“In what could best be described as a major milestone for Nigeria at the ongoing Belt and Road Initiative Forum (BRF) in Beijing, China has committed to refinancing and completing the Abuja-Kano and Port Harcourt-Maiduguri railway projects,” announced the office of Nigeria’s Vice President Kashim Shettima on Oct. 18 at their bilateral meeting in Beijing on Oct. 18.
Shettima attended the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in lieu of President Bola Tinubu. He indicated that President Xi Jinping personally made the commitment, and that it was done “while responding to requests” made by the Tinubu administration. It got significant coverage throughout the Nigerian media.
The central, north-south “Abuja-Kanu” line is relatively short (400 km) and is already half-way completed; but the Port Harcourt-to-Maiduguri line is a monumental 1,443 km, fully transversing the eastern Nigerian border with Cameroon, to Maiduguri, the capital city of Borno State. Nigeria had given up on modernizing this old colonial rail line after China backed off financing it in 2018. They waited a full year for private financing to take on the task, and then decided in 2022 to refurbish the route at lower, but cheaper meter gauge route (MGR) standards. Significantly, this line would serve as a primary transit route for any goods or machinery needed for development of the Lake Chad Basin region.
Shettima had earlier met with China’s President Xi at the Aug. 22-24 BRICS Summit in South Africa, and no doubt raised the topic of standard-gauge railway financing at that time. The VP’s recent statement took special care to mention that Xi was “visibly elated to receive the Nigerian delegation.”
