industrialize Agriculture, start supporting organizations such as Olam and modernise farming corporation.

I will like to see the government support the industrialisation of the oil industry in developing petrochemical cracker plants to produce Olefins (ethylene, propylene, and butadiene) and Aromatic.

What is the status of the Ajaokutal steel plant?

A stock exchange with a value of $30 billion!

Nigeria needs serious help.

Another Audio development.


The FG can help Innosson by completing the Ajaoukuta Steel plant and fixing the refineries.

IDENNAA:
I will respect a man who stole but used it to build social amenities than the one who stole and saved the billions in a foreign account. But , I dont suppprt looting and neither did I say Ifeanyi Ubah stole money.

I can never reduce my values to the point of respecting a thief!

I respect a man that worked hard for his wealth and invested it in the social well being of his community.

whizzler:
If all those that stole from the country can put them into use like this then who cares where they get the money from. Imagine we'll equipped hospitals like this in all wards of the country. Then some use the money to set up industries too

You are wrong in your assessment. An unrepentant thief can never improve Nigeria, the investment is just being used to carry favour from the electorate so that he can continue stealing.

tobtap:
government in naija have not manage anytin successfully... so i wud advocate privatizing the ports for efficient managements... govt have no business in business... E.G.. the port autority DG is from kaduna with no prior history in d maritime industry... it is bound to fail

Privatisation doesn't work in corrupt countries just look at the power sectors.

SehgateTeam:
Very simple solution but monsters on that road will never allow it to work since they feed on other peoples hard earn sweat.....

Simple solution to Apapa and Tincan port.

1. Decongest the port by providing other enabling port along the cost of Nigeria.

2. Channel rails to the port to bring in imports and process export on that same corridor.

3. Tell all port operators to have their bonded terminals at Ogun state where they can receive empty containers and train move it whenever they are set.

4. Get e-stickers for any export continer and plant automated gates Along the road to read the stickers and allow truck to pass. Trucks without stickers will be fine heavily.

For God sake how can economy grow when containers use 21-28days on the road that Is not up to 15km.

There should be urgent solution not visit upon visit.

You have highlighted very good Processes and Technology but with the right people nothing will change.

rabosh:
These guys should stop all these charade and playing to the gallery. The major problem is the sale of the Tin can island and Apapa wharf trailer parks to private companies by Olusegun Obasanjo. The trailer parks in these ports have been fully built up by these private companies leaving the trucks no options than to park on our highways.

How in the world will a sane government sell off the trailer parks attached to these ports? I’ve been to several west African countries with bustling ports and Lagos is the only place you have this madness.

This problem is going to linger till rapture unless a serious minded government creates alternative trailer park in these ports.

Diverting traffic to other ports will definitely help reduce the pressure but it won’t solve the major issue on ground.

Who bought the trailer parks?

The Financial Time (FT.COM) wrote an article on the chaos at the Apapa Port, this is following an editorial last week that
Nigeria is at risk of becoming a failed state.

Nigeria’s port crisis: the $4,000 charge to carry goods across Lagos
Congestion, bribery and storage costs add to problems for importers in Africa’s largest economy


The congestion at the port in Lagos has become so bad that it can cost more than $4,000 to truck a container 20km to the Nigerian mainland these days, almost as much as it costs to ship one 12,000 nautical miles from China.

A long-running crisis at the Apapa and Tin Can Island ports, the main commercial entry points into Africa’s largest economy, has been exacerbated by the pandemic-induced economic slump and recent unrest in Nigeria’s commercial capital. Dozens of ships idle at sea, while hundreds of trucks sit in traffic for days or weeks waiting to enter and exit the port.

“During the pandemic, there was a lockdown and then curfews, so dock labour couldn't resume work as scheduled. That lowered productivity and extended the long stays of the vessels,” said Otunba Kunle Folarin, chairman of the Nigerian Ports Consultative Council.

Around the world, the coronavirus pandemic has strained international supply chains and threatened to disrupt trade.

In Lagos, the port area is even more crowded at the busy year-end period, and the Seaport Terminal Operators Association estimates that the congestion costs the country $55m a day in lost economic activity.

Just days before the Africa Continental Free Trade Area agreement comes into effect, Nigerian businesses complain that higher costs make it hard for them to compete. “We all know that the congestion at the ports is bad for the economy,” said Jumoke Oduwole, head of the agency tasked with improving Nigeria’s business environment.

“The government has been talking about ease of doing business,” said Muda Yusuf, director-general of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “But if there is one sector where we have not felt the government effort . . . it's in the ports, where practically nothing has changed.”

The port’s capacity has not increased since 1997, even as Lagos’s population has roughly tripled. Nigeria imports a lot of raw materials and almost all finished goods, and the congestion is causing production delays for multinationals.

“There has been some progress on road improvements and some effort toward [speeding up] clearance of containers, but it has not been consistent or smooth,” said a senior executive at a multinational. “I can’t see it being fixed in the next 12 to 18 months.”

The average spot rate this year to ship a 20ft container from Shanghai to Lagos is about $3,000, according to Shanghai Containerized Freight Index data provided by Dutch shipping consultancy Dynamar, the equivalent of about $3,750 to $4,000 for a 40ft container. The current spot rate is $5,000. Cargo ships often wait more than a month off the coast before they can offload their goods in the port — roughly how long some spend in transit to Lagos from China. 

Increased congestion at the end of the year has pushed prices for the transport of goods to the mainland higher. Rather than pay lower rates for a truck that could take several weeks to enter the port, while accruing costly terminal container storage charges, most importers opt to pay spot prices to fleet operators, which charge N1.5m ($3,953) to drive a 40ft container from Tin Can to warehouses within Lagos, according to senior executives at logistics firms. Apapa is cheaper at the moment, with current rates up to N700,000, in part because it is thought to be a better run.

That figure includes road access charges and bribes but does not include terminal or storage charges at the port, general costs — which can run into the tens of thousands of dollars — associated with ships parked at sea or money extorted by criminals and officials while trucks wait days in traffic jams.



The port congestion is caused by ageing infrastructure, meagre rail transport that forces 90 per cent of cargo to go by road and an almost complete lack of automation, which means every container must be physically inspected by customs officials. It has been compounded by increased sea traffic since the closure of the country’s land borders to combat smuggling last year.

Hadiza Bala Usman, head of the Nigerian Ports Authority, said the agency was working to speed things up. The NPA plans to digitise the processing of containers and has pressed terminal operators to invest more, including Dutch company APM Terminals, which announced an $80m upgrade to its Apapa facility this year.

One 35km stretch of road from the port is being refurbished by Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote’s construction company in return for a tax holiday. More companies are also using barges to move containers to bonded warehouses, where they can clear customs away from the port.

Other improvements are on the horizon. About 60km east of Lagos, the Singaporean food company Tolaram and China Harbour Engineering Company are building a $1.5bn deep seaport. But it is not expected to be completed until 2022.

In the meantime, the dysfunction in Lagos is allowing other west African ports, servicing far smaller markets, to eclipse Nigeria.

Lome, in Togo, is now the region’s busiest port, and cargo destined for Nigeria is increasingly offloaded or shipped via smaller vessels from ports in Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville. 

“Nigeria is definitely behind the curve,” said Darron Wadey, senior analyst at Dynamar. “What you’re seeing in Lagos . . . I can’t recall seeing anything like it anywhere else in the world.”

https://www.ft.com/content/a807f714-7542-4464-b359-b9bb35bdda10