Nigeria-Niger Republic rail project to boost trade – FG

The Nigeria-Niger Republic rail project, according to the federal government, will increase trade and other socioeconomic exchanges between the two nations.

The minister in charge of the ministry, Mu’azu Sambo, reportedly said this on Thursday in Abuja at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on the project between Nigeria and the Republic of Niger, according to a statement from the director of press and public relations for the ministry, Henshaw Ogubike.

Sambo said that the rail line, which will begin in Nigeria’s Kano State and terminate in the Niger Republic’s Maradi, will make it easier to achieve the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, to which both Nigeria and the Niger Republic are signatories.

“I am aware that people have blood relationships across borders. So, the project will expand the historical cultural relationship between the people of Nigeria and those of the Niger Republic. The project is also very important in enhancing inter-nation and continental trade.”

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According to Article 3 of the Memorandum of Understanding, he stated that a technical committee would be established within seven days. He also stated that the technical committee would be inaugurated and its members nominated by the first week of February 2023.

Sambo added that following the official opening, the technical committee would be in charge of facilitating and carrying out the project.

Sambo was backed up earlier by Alma Oumarou, the Republic of Niger’s Minister of Transportation, who asserted that the rail project will deepen cultural links between the two nations and generate employment.

The Kano-Maradi train line has been under construction for the past two years, according to Dr. Magdalene Ajani, Permanent Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Transportation, who also noted that the signing of the MoU would hasten the project’s completion.