a pretty impressive tale it was.
short.
and gave the/a hearer much to reflect / ponder on and about.
that rumour.
that rumour sometime back in the day now.
probably sometime between 2010 A.D and 2014 A.D and thereabouts.
the rumour rumoured essentially that
because of the down-turn in the Nigeria Economy since 1989?
linkable to the continuing, continual and continous devaluation
of the once upon a time powerful and strong Nigeria Naira
( .. which purely on the merit of it’s strength and value alone then
had according to rumours
at a time been accepted
on, by and of their own free will and personal initiative
by shops and retailers in places as physically far away from Nigeria as the U.K ( United Kingdom )
as a direct currency of trade
as a directly use-able / useable / usable currency of trade
and
had also been generally accepted
on, by and of their own free will and personal initiative
by many countries in Western Africa and other? parts? of Africa
in their own countries
as a currency of trade and commerce .. )
the Nigeria Railways had experienced a decline in it’s fortunes.
the Rail Engines had aged.
at a cost of over $1,000,000 ( USD i.e United States dollars )
[ … you can google cost / prices of Railway Engines on the internet … ]
replacement of aged, worn out and/or broken down Rail Engines had become difficult.
and simillarly,
due to reasons of high cost
replacement of aged, worn out and/or broken down passenger coaches and carriage? wagons?
had become difficult.
and so
in a bid to halt the decline
in the critical and vital Rail Transportation sector of the Nigeria Economy
Nigeria had turned to the international community for aid.
luckily for Nigeria, China had responded
and
a component of the China aid response was that
China would build Railway Engines
… which Nigeria was then incapable of doing and then unable to do
and
is still incapable of doing and unable to do as at today June 2023 …
for the OBSOLETE NARROW GAUGE Railway Tracks
which
Nigeria was using then
and
is still using, for the most part, as at today 2023
especially as
Railway Engine builders and manufacturers like Britain and other European countries
who Nigeria due to historical trade / economic / commercial linkages
should have ordinarily sourced / purchased the OBSOLETE NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines from
had long ago
due to their natural, continuos and continuing
scientific advancement and progress
technological advancement and progress
economic advancement and progress
converted all their NARROW GAUGE TRACKS
to STANDARD GAUGE TRACKS
and so no longer built / manufactured NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines
and thus
could only build NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines for Nigeria
as a finitely more expensive special order
requiring the resuscitation and re-creation of
shut down production lines and phased out methodologies.
one may perhaps get an idea of what a projected cost profile for say
5? NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines from Europe may look like
if one notes that one STANDARD GAUGE Railway Engine alone
costs well over $1,000,000 ( USD i.e United States dollars )
[ … you can google cost / prices of Railway Engines on the internet … ]
and
then factors in additional costs incurred for
specially resuscitating abandoned, phased out production processes.
this component of the aid package was a good deal for Nigeria
and
no one anywhere in the world had any doubts that China could deliver
especially as
China being zillions of light years ahead of Nigeria in terms of
scientific advancement and progress
technological advancement and progress
economic advancement and progress
seems to be
comparable to the advanced economies of Europe and U.S.A.
( reference for example :
China scientific / engineering activity in Outer Space,
tik tok ? )
so one can imagine the absolute shock
when the rumour went round that
the NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines from China had landed
and
when they were started
the NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines from China did not move on the Rail Tracks
the NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines from China would not move on the Rail Tracks
the NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines from China could not move on the Rail Tracks
and to make matters worse
the China Rail engineers had tried their very best to get
the NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines from China to move on the Rail Tracks
and had failed
and were at a total loss as to what to do.
and
the Nigeria Railway engineers having been regarded by the Nigeria Administration
as inferior? to the China engineers
seeing as no Nigeria engineering outfit builds Railway engines
watched? emergent? unfolding? events? from a respectful-to-the-China-engineers distance?
according to rumours
things remained like this until another rumour went around.
this other rumour rumuored that
the then Federal Minister of Transport had been informed that
the Made-In-China NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines had been delivered
and not having been informed that
the Made-In-China NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines could not move
had decided to
officially visit the Railways Environment
to officially commission the new China Rail Engines
and
give the Nigeria Railways some financial monetary support and assistance.
at this point
the Nigeria Railway engineers guessing that perhaps? if
the Federal Minister of Transport got to the Railways Environment
and found out on the day of commissioning that
the Made-In-China NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines could not move
the Federal Minister would be very upset
and
probably thenceforth with-hold for the rest of his tenure as Federal Minister
any and all support and assistance for the Nigeria Railways
— whether material support, financial support, monetary support, morale support or otherwise
approached the China Rail engineers
and
asked them if they could allow them ( the Nigeria Rail engineers ) to take a look at the Engines.
the China Rail engineers allowed them to.
the Nigeria Railway engineers then took a look at
the Made-In-China NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines
and
brought in their
engineering talent
engineering gift
to play on the matter.
according to rumours
the Nigeria Railway engineers
“cut”
the Made-In-China NARROW GAUGE TRACK Rail Engines
and the engines moved.
according to rumours
the intended commissioning went well.
however there have been no rumours since then to the effect that
any private venture capitalist
any financier
any investor
any Nigeria Federal Government entity
has
invested
invested strongly in
the Railway Engines engineering capacity of Nigeria engineers
the Railway Engines engineering talent of Nigeria engineers
the Railway Engines engineering gift of Nigeria engineers
by say
for example
putting money and effort together to set up
for example
a Nigeria company / organization that builds
Made-In-Nigeria Rail Engines and/or coaches and/or wagons
either for
the NARROW GAUGE TRACK
or for
the STANDARD GAUGE TRACK.
makes you wonder about the thinking and the direction of thinking of
the “folks that make things happen” in / for / of Nigeria.
doesn’t it ?
in any case,
Rihanna nm, tell me,
do you guess that ability and talent should be encouraged and invested strongly in ?
.. at least regarding that rumoured Engineering Feat by Nigeria Railway engineers sometime back in the day now ??
