FG approves $195m on waterways security

Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said that the approval of $195 million to secure Nigeria’s waterways would help reduce crime in the maritime sector.
According to him, the federal government approved the amount as payment to an Israeli company that will help train security personnel that will man Nigeria’s waterways.
Amaechi made this known recently in Abuja during a news conference on the overhaul of the transport sector since the inception of the current administration.
According to the Minister, completing the Ibadan to Kano corridor among other road projects will boost the nation’s economy.
“We are currently in negotiation with the China EXIM bank to get nearly about six billion dollars to do from Ibadan to Kano.
“It is a difficult decision because the money required is about 8 billion dollars to do the double track but the Chinese are insisting that they cannot fund double track so they are asking us to do a single track.
“They are asking us to do a single track and they want it at Minna so that instead of going from Minna to Kaduna, we should go from Minna to Abuja and then join it from Abuja to Kaduna.
“But there are those who argue that we should not accept that, rather we should tell those (Chinese) to fund it in segments.
This, however, does not make economic sense.
“We are compelled to adjust just to have movement of goods, personnel and services from Lagos to Kano.
“What makes economic sense is the ability to get the track to a seaport so that we can move goods.
“What makes economic sense to rail services is the movement of goods,” he said.
He said that the ministry was also in talk with some companies in America to fund the Lagos to Calabar rail corridor and another Chinese company to also fund the Port Harcourt to Maiduguri corridor.