By Ismail Auwal
The Federal Government said that it begged Niger Republic to allow it to construct the $1.95bn railway from Kano State into Maradi.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, on Channels Television’s ‘News Night’ programme on Monday.
The railway is expected to run from Kano to Dutse- Katsina through Jibia and will end at Maradi, Niger Republic.
The minister added that, “Why are they not exporting through Nigeria? They say o, your roads are bad. So, the railway takes care of that. They say Customs is difficult; Customs will impose charges that are not charged in Benin Republic.”
“They say immigration does not allow them. Even when they pass all these, there are police checkpoints on the road, Customs checkpoints on the road, immigration checkpoints on the road. Then communities have their own checkpoints on the road, armed robbers attack them on the road. So, they prefer to go where it is safe and cheaper to do business.
“So, all we are saying is we come to Maradi, we build offices, we build a warehouse, you put your things in the warehouse, you deal with Customs at Maradi, deal with immigration at Maradi, deal with police, whatever you need to check.
“Once you put the goods on top of the wagon; it goes straight to Lagos. When it gets to Lagos, straight to the ship because the things you would do in Lagos, you would have done in Maradi.”
