Minister Denies Diverting $3bn Railway Project From South East

The Ministry of Transportation has described as false a report claiming that Senator Said Alkali, the Minister of Transport, diverted a three billion dollar railway project from the southeast to his home state, Gombe, for political gain.

The ministry urged Nigerians to disregard the publication, describing it as false, malicious, and misleading to the public and saying it should be discarded.

This is contained in a statement issued by the management of the ministry and signed by Mrs Janet McDickson, Director of Information and Public Relations in the ministry.

“Attention of Management and Staff of FMT has been drawn to a publication written by Sahara Reporters (online report) alleging that “Nigeria’s Transport Minister diverted a $3 billion railway project from the south-east to the home state, Gombe, for political gain.”.

“The management wishes to state categorically that the above report is false, malicious, and misleading to the public and should be discarded.

The statement noted that the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge railway rehabilitation project was awarded to Messrs China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation in November 2020.

It said so far, the rehabilitation works had been completed from Port Harcourt to Aba, and train services along the corridor were currently running.

“Rehabilitation works from Aba to Enugu are ongoing, with works on substructures completed while works on superstructures are ongoing.

“It is pertinent to note that the slow pace of work on the project is due to paucity of funds, and the Federal Ministry of Transportation is working assiduously with the contractor to ensure that funds are drawn down to complete the project.

“It is worthy to note that the main line for the project is in sections: Port Harcourt-Aba, Aba-Kafanchan, Kafanchan to Kuru in Jos, and Kuru to Maiduguri,” it said.

According to the statement, as part of preliminary works on the remaining section of the project, which includes Gombe State, a recognition survey was carried out in 2024.

It added that the survey was carried out along the entire rail line by the four stakeholders—the Federal Ministry of Transportation, the Nigerian Railway Corporation, the contractor, and the consultant.

It stated that there was no work going on in Gombe currently, as falsely reported by the Sahara Reporters.

“The management of the ministry requests that Sahara Reporters withdraw this fake report and apologise to the Minister, Sen. Said Alkali, for dragging his name and the ministry in a bad light.

“The minister is working assiduously to bring out the dividends of democracy to the entire nation to achieve the mandate of the Ministry and does not deserve to be attached to this fake news.

“The Sahara Reporters is therefore warned to desist from carrying out fake news but is advised to work professionally by officially verifying its information before publications,” it said.

According to it, the ministry is working hard to connect the entire country through the rail sector to ease transportation, in line with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda.

Minister Denies Diverting $3bn Railway Project From South East is first published on The Whistler Newspaper