Lagos calabar rail betrayal

Reports has it that the N60 billion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Rail Project proposed in the 2016 budget by President Muhammadu Buhari was expunged from the Appropriation Bill passed by the National Assembly.

The Calabar - Lagos coastal rail line is expected to link Calabar - Uyo - Port Harcourt - Otueke - Asaba - Benin - Lagos.

This project is of monumental economic benefits to the people of the Niger Delta region. So why expunge it from the 2016 budget?

Interestingly, the National Assembly approved the Lagos-Kano rail project, which had a proposed budget of N100 billion. N40 billion meant for the Lagos-Calabar rail project was then added to the Lagos-Kano rail project to make it N140 billion.

The balance of N40 billion was reportedly distributed to projects located in the Northern part of the country, mainly roads – many of which are said to be located in the constituencies of the Appropriation Committee Chairmen in the Senate and House of Representatives, Senator Danjuma Goje and Hon. Abdulmumini Jibrin, respectively. While Goje hails from Gombe, Jubrin is from Kano State.

My question:

Where was Senator Godswill Akpabio, the Senate Minority Leader, when this injustice against the people of the South South region was executed? After telling Akwa Ibom people that the APC wants to take their oil (which is a stupid argument) the likes of Akpabio will connive to deprive their people of their rights in the country.

Is it not shameful that the Senate Minority Leader is from the region where the Calabar - Lagos rail project was meant for? Whose interest is Godswill Akpabio representing in the National Assembly?

Supporters of Akpabio do not have any love for Buhari. They hate the president with passion. But this is a project that the president proposed for the benefit of Akwa Ibom State and the South South region. Yet, Akpabio colluded with his colleagues to remove it from the budget.

What a shame