Nigeria’s Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has vowed to complete the construction of the world’s largest railway line in the Niger-Delta region if elected president.
“If I don’t become the president of Nigeria, forget it (Lagos-Warri-Calabar railway project). Nobody will do that project. You know why they won’t do it? It’s $11.1 billion.
“That is for now the biggest project in the world,” Mr Amaechi said in his address to delegates of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Asaba on Friday.
“If l don’t win the primary and the general election, nobody else can do it because it is capital intensive. The moment we complete the Lagos-Calabar-Warri, things will be okay.
“What should bother us is how do we move forward? It takes courage and that was why we came up with that theme ‘Forward with courage’. It requires courage to confront the challenges ahead,” added the minister.
Announcing his success as one time Rivers governor, the minister promised to make similar successes and more if he is empowered at the center.
He warned the delegates to beware of those who want to make promises that they do not intend to keep.
“Don’t listen to those who say l will do. Ask them what have they done. I fought insecurity in Rivers, l generated power which l cannot distribute because it is only the federal government that can distribute.
“If l’m elected president, l will make sure power is removed from the exclusive list,” Mr Amaechi vowed while courting the delegates at the party’s secretariat in Asaba.
Mr Amaechi’s post so far as Minister of Transport has been well-received by the Kano-Maradi standard gauge railway line of Kano-Maradi, described as a wasteful investment by the Russian-based financial institution, Renaissance Capital (Rencap).
The project will link Nigeria with a poverty-stricken Niger Republic upon completion.
