CEM ANALYSIS | Repairs on the damaged portion of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line will commence immediately as the Federal Government is considering recruiting locals for security at blackspot areas.
The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, disclosed this in Kaduna on Wednesday during a visit to victims of the attack on a Kaduna-bound train by gunmen.
Amaechi said “following the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to fix the rail and make it usable, the ministry has set modalities in place to commence work immediately.”
Even if the tracks are fixed and operations commenced, passengers’ confidence in the safety of the trains is already injured just the same way Nigerian roads got written off as unsafe, following incessant kidnapping and attacks in recent years.
While revenue losses have be incurred as the train operations are suspended by both Nigerian Railway Corporation and Nigerians who have found the trains economical for business mobility, the attack is a major economic punch on the face of Nigeria already deformed with tales of financial fraud and other internet criminality.
On a global scale, Nigeria does not appear among the 25 top Foreign Direct Investment confidence ranking in the same vein that no African country appear either. Within Africa, countries like Egypt, South Africa and Mauritius are ahead of Nigeria in terms of foreign direct investment confidence.
[READ ALSO] NCR Suspends Train Operations Along Abuja-Kaduna Route
Business Confidence in Nigeria decreased to -15.20 points in December from -1.50 points in November of 2020 as published by Trading Economics. Definitely, such direct economic attack will have more negative impact on the economic development.
A major factor responsible for the low confidence is absence of security for investors and their investment. The last capital importation report by the Bureau of Statistics had FDI contributing only 6% to the total capital inflow.
While Nigerians are supposed to give out a sigh of relief from the dreaded book haram activities, the recent activities just seems to suggest a transition to and adoption of a new mode of operation.
Terrorists’ war on Nigeria is taking a dimension that except drastic counter measures are taken, will set the country’s economy many years backward. I call this ‘strategic attack’ designed to impede the wheels that drive production, erode confidence and crumble the economy’s impetus.
Senior Consultant at PearGrade Consult Limited and Analyst at Continental Economy Magazine Analyst Gabriel Imomoh, has found the dimension worrisome and demand urgent and well calculated actions to include in-depth intelligent investigation to get the persons involved. He expressed the fear of reduced investors’ confidence.
Countries like Afghanistan and Iraq in the Middle East and countries in the Sahel with serious economic injuries due to terrorist activities should be a reference point to understand what impact terrorist attacks such as is currently experiencing in Nigeria can have on a nation.
If the leaders of today fail to tackle this threat to our future headlong with every weapon inventible, Nigeria will enter into irredeemable economic degeneration. This is not the time for unproductive political massaging that have kept this national embarrassment unabated, putting Nigeria on a negative and reprehensible global perception.
