Angry reactions from Ndigbo over FG's stopping of Eastern Railway corridor project.

*No nation survives under such immense hate and injustice—WIC.

*They are simply playing on our intelligence — Prof. Madubuike.

*Buhari Govt never wished South-East zone good —MASSOB.

*A ploy to strangulate Ndigbo economically —Former Abia lawmaker.

Angry reactions have greeted the stopping of the earlier proposed Port Harcourt-Enugu Eastern rail line project by the Nigerian government.

Last week, the Federal Government announced that it would not continue with the project because of its inability to secure foreign loans that would have provided 85% of funds for the execution of the project.

Blame Chibuike Amaechi if the Eastern rail line fails — Prof. Madubuike.

Reacting to the development, a former Minister of Education and Health, Professor Ihechukwu Madubuike said the immediate-past Minister for Transportation, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi should be blamed for not building the rail line when he was in office.

“We blame the former Transportation Minister, Chibuike Amaechi from Rivers State. Why will the Eastern rail lines be the last to be rehabilitated in Nigeria? Apart from that, why will they use the old system instead of the ultra-modern system used in other regions?

“When he came to us and said he wanted to run for President as Igbo, we asked him, what are we going to use and sell you to Ndigbo? Tell us one project we can say you have done for us as an Igbo man who also married an Igbo lady.

“You have a rail project from Mardi to Katsina costing billions of naira; the ones from Abuja to Kaduna, Lagos to Ibadan, all are modern. But you said you are going to use the old system for the Eastern corridor. We queried him and he couldn’t give us any credible answer.

“So, some of these things are not a matter of Buhari. If you have been in a position of trust and you want to serve your people, the President cannot stop you. But when you serve with a slave mentality, that is when you get it wrong,” the former minister explained.

Professor Madubuike said it is unjust and horrible for the Federal Government to stop the Eastern rail lines project after removing and carting away the old rail tracks laid by the British in 1916.

“By telling us that they have stopped the project is simply playing on our intelligence," he said.

Prof. Madubuike suggested that Igbo people in positions of authority who fail to take advantage of their privileged positions to also work for the progress of the Igbo should be sanctioned.

"The earlier we let our people in power know they can also be sanctioned at home, the better. If you are given a trumpet and you refuse to play it, nobody will play it for you. I was a Minister in 1979 under an accord, and when the accord broke because the other party refused to play by the rules, I resigned.

“But within that period, I had done for my people what I thought I should do for them. I started at the Federal University of Science and Technology, Owerri. I made sure Imo State University had taken off. I laid the foundation for the take-off of the Open University of Nigeria which is being enjoyed today.

“And when I came again as Minister for Health, I made sure the Federal Medical Centre, Owerri started. I moved the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital Enugu to its permanent site at Ituku, Ozala.

“So, while you are serving others, you must also serve yourself. My mentor, Sam Mbakwe told me that while you are giving others food, put some in your mouth so that while they are eating, you are also eating, and nobody will quarrel.

"I blame Amaechi because there is no way he could have gone to the EXCO with a proposal to remodel the Eastern rail lines and the whole cabinet will say no, a fair-minded Federal Government would not deny its Minister what it knows is right and appropriate.”

Madubuike described the attempt to rehabilitate the Eastern rail lines as an afterthought that was designed to fail as there was nothing to suggest that the government was serious about it.

No nation survives under such immense hate for equity and fairness —WIC

The World Igbo Congress, WIC, views the action as a continuation of the deliberate policy by the Nigerian government to marginalize the South-East and South-South zones. 

The WIC said the excuse given by the federal government for dropping the projects is unacceptable.

In a statement signed by the WIC spokesman, Basil Onwukwe, the group said, “The Buhari Government borrowed millions of dollars to rebuild railway structures in Nigeria but uprooted and removed the existing Eastern railway lines from Enugu to Port Harcourt.

"This is a continuation of the marginalization that has robbed the nation of any viable economic development. The Federal Government has now dropped the Eastern rail corridor, giving many excuses, expecting one to stick.

“The excuse that the government cannot secure foreign loans to provide 85% of the funds needed to execute the project is unacceptable. They could secure all manner of loans to execute various projects in other parts of the country and even beyond.

“This is deliberately designed to hold Eastern Nigeria, and South East/South-south regions down politically and economically, but no nation can survive under immense hate for equity and fairness,” WIC said.

Buhari Govt never wished South-East zone well—MASSOB

For the Movement for the Actualization of the Sovereign State of Biafra, MASSOB, the federal government's decision did not come as a surprise. 

“The Buhari-led Federal Government speedily and rigorously developed the core Northern states, built and promoted modern railway transportation across Northern states, even neighboring Niger Republic and Lagos State, including constructing highways with money from crude oil from southern states.

"They have now manifested their hypocritical tendencies against the Eastern region with reckless abandon. They said no money for the Eastern rail corridor, this is unacceptable.

“It is the continuation of open insensitivity of the Buhari administration to the people of the South- East. This is evil and unacceptable to Ndigbo.

“Buhari has easily and readily been developing his kinsmen. He has also politically and economically empowered them more than any other tribe, including the Hausas.

"Stopping the Eastern railway project is deliberate; it is part of the grand design to hold the South-East region down economically,” MASSOB leader, Uchenna Madu said.

MASSOB also rejected the government's claim that youths in Abia state constantly harassed employees of the China Civil Engineering and Construction Company that was supposed to handle the project, saying that the company had not started work in AbiaState and its staff was not in the state.

A ploy to strangulate Ndigbo —former Abia lawmaker.

The former Deputy Speaker of Abia State House of Assembly, Dr. Cosmos Ndukwe, said the stopping of the rail project by the federal government is deliberate "to economically kill us."

“It was a deliberate act because when they started excavating the old rail built by the British, I had my suspicions. The ones done by the British were of a higher and better quality. What kind of double gauge are they bringing to us that will match the quality of the old ones? There was nothing on site to even show construction would begin after the removal of the old steel.

“And the speed with which the Chinese firm removed the old steel was very suspicious. I knew it would turn out this way. This is just the same marginalization and intimidation of Ndigbo. They just want to economically kill us. I just pray God will quickly bring an end to the hate, marginalization, and intimidation of Ndigbo,” Ndukwe said.

He blamed federal legislators and governors from the region for not speaking up strongly against the federal government's decision.

“It is painful and a thing of sorrow the way and manner our leaders keep quiet about issues affecting the South-East. None of them has raised a strong voice against this humiliation.

"There are suspicions that the old rail tracks the contractors carted away from the Eastern corridor were used to pay for the projects the company executed in other zones. None of the steel is still in Nigeria today. They will go and melt them and even if they are bringing it back, it can’t be of the same quality.”

“It is a leadership failure on the part of the former Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi who said he is an Igbo man. It is also a failure on the part of South-East governors.”

Ndukwe called on  “Ohanaeze Ndigbo and Igbo in Diaspora to stop depending on the political class but rise against intimidation and victimization of the Igbo as there is a plot to cripple us economically.”

The Eastern rail line project would have been of immense socioeconomic benefit to Nigerians, particularly the five states of the South-East region namely: Abia, Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, and Enugu as well as Rivers and other states in the North-Central and North-East zones of Nigeria.

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