Each time China, the main financier of Nigeria\u2019s rail line projects, advances loans to Nigeria for building rail lines, it pads the pocket of some powerful Nigerians directly or indirectly linked to the projects.<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how: It has been revealed that the monetary value of the projects had been grossly inflated by a cartel headed by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, with membership spread across the All Progressives Congress, APC, leadership and the Presidency.<\/p>\n
Nigeria has about three railway projects that she\u2019s yet to start construction work on. They include the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail line, Kano-Maradi \u00a0(Niger Republic) and then the Abuja-Warri rail line. But the projects are being delayed because China has not been forthcoming with more loans.<\/p>\n
A highly placed source in the Ministry of Transportation said the Chinese have shown displeasure at the huge inflation of the contracts by billions of naira.<\/p>\n
According to the source, when compared with how much the Chinese firms charge for the same projects in other African nations, it became obvious that some Nigerians have cashed in on the rail line project to steal public money in billions of naira.<\/p>\n
It could be recalled that on February 3, 2022, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved contracts worth $183.7 million for consultancy services for the supervision of the various railway projects in the country. This followed a memo presented to the FEC by Amaechi.<\/p>\n
While announcing the approval to the media, Amaechi said: \u201cMinistry of Transportation presented two memos and the first one has to do with the contract for consultancy services for the supervision of the various railway projects. Remember that we have about three railway projects that are yet to start construction and they include the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri, Kano-Maradi and then the Abuja-Warri.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the consultancy services, the following contractors were approved, with the total cost of $183.7 million: GIX Engineers Infrastructure Excellence\/Yaroso & Partnership Ltd, Core Consulting Engineering Plc. That\u2019s for Abuja to Warri.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the consultancy services for supervision of Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway, with branch lines to Bonny Deep Seaport and Port Harcourt Industrial Park, and, then, to Owerri, we have Kyari Consults SDMBHD\/Jamood Global Services Limited at $97.5 million. The first one is $38.4 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last one is consultancy services for the supervision of Kano-Katsina-Jibia-Maradi Rail-line to TEAM (Technics Engineering Architecture Marketing Nigeria Limited) and that is for $47,670,000 million. All of them are for a period of 36 months.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister confirmed that the federal government was abandoning the agreements signed with China on construction of railway in the country: \u201cActually, that is why there is a delay. We were waiting on the Chinese to give us the loans we applied for and till today they\u2019ve not replied. They kept delaying us \u2013 will the delay extend our tenure? The answer is no.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, it was understood that the Chinese stalled in advancing further loans because even the previous ones were over-inflated.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Chinese could not understand why similar projects, even the ones more sophisticated than the Nigerian rail lines costs so much in Nigeria but far less in other countries,\u201d our source said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow can you imagine a consultant being paid $47 and $97 million, then, $367 million, for 5 consultancy projects that are worth like $3-5 million. What should be $15m-$25m is getting $367 million.<\/p>\n