that rumour back in the day that an EFFORT to BUILD a RAILWAY LINE DIRECTLY LINKING LAGOS, IBADAN, etc ( i.e YORUBA-LAND ) to ONITSHA, ENUGU, CALABAR, EKET, PORT-HARCOURT, etc ( i.e IGBO-LAND / IBO-LAND and it’s RIVERINE AREA NEIGHBOURS ) was DELIBERATELY STOPPED

basically, what it is is that

the British ruled the Niger Area ( now called Nigeria )
for very, very many years.

in that period, the British put in place some infrastructure(s)
that facilitated
their economic, financial, commercial and other domination and control
of the area.

the Railway network in Nigeria is one of such infrastructure(s).

Nigeria sort of “inherited” what is now known as
the Nigerian Railways
from the British Colonial Rulers of Nigeria
i.e the British Colonial Administrators of Nigeria
when Britain granted Nigeria the Nigeria desire to rule itself in 1960.

( you may wish to google stuff like :
Nigeria under British Rule,
the British Colonial Era in Nigeria,
Nigeria in British West Africa,
etc
to get some insight into
this era of Nigeria’s life / existence before October 1, 1960. )

Nigeria uptil date January 2021
hasn’t developed the Nigerian Railway infrastructure much beyond
what it was in the 1960s.

and the essential back-bone and core component
of the Nigerian Railways uptil date January 2021
is the NARROW GUAGE RAIL TRACK
built across Nigeria
during the British Colonial Era and in the 1960s.

there have been one or two efforts here and there,
mostly in the 2000 A.D to 2021 A.D period
to add some STANDARD GUAGE RAIL TRACKS to
the existing Railway Network infrastructure,

however,
the core component and majority component of
the Nigeria Railway infrastructure
still remains the NARROW GUAGE RAIL TRACK
built by the British and somewhat added to later after 1960.

( you may wish to google stuff like :
the history of the Nigerian Railways,
etc
to get some insight into this. )

if you take a look at the map of the railway tracks in Nigeria,
you will see that
it essentially consists of

an inverted Y
with one of the arms of the inverted Y coming from
the South-East and South-South ( East ) area of Nigeria

and
the other arm of the Y coming from the South-West area of Nigeria.

the arm of the inverted Y coming from
the South-East and South-South ( East ) area of Nigeria
essentially comes from places like
Enugu, Aba, Port-Harcourt
i.e Igbo-land / Ibo-land and it’s riverine area neighbours.

the arm of the inverted Y coming from the South-West area of Nigeria essentially comes from places like
Ibadan, Lagos i.e Yoruba-land.

the 2 arms of the inverted Y do not meet anywhere in the Southern Nigeria area.  

where they meet is in Northern Nigeria.

if my memory serves correctly,
they meet at a place called Kaduna
which is essentially in the far North area
i.e in the core North Area
i.e in an area generally seen in Southern Nigeria as
core Hausa-land Nigeria / Fulani-land area of Nigeria
although maps make mention of Gbari and Kambari tribes in that area.

( i guess we can cross-check this
and
check the actual area where they meet using google )

and from that point where they meet
in Kaduna
in the core Northern Nigeria area
( as distinct from the Middle-Belt Nigeria area )

the rail track goes on up North
and branches out to Kaura Namoda and Nguru
with Kano being a Railway station en-route the Kaduna to Nguru rail track

although it is to be noted that
the arm of the inverted Y coming from
the South-East and South-South ( East ) area

at some point in the Northern Nigeria area ( at Kafanchan? )
before getting to Kaduna meeting point with the arm of the inverted Y coming from South-West Nigeria

branches out towards Jos and Maiduguri.

what that existing rail track infrastructure meant
in the 1960s
i.e from 1960 to 1969
was that

if you were in
Enugu, Aba or Port-Harcourt
i.e in South-East and South-South ( East ) Nigeria

and
you wanted to go to Ibadan or Lagos by rail
i.e you wanted to go to South-West Nigeria by rail

you would have to travel up to Northern Nigeria
as far as Kaduna
in the core Northern Nigeria area
before coming down in the direction of South-West Nigeria
to get to your destination of
Ibadan or Lagos.

and
it also meant
in the 1960s
i.e from 1960 to 1969
that

if you were in Lagos or Ibadan
i.e in South-West Nigeria

and you wanted to go to
Enugu or Aba or Port-Harcourt
by rail

you would have to travel up to Northern Nigeria
as far as Kaduna
in the core Northern Nigeria
before coming down in the direction of South-East and South-South ( East ) Nigeria
to get to your destination of
Enugu or Aba or Port-Harcourt.

and that trip
if i remember correctly was not
( and is still not? as at January 2021 )
a 1 day trip.

it used to take at least 2 days,
if my memory serves correctly.

one day to get up North
.. as far as the Kaduna area or so ..

and the other day to get back down South
.. to wherever you where headed in Southern Nigeria
on the other side of the River Niger.

this was very much unlike a trip by road
where, for example,

you could head out of
Onitsha in the Igbo-land Nigeria /  Ibo-land Nigeria Area 

to Lagos in the Yoruba-land Nigeria Area

by road
and in 6 hours you are in Lagos.

( in fact,
this is as at date January 2021,
very much unlike a trip by road

where, for example,

you can head out of
Onitsha in the Igbo-land Nigeria / Ibo-land Nigeria Area 

to Lagos in the Yoruba-land Nigeria Area
by road

and in 6 hours
you are in Lagos )

this was very much unlike a trip by road
where for example

you could ( and can ) head out of
Lagos in the Yoruba-land Nigeria Area

to Onitsha in the Igbo-land Nigeria /  Ibo-land Nigeria Area
by road

and in 6 hours
you are in Onitsha.

( in fact,
this is as at date January 2021,
very much unlike a trip by road

where for example
you can head out of Lagos in the Yoruba-land Nigeria Area

to Onitsha in the Igbo-land Nigeria /  Ibo-land Nigeria Area
by road

and in 6 hours
you are in Onitsha. )

according to rumours,
sometime in the 1970s
.. maybe 1976? or 1977? Or 1978? ..

one gentleman
who was at that time the General Manager
( and therefore the de facto Chief Executive Officer i.e CEO )
of the
Nigerian Railway Corporation
took a look at this
and decided to do something about it.

this gentleman decided that
the Nigeria Railways would build a rail track
DIRECTLY LINKING
Yoruba-land Nigeria
and
Igbo-land / Ibo-land Nigeria
plus
South-South ( East of the River Niger ) Nigeria
and
South-South ( West of the River Niger ) Nigeria
without any need to go up to anywhere in Northern Nigeria
before getting to your destination.

the name of this gentleman was
ENGINEER THEO NZEGWU.

he hailed from
i.e he was a native of

Onitsha in the South-East / Igbo-land / Ibo-land area of Nigeria
and had been trained to become an Engineer
under the British
and had studied in the United Kingdom ( i.e the U.K. )

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