Amaechi Speaks Against ‘Politicisation’ of Railway Development

Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, has identiÀed what he called politicising of railway development as one of the major challenges facing the country in the government’s eͿort to stimulate the economy.

He said ethnicity was a big challenge to development in Nigeria, noting that rail projects around the country are built with the economy at the heart of it, because the economy should be the deciding factor for such developments, not ethnic biases.

Amaechi, who was the guest lecturer at the annual Public Lecture of the Department of Economics at the University of Lagos yesterday, said transportation as a mode movement involved logistics, and that it was responsible for driving the economy of nations.

“Virtually everything we do involves transportation. It is a key element in driving development of economies all over the world, and it creates possibilities for other sectors. Therefore, you can’t even create employment if you don’t create logistics.

“Nigerians are too ethnically conscious. You think Àrst as your ethnicity before you think as a Nigerian. We have very few Nigerians, and ethnicity is putting pressure on the economics of railway construction. What you hear is, ‘I’m a Yoruba man, I’m an Hausa man, I’m an Igbo man.’ The Yoruba man is happy that we have done Lagos-Ibadan; the moment you do the railway up to Enugu, the Igbo man would be happy. I call it the politicisation of railway construction.

“Railway is fuelled by economic activities; it’s not fuelled by tribes. What determines a railway construction is economics, how many tons of cargo can be conveyed.