Stakeholders in the South East have begun a campaign towards making the Federal Government complete the rehabilitation work on Port Harcourt-Maiduguri rail lines.
Organisers of the campaign, under the auspices of Njiko Igbo Forum (NIF) tagged “Eastern Corridor Railways”, said they were disturbed by the snail speed of the rehabilitation work in the past one year.
Although the Federal Government had promised a March 2023 date to complete the rehabilitation, work has not progressed beyond the Osisioma axis in Aba, Abia State from Port Harcourt.
In December last year, the Chinese contractor handling the project had removed old steel tracks on the axis and pulled down illegal structures built on them as part of the rehabilitation process.
President of the forum, Rev Okechukwu Obioha, stated that the campaign followed concerns that the project may have been abandoned after old tracks were removed.
He added that while other parts of the country have continued to enjoin train services to cushion the economic effects of the current hike in petrol price, the economy of the South East has continued to suffer, imposing more hardship on the people.
He said: “The railway services have been running efficiently on standard gauge in Ibadan, Kano, Lagos, Abuja, Katsina up to Niger Republic.
“But it seems that Port Harcourt to Maiduguri line, which includes Umuahia, Enugu, Kafanchan and Bauchi has been abandoned.
“The worst was removing the steel rail line that has been in place since the 60s.
“Nobody is saying anything about the rehabilitation work even when means of movement of goods and services have risen all-time high in the region.
“So, we think this campaign is necessary. It is aimed at ensuring that we get what rightly belongs to us in the country.
“There is no way the Federal Government will pretend that all is well with the people of the region when they are not enjoying the services being given to other regions.”
