[Opinion] Kano to Maradi Pan African Railway by Manni Ochugboju

When in his 2018, New Year broadcast, President Muhammadu Buhari announced that, “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.” The mass hysteria, criticisms, misrepresentations, allegation of tribalism arising therefrom has continued, unabated, to date. The clumsy insufficient defence of the Presidential spoke’s person stoked the fire of outrage and petty politicisation of the project even further.

Time was when, the construction of a railway line, from Zambia to Tanzania, was hailed in Africa, and within the global progressive community as a revolutionary, liberating expression of Pan Africanism.

The 1865 km TAZARA railway, (also called the Uhuru Railway) was built by the Chinese between 1970 and 1975, and officially commissioned in July 1976. It relieved the newly independent land locked Zambia’s access to the sea, from the asphyxiating chokehold of the then apartheid Southern Rhodisa and South Africa. To date, the Uhuru Railway continues to be a veritable template of visionary, bilateral and sub-regional transport infrastructure integration.

While the Uhuru Railway line between Zambia and Tanzania stirred up passionate discussions and debates on the exposition of Pan Africanism, mitigating neo-colonialism, racism, promotion of socialism, and solidarity between African countries and China. The Kano to Maradi railway line, has stirred up a hornet’s nest of brouhaha on, primordial tribal allegiance, crony capitalism, misplaced priorities and a litany of faux pas from the Presidency. With the Minister for Transportation’s voice conspicuously drowned out in all the rowdy commotion, allegations and counteraccusations.

A significant part of all that cacophony may have been avoided, if a consistent message of the concrete Pan African context of the Kano to Maradi railway line have been canvassed. The recent argument by the President, saying “I have cousins, family members, etc., in Niger Republic. I shouldn’t just cut them off,” is insensitive, untenable, and lends credence to allegations of a Fulani hegemonic agenda.

For over sixty years, that Pan Africanism continues to evolve as a liberating, empowering lodestar, it has mostly remained an orphaned ideology. Africans worldwide are quick to embrace assorted fundamentalism, European philosophy, culture, Arabic language, religion and other alien ideologies, vigorously propagate and protect them. But the very set of ideas and revolutionary vision, (whether bourgeois or socialist), which is about our collective economic and technological liberation, inclusive, sustainable development, security, and solidarity, we neglect, refuse or fail to uphold.

The bitter polemics and wishy-washy rationalisation of the Kano to Maradi railway line aside, it is and always will be, a commendable Pan African transportation policy initiative, to the credit of the Honourable Minister Mr Rotimi Amaechi, when he asserted, this project is “to promote regional integration”.

It is within the context of Pan Africanism, considering related African Union and ECOWAS railway policies, the inevitability and imperative of intra African rail connectivity, clarity of foresight, and the business case with its usual thirty years profitability projection, that properly rationalises the Kano to Maradi railway.

AFRICAN UNION HIGH SPEED RAILWAY

The African Union, seeks “an integrated, prosperous and peaceful Africa, driven by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the global arena.” Pan Africanism have transcended the OAU era in the late 70s and 80s, when its’ most visible expression was the annual jamboree of Heads of States at Addis Ababa. It is now largely propelled, through trade, institutional and infrastructure integration, standardisation, and other forms of cultural exchange.

The African Continental Free Trade Agreement is a top priority AU AGENDA 2063 programme, to accelerate intra-African trade and boost Africa’s trading position in the global market place. Which would be impracticable without an efficient intermodal transportation network. Rail transport is inevitably critical to supporting economic development and, unless this mode of transport is developed, Africa may not realise its full potential in exploiting its abundant natural resources and wealth.

Agenda 2063 encapsulates not only Africa’s aspirations for the future but also identifies key Flagship Programmes that can boost Africa’s economic development and deliver quantitative and qualitative transformational outcomes for Africa’s people.

The African Integrated High Speed Railway Network is one of the flagship projects of the African Union Agenda 2063. It basically aims at facilitating the achievement of the AU vision of integrating Africa institutionally, physically and economically.

The High Speed Railway Network intends, connecting African capitals and commercial centers, facilitating the movement of goods, factor services, people, reducing transport costs and relieving congestion of current and future systems through increased rail connectivity.

The initial target is the achievement of the first three objectives by 2033, namely: Interconnecting landlocked countries, connecting regions of Africa together and establishing Trans-Africa beltways.

The planned network will connect the 16 landlocked countries in Africa to major seaports and neighbouring countries. It will establish interoperability of railways across different regions, create East-West, North-South land-bridges and interconnect African capitals. This will enhance the interconnection of major commercial and economic hubs to boost economic growth and intra-African free trade, as well as complement the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The net impact of less connectivity is reduced intra-Africa trade, under-developed manufacturing, stunted agriculture and mineral extraction, increasing mass poverty, and deepening dependency on others for imports and exports. These and more are reasons why Africa is presently promoting railway revival across the economic blocs.

ECOWAS RAILWAY INITIATIVE

The Economic Community of West African States is planning to undertake the construction of the West Coast High Speed Rail project in West Africa.

The project involves the construction of a 1,178.84km railway line connecting Nigeria, Benin, Togo, Ghana and Cote’ D’ Voire. It includes the construction of administrative facilities, bridges, tunnels, tracks, signalling and safety systems, construction of stations in Cotonu, Lome, Accra, railway terminals in Abidjan and Seme / Badagry in Nigeria.

Furthermore, one of the integrative goals of ECOWAS is the development of an integrated railroad network. This includes the extension of railways in member countries, the interconnection of previously isolated railways and the standardisation of gauge, brakes, couplings, and other parameters.

