Tuesday, 27 November 2018

A.U:TRANS AFRICAN SUPER HIGHWAY BADLY NEEDED

A.U:TRANS AFRICAN SUPER HIGHWAY BADLY NEEDED
BY ABDULMUMINI ADEKU,LAGOS,NIGERIAImage result for nigerian railway modernization project
 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?

No comments:

Post a Comment