Buhari, Forget Maradi, Focus On Nigeria

 By Ochereome Nnnanna

I only listen to what President Muhammadu Buhari has to say because as a journalist, I have no choice. The difference between him and General Ibrahim Babangida is that when Babangida talks, his words mean several things at the same time. He can escape through one of the routes and still claim he did not deceive you. If you know how to read Babangida’s lips, he won’t be able to deceive you.

*Mohamed Bazoum

But Buhari’s is a case of sometimes saying one thing and doing another, and sometimes doing what he says. This second attribute gave the “Buharideen” the opportunity to brand him as Mai Gaskiya or man of his word. This branding was used to deceive millions of gullible Nigerians in 2015. We warned Nigerians to beware, but the Buharideen called us “wailers”. Now, look who is wailing!

Buhari had said he belonged to everyone and no one. Later, he contradicted himself by saying he would especially favour those who voted for him – his proverbial 12 million, Northern voters. Then, he flip-flopped again with these words: “You are all my people; I will treat all of you as mine. I will work for those who voted for me, voted against me and those who did not vote”. Out of these three public undertakings, he has unpretentiously pursued extreme nepotism with missionary zest.

I remember one of the first catchy phrases that Buhari used to position himself as a “superpatriot” military ruler in 1984. He said: “This generation of Nigerians and, indeed the future generation, have no other country than Nigeria; we shall stay and salvage it together!”

In the past six years as president, he has shown that he loves Niger Republic.

Under Buhari, our international border with Niger is of no effect. When he announced the closure of borders in August 2019, illegal goods and arms continued to flow in through the Northern borders into Nigeria uninterrupted. Buhari admitted as much in March this year. He blamed Libya. Someone else, not Buhari, is always to blame. Many Nigeriens possess Nigeria’s voter’s cards and have been issued the Nigerian Identity Numbers, NINs.

The one that concerns us the most is Buhari’s unwavering commitment to build a railway line from Kano through his hometown, Daura, to Maradi in Niger Republic. Nigeria is to cough out $2 billion, mostly borrowed from China, to carry out that expensive joke of a project. When he was recently asked why he was doing that, he simply said his family members lived there. During the groundbreaking ceremony on February 9, 2021, he extolled the virtues of the project and how it would service 80 million people, including people of Niger Republic.

So, now, it is no longer about indulging the needs of his “12 million” Northern voters. The economic need of another country comes before that of Southern Nigeria where the bulk of the revenue of the country is derived from. Buhari’s priority is to build a standard gauge rail from Lagos through Kano to Maradi. He will later look for another foreign loan to “revive” the archaic colonial narrow gauge rail line from Port Harcourt through Enugu to the Nguru in Yobe State. This will service over 80 million people within Nigerian territory.

Third in Buhari’s priority list is the Coastal Rail Network, which will traverse 12 Southern states from Lagos to Cross River. The following cities will be covered: Lagos, Shagamu, Ijebu Ode, Ore, Benin City, Sapele, Warri, Yenagoa, Port Harcourt, Aba, Uyo, Calabar, Akamkpa, Ikom, Obudu, Agbor, Ogwashiuku, Asaba, Onitsha and Onne. This project will service at least 120 million people through densely populated Nigerian territory. It will cost over $11 billion.

A true patriot would seek to build on the foundation laid by the British colonial masters by reviving the East to North and West to North networks. These were built purposely to unite the country and boost economic intercourse across the various geopolitical, ethnic and religious divides. A Nigerian president would, from Day One, flag off the Southern rail network while further extending the Northern networks into new areas. 

These projects would create employment opportunities for millions of currently idle Nigerians and enable our economy to leverage on our huge population for growth.

With this, Nigerians would be in a much better position to pay back the huge loans and prevent a potential Chinese takeover of the country due to loan default. We would be happy to pay because we are enjoying the service. Our highways would last longer. Nigerians would rediscover the joys of economic and social interdependence. Our collective sense of commitment to the unity of our country would be deepened. The uniting and wealth creating powers of railways would be unleashed among us.

By putting Niger ahead of Nigeria, Buhari is negating his word that he has no other country. He is drawing a new map which unites Northern Nigeria with Niger Republic, a kind of “New Arewa”. The South is merely the revenue hunting ground with access to the sea to service Buhari’s “New Arewa”.

We indigenous Nigerians should not accept this. We are being exploited by a president whose loyalties lie in an area beyond our constitutional jurisdiction. The rulers of Niger Republic have already mortgaged their country to China. Let them build their own railways and leave us to build ours.

*Nnanna is a commentator on public issues