Unlike in Southern Africa, where intra-regional rail networks are well developed and integrated, in West Africa the rail systems are mostly fragmented, disjointed and operate on three different rail gauges. Most francophone countries’ rails are 1,000 mm wide, Ghanaian and Nigerian rails are 1,067 mm wide, while Guinea and Liberia use the standard 1,435 mm width.

Landlocked Niger Republic depends on its neighbours’ seaports, rail and road infrastructure to move its exports and imports. Much of its international trade is conducted through Cotonou and Lomé seaports. The Kano to Maradi railway line, as the Honourable Minister Rotimi Amaechi noted, will attract a bulk of Niger Republic’s cargo traffic to Nigeria’s port.

Kano to Maradi is also expected to speed up transit times for freight and reduce the prices of consumer goods for Niger Republic, and even for Nigerians. Reduced cost of production will boost industrial, agricultural, mining activities, and economic growth of the connected countries.

KANO TO MARADI RAILWAY

The 248 km standard gauge route from Kano to Maradi will also serve Nigeria’s northern provinces of Jigawa and Katsina, passing through Dutse, Kazaure, Daura and Katsina before crossing the border near Jibia. From Jibia in Nigeria to Maradi is merely 55 km. That is so much ado about 55 kilometres.

Minister Mr Rotimi Amaechi, said the railway line is being developed by the two governments in partnership. ‘This is part of our efforts to promote regional integration and trade between our two nations”. That the rail link from landlocked Niger to Nigerian ports would help to capture freight traffic that currently moves via rival deep sea ports in Benin, Togo and Ghana. ‘The decision of the rail line getting to Niger was to try to get other neighbouring countries to transport their traffic through Nigeria, looking at the economic viability of that service’, he explained. ‘Having the train in Maradi will open up trade from other neighbouring countries to ship their goods through Nigeria, from Kano to Lagos.’

Also, when the inland dry ports of Kano, Funtua, Maiduguri and Kaduna become fully functional. It will significantly ramp up the flow of cargo traffic through the northern parts of Nigeria to our land locked neighbouring countries, like Niger and Chad.

Furthermore, the railway will serve a new oil refinery that is to be built in Maradi. Under that agreement, Nigeria will assist with the construction of a crude oil pipeline to link the refinery with Niger’s rapidly developing oilfields.

A former Director-General of the Nigerian Institute for International Affairs, Professor Bola Akinterinwa, observed that, “There is absolutely nothing wrong if there is a railway line from the northern part of the country to our northern neighbour, Niger, … Second, if it is within the framework of ECOWAS regional development… So, one cannot just make a conclusion without first addressing under which framework it will be done. So, there is no way that kind of project will not be within that (joint) framework…” He rightly submitted.

Another concerned Nigerian, a political economy and management expert, Professor Pat Utomi asserted that, “If there is a regional decision to link the countries of the sub-region and there is a rationale justifying it, say for example produce-aggregation across borders. I can understand that, but everyone must be made to understand what produce is being aggregated on the Kano-Dutse-Katsina-Jibia-Maradi route.”

Besides produce aggregation, other driving factors like densely populated areas and corridors from ports to inland markets, including the uranium and oil mining basin that Niger Republic is, will sustain a viable railway line.

Geopolitically, border areas of countries play special role in the development of general economic and social relations, enhancing regional and interstate relations.

With nearly 56% of the population of Niger Republic composed of Hausas and 8.5% Fulanis, there is a tremendous social impact benefit as well as prodigious potentials for freight and mass transit, that can legitimately found “a most favoured nation” status for Niger. However, under the WTO jurisprudence, that is not favouritism, but a legal trading concession for one or more countries, a special case, if you will, that can be extended equally to others.

CONCLUSION

In sum, considering the acutely decrepit infrastructure, obsolete technologies, under investment, epileptic operations, retarded connectivity and interoperability of the West African railway network. Any further neglect of the sector by member states will amount to reactionary economic sabotage.

Among others, the foregoing accounts for the inevitability, bankability and priority of the Kano Maradi railway line. To douse the toxic politicisation of this project, lets recall, this was originally canvassed by, President Jonathan Goodluck’s regime, with another rail line that would connect Gamboru-Ngala from Maiduguri to Njamena in Chad. President Buhari merely inherited, indigenized and misrepresented its essence.

The AU Technical Coordination Team, are vigorously providing guidance for the implementation of African High Speed Railway, as African leaders have demonstrated political will to address lack of rail connectivity, interoperability, and high cost of transportation.

While, ECOWAS has continued to accelerate railway interconnection in 11 of its 15 member states. The west coast High Speed rail line carries hope for the entire region, in part because its completion would demonstrate that once insurmountable technical incompatibility challenges can be overcome.

Thus, the Kano to Maradi Railway line, implicated in a tribal hegemonic conspiracy, politically tactless, poorly presented or communicated as it were. It remains an authentic Pan African initiative, even if “it is not yet Uhuru” line of 1976.

This would have been another opportunity for President Muhammadu Buhari to take the high ground, espouse a progressive, or Pan African ideology. Instead, he typically opted for a primordial aspiration. And in the ensuing hullabaloo, the arguments of Minister Amaechi, of interconnecting, integrating and transforming the regional network, got muffled or muted.

Imperialism, tribalism or petty nationalism not withstanding, as the AU Commissioner, Dr Amani Abou-Zeid, would say, “it is expected that Africa will soon have a robust railway network capable of advancing the competitiveness of Africa’s trade within the continent and globally as envisaged in the AU Agenda”.

Manni Ochugboju, Esq 10th August 21
manni@ochugboju.com