?Biden & Buhari?s railways and Tinubu?s roads projects

By EMMANUEL OGEBE

U.S. President Biden?s Africa visit highlighted the $800m US-backed railway project in the Lobito Corridor ? a strategic trade route that connects the resource-rich Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia to Angola, which hosts the port of Lobito.

Funded largely by the US and the European Union, the Lobito Atlantic Railway project will see an existing rail network in the Lobito Corridor upgraded. That would allow for the faster export of cobalt and copper, amongst other minerals, mined from the DRC?s Kolwezi mining town, to the West.

The DRC Is one of the world?s largest producers of copper and cobalt. The minerals are key components of batteries that power electric vehicles, which the US and EU are eager to develop more of as demand for clean energy supply chains grows.

Washington has provided a $550m loan to start the project. The African Development Bank and the Africa Finance Corporation are also involved? an Al Jazeera columnist writes

The rail line Is about 1300km (800 miles) long and will likely see extensions into mineral-rich regions in Zambia. Portuguese company Trafigura is leading a three-company consortium that will operate the railway for 30 years under a concession agreement. In August, the company said it shipped the first container of minerals to the US via the Lobito Port.

The question that arises for Nigeria watchers therefore is ? NIGERIA is building a railway from Kano state to only the country of Niger for $4Billion which it borrowed for no economic value or benefit. Why???

An update of the Kano-Maradi Railway project timeline says:

- September 2020: The Federal Executive Council of Nigeria approved the project.

- May 2023: The project was initially expected to be completed, but it has been delayed.

- 2025: The new expected completion date for the project.

The project involves the construction of a 393km standard gauge railway line, with a branch line from Kano to Dutse in Nigeria to Maradi in Niger, ?stimulating economic development and improving trade relations between the two countries?

Firstly why does the U.S. sponsored Lobito 1300km rail linking three African countries to an Atlantic seaport for exports cost $800 million while Buhari?s 394km rail linking just two Nigerian states to a town in landlocked Niger cost 500% more for a project less than 30% of its size at $4Billion?

Secondly, ?-In the entire North of 19 states, there is just one railway line from Abuja to Kaduna. When you disembark in Kaduna, how do you go from there to capitals of the rest 18 states?

-There is another magic railway line from Lagos to Ibadan.

-There is none connecting anyone from South East to South South,? veteran Guardian columnist Martins Oloja posited.

Yet Buhari borrowed $4Billion to build a rail line with 18 stops in Niger.

Thirdly a global consortium put together the funds for Lobito plus a 30 year concession recovery mechanism. None of the three benefiting African countries Angola, Zambia or DRC are fully funding it despite Angola being Africa?s top oil exporter unlike Nigeria whose GDP has declined by 50%.

?In September, China?s state engineering corporation signed a concession agreement to operate the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), another railway line in the corridor that links central Zambia to the port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.? Why couldn?t Nigeria enter into a concession arrangement and invite investors if indeed the Maradi line was economically viable?

Fourthly, ?Analysts say the US faces challenges in the corridor. China has eyes on the region, too, and has already locked in much of the minerals that would theoretically be sold to Western countries within its huge Belt and Road Initiative, notes researcher E.D Wala Chabala in a paper for the Berlin-based think tank, Africa Policy Research Institute.

?Not only are the Chinese ubiquitously present on the African continent, but China is already far ahead in building supply chains for cobalt, lithium and several other essential metals and minerals,? Chabala wrote.?

While value chains are already being developed and competition and supplies have even begun with clearly identified mineral resources, the contractor for Nigeria?s Maradi line says,

?The project aims to enhance regional connectivity, boost economic growth, and improve the lives of communities along the railway corridor.?

This amorphous statement communicates nothing but a visionless white elephant project. The only known outputs of this multibillion wastage is facilitation of contraband a smuggling, arms proliferation, terrorism, influx of fake voters amongst others. Most shocking of all the military coup has affected relations with Nigeria which failed to obtain approval from the overthrown government prior to obtaining the loan for the railway project in Niger!

As if this was not bad enough, Tinubu replaced Buhari as president and initiated his own boondoggle. The Cost of his 700km Lagos-Calabar coastal highway: N15.6 trillion ($13B).

However the cost of Africa?s longest highway linking Cairo to Cape Town is $1.6B for Egypt for the 1,156km within its borders out of the estimated 10,228 km length of the transnational continental highway.

By this measure, Tinubu?s Lag-cal road cost linking a few southern states can build the entire highway traversing the continent from tip to tip with change remaining after linking the following nine countries:

1. Egypt

2. Sudan

3. Ethiopia

4. Kenya

5. Tanzania

6. Zambia

7. Zimbabwe

8. Botswana

9. South Africa

Tinubu?s road is 70% the size of Egypt?s highway but costs 800% more! And he?s building a second one for the same amount in Kebbi. Why will Biden not visit and do business in Angola instead of Nigeria?

?Emmanuel Ogebe, Esq, is a prominent international human rights lawyer based in Washington D. C. who has played a role shaping US Congressional and foreign policy on Nigeria. Mr. Ogebe has been a guest speaker at university campuses across the US and radio and TV programs around the world, including CNN, Fox, Al Jazeera, BBC, the Geneva Summit, United Nations, World Bank, the Canadian Parliament, etc. His decades of advocacy led to the US designations of Boko Haram as a foreign terrorist organization (2013), Nigeria as a Country of Particular Concern (2020) and International Criminal Court Prosecutor?s determination of crimes against humanity in Nigeria (2020) to mention a few achievements. He was consulted by Presidents Clinton (2000) and Bush?s Administrations (2003) on their visits to Nigeria. He also served as country representative for a donor agency of the White House to Nigeria decades ago.

He currently serves as Special Counsel for the ?Justice for Jos? Project, advocating for and assisting survivors/victims of terror. Mr Ogebe is a recipient of several awards including President Obama (2009), the Darfur Women Action Group (2016), Diaspora groups in the US as well as US States and local authorities citations and recognitions in Florida, Arkansas and New Jersey amongst others.

Update news