and then there’s
all these hullaballoo and rumours
about a
proposed new railway line
to be built
from Nigeria to somewhere in Niger Republic.
and frankly i am not able to see what the fuss and hue and cry is all about.
after-all,
as far back as
1975,
1976,
1977
i.e
45 years ago,
44 years ago,
43 years ago ►►►
( 2020 – 1975 = 45 years,
2020 – 1976 = 44 years,
2020 – 1977 = 43 years )
►►► engineers of the Nigerian Railways had,
according to rumours,
been advocating and clamouring for
the building of a trans-africa-continent railway line
i.e
an inter-africa-continent railway line
that
would connect all the countries in Africa
below and above the Africa Sahara Desert
i.e
connect all the countries
in
Negroland Africa / Negro Africa
and
Arab Africa.
and
delegates from the Nigerian Railway Corporation
to meetings of the African Union of Railwaymen
always spoke in favour of
the proposal
for the building of a trans-africa-continent railway line
i.e
an inter-africa-continent railway line
and
always canvassed support for turning the idea into a
physical actuality and reality.
…. as far back as 45 years ago ….
the idea was basically that
it should be possible,
for example,
to
travel by rail
● from Enugu in Nigeria
to Accra in Ghana
or
Yaounde in Cameroun
or
any other country in Western Africa
● from Port Harcourt in Nigeria
to Dar-Es-Salam in Tanzania
or
any other country in Eastern Africa
● from Calabar??? in Nigeria
to The Congo
or
anywhere else in Central Africa
● from Aba??? in Nigeria
to Swaziland
or
any other country in Southern Africa
● from Eket??? in Nigeria
to Tunisia
or Morocco
or
any other country in Arab North Africa
so what is all the fuss
… 45 years later ??? …
about a proposed line to link Nigeria and Niger ???
by now
Nigeria should have
been
well linked by rail
to
The Gambia,
Senegal,
Cote D’ivoire,
Togo,
Benin Republic,
Ghana,
Cameroun,
Sierra Leone,
etc
and
to every country in West(ern) Africa
if
the Federal? Ministry? of Transport?
and/or
the various? Federal? Ministers? of? Transport?
from 45 years ago till date 2020
had heeded calls coming from the Nigerian Railway Engineers for
a trans-africa-continent railway line
… and more easy to achieve in the ECOWAS sub-region …
a trans-western-africa railway line.
if the argument is that
there are
some state capitals in Nigeria that are
not linked to
the existing intra-Nigeria railway line network
and so
Nigeria should make effort to
enhance
business,
commerce
and
the movement of people and goods
within Nigeria
by linking
every one of the 36 state capitals in Nigeria to
the existing rail network
then that argument has merit.
this can be done
in pari-pasu
i.e
in tandem
i.e
in consonance
with
the building of a rail line
to Maradi? in Niger Republic
or
to Harare in Zimbabwe
or
to anywhere else in Africa for that matter.
after-all,
there is an ancient wisdom that
says that
charity begins at home.
if the argument is that
there are
many key cities in Nigeria that are
not linked to
the existing intra-Nigeria railway line network
and so
Nigeria should make effort to
enhance
business,
commerce
and
the movement of people and goods
within Nigeria
by linking
at least every key city outside the state capital
in/of each of the 36 state capitals in Nigeria to
the existing rail network
then that argument has merit.
this also
can be done
in pari-pasu
i.e
in tandem
i.e
in consonance
with
the building of a rail line
to Maradi? in Niger Republic
or
to Harare in Zimbabwe
or
to anywhere else in Africa for that matter.
since,
after-all,
as we have recalled earlier above,
there is an ancient wisdom that
says that
charity begins at home.
however,
the decision
.. if there is any such decision ..
to build a railway line to link Nigeria and Niger Republic
is an
absolutely belated decision
coming 45 years after the idea of
building a trans-africa-continent railway line
i.e
an inter-africa-continent railway line
was canvassed
by Nigerian Railway engineers in 1975? and thereabouts
and at this absolutely laggardly rate,
in the next 80 years remaining of this century,
( 2020 + 80 years = 2100 )
Nigeria
in it’s typical?
“squandering of riches”? manner?
may not
with all it’s vast earnings from oil and gas, etc
spear-head and actualize
the building of a trans-africa-continent railway line
i.e
an inter-africa-continent railway line
to
connect ALL AFRICA by RAIL
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