The Lagos-Kano railway project is not going as planned for the Nigerian authorities. Indeed, Nigeria, which waited for the funding promised by China, ended up choosing in February 2022 to seek elsewhere from other partners the funding necessary to complete its project.
To carry out this important work for the country, Nigeria has bet on China. With a total cost of 2.5 billion dollars in the form of a loan granted by the Import-Export Bank of China, the realization of the project was entrusted to the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) and cut into several sections. Namely Ibadan-Kano (800km) at a cost of 5.3 billion dollars. Then Lagos and Ibadan (156 km). This last section was officially inaugurated on June 10, 2021 by Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari at Mobolaji Johnson Station, Ebuto Metta, Lagos.
To join the port of Lagos, the former capital of Nigeria, to the city of Kano, the Lagos-Kano railway line is supposed to serve the country from South to North. A program which also aims to allow the populations of the borders of Niger to benefit from the extension of the rail network. "We are waiting for the Chinese to give us the loan we asked for and they kept delaying us," Transport Minister Rotimi Amaechi told reporters. “15% of the financing required for a line estimated at 8.3 billion dollars” has only been attributed to Nigeria according to certain sources. Faced with this unexciting situation, the Nigerian authorities have decided to turn to the British banking group Standard Chartered Bank, a multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in London. Objective: to complete the missing part of the funding provided by China in order to complete the project. When completed, the said Lagos-Kano railway construction project will connect the Kano-Maradi line to Kano to Maradi in Niger. To do this, the Federal Government of Nigeria needs at least 2 billion dollars according to Professor Yemi Osinbajo and Vice President of Nigeria.
By Stanislas Omotundé
