A.U:TRANS AFRICAN SUPER HIGHWAY
BADLY NEEDED
BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU,LAGOS,NIGERIA
A rail track that will link the over 50
African nations save for the Islands of the likes of Comoros ,Madagascar, Reunion,
Mauritius ,Equatorial Guinea and Sao Tome and Principe is now believed to be in high demand if Africa's urge to fight for a chunk of
global industrialization is to be taken seriously by analysts..
Checks by The News office Desk of
the E.N.M.Paedia Express Multimedia Group of Lagos,Nigeria ,shows that the
project when it will come on stream should help to propel the African continent
positively on the ladder of growth as
far as industrialization was concerned..
An impeccable source and a public affairs
analyst recently jolted this reporter's
consciousness to the impact this kind of project can have on the continent of
Africa when he pointed out that if nations on the West coast were connected by
rail tracks ,he was 100 percent sure that a journey from Lagos to Abidjan
should not be more than 4 hours as against 48 hours by road presently.
The source also insisted that it was
because of this type of railway accessibility in Eastern Africa that has now made the economies of states like Kenya,Tanzania,Uganda and
Ethiopia to be ranked among st the fastest growing globally by the famous Breton
Woods sisters.
In a related issue,yet another
source also told this reporter that he did not see how the African Union [A.U.]could make the nations to
come together for such a huge project because of France.
He accused France of severe culpability in several
affairs of its old colonies thus helping to impoverish Africa.
He insisted France's assimilation
policy was skewed into favoring the former.
His words:"France has not being
good to Africa in terms of her
developments ,they have refused to lay off her old colonies despite the fact
that they were supposed to be independent"
"imagine they will sell exports
on their behalf to other nations in the European Union and other places and
instead of allowing them to do things themselves they will still deduct from the eventual
sales that they make on their behalf to
form their own revenue base"
The source affirmed that except if the
African Union prevailed on development partners like The World Bank group,The
International Monetary Fund [I.M.F.]The African Development Bank [A.D.B]among st
others ,the projects may likely not see the light of the day at all.
The source added that it was
France's behind the scene moves on Africa that helped nipped in the bud the
planned single West African single currency by the Economic Community of West
African States [E.C.O.W.A.S] as a case study to buttress his line of argument
due to its preferred currency ,C.F.A
It is a known fact that in between 5
to 10 hours duration ,the entire European Union can be criss- crossed from as
far as the English Channel to Siberia and this is because of the excellent transport
systems available to most of the nations.
According to the encyclopedia
Britannica dictionary of 1768,the development of railways is one of the
greatest landmarks of the 19th century ,construction of the first railways on
the African continent started in 1952 in Egypt specifically between Alexandria
and Cairo .
Reports are abound of people living
with their immediate family members in Liverpool ,The United Kingdom and yet commute by rail to London everyday due
to excellence in the field of transportation.
Football and Sports executive:Sunday
Oliseh at some point in his football playing career was living in Belgium with
his wife and children but yet went to
Cologne and Borussia Dortmund just across the border in Germany every morning
for training ,playing of matches among st
other reasons.
All of this in good times too
,however the million dollar question remains when Africa can benefit from this
type of initiative?
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