{"id":113454,"date":"2024-03-17T20:15:27","date_gmt":"2024-03-17T19:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/uncategorized\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line"},"modified":"2024-03-17T22:41:35","modified_gmt":"2024-03-17T21:41:35","slug":"nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line","title":{"rendered":"Nigerian Govt responds to backlash over MoU with UK firm for PH-Abuja rail line"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. <\/strong><\/span>The Federal Government has reacted to the controversy surrounding the Memorandum of Understand, MoU, it entered with Messrs MPH Rail Development Limited, a United Kingdom, UK, firm.<\/p>\n

The MoU which was signed by the Ministry of Transport on March 13, 2024, was for the building of the Port Harcourt\u2013Enugu\u2013Calabar\u2013Abuja Standard Gauge Rail Line.<\/p>\n

Upon the announcement of the MoU, some Nigerians took to their social media handles, particularly X, to express concerns over the UK firm\u2019s capacity to deliver the project, saying the company is new in the rail construction industry.<\/p>\n

The critics also pointed out the need to revisit an existing project as noted by a former presidential aide, Tolu Ogunlesi, who stated that there\u2019s already a Warri\u2014Itakpe Standard Gauge Rail.<\/p>\n

Ogunlesi suggested an extension of the existing route from Warri to Port Harcourt and from Itakpe to Abuja to get Port Harcourt \u2014 Abuja Standard Gauge Rail.<\/p>\n

Responding to the controversy, Minister of Transportation, Sa\u2019idu Ahmed Alkali, in a statement issued on Sunday by Olujimi Oyetomi, Director, Press and Public Relations of the Ministry, explained that the initiative was still at its preliminary stage.<\/p>\n

Parts of the statement read, \u201cFor clarity, a Memorandum of Understanding or MoU is a non-binding agreement that states each party\u2019s intentions to take actions, conduct a business transaction or form a new relationship.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is not a legal binding agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt provides only a platform for further agreement, discussion, scrutiny and the provisions of required guarantees by the parties to reach agreement if the parties are satisfied.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MoU in question arose from an unsolicited proposal presented by the British African Business Alliance, BABA, an association based in the United Kingdom with interest in businesses in Africa. It\u2019s proposal was initially submitted to the ministry on 27th August 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs required, the business, Outline Business Case was submitted to the Infrastructure Concession and Regulatory Commission, ICRC, on 8th December 2023. The major attraction of the proposal is BABA\/MPH\u2019s initiative to achieve 100% private sector funding for the project with no loans or debt to the Nigerian government or any of its agencies as captured in the Article 3.3 of the MoU.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe regulatory Commission on 27 December 2023 granted approval and issued a conditional OBC Certification. It is pertinent to note at this juncture that COVID-19 was a major contributor to the time lag between the initial proposal and the ICRC OBC Certification\u201d.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Nigeria<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Nigeria. The Federal Government has reacted to the controversy surrounding the Memorandum of Understand, MoU, it entered with Messrs MPH Rail Development Limited, a United Kingdom, UK, firm. The MoU which was signed by the Ministry of Transport on March 13, 2024, was for the building of the Port Harcourt\u2013Enugu\u2013Calabar\u2013Abuja Standard Gauge Rail […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":113453,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,14],"tags":[1570,2140,254,227],"class_list":["post-113454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-nigeria-2","tag-nigeria","tag-nigerian-govt"],"yoast_head":"\nNigerian Govt responds to backlash over MoU with UK firm for PH-Abuja rail line - Nigeria<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Federal Government has reacted to the controversy surrounding the Memorandum of Understand, MoU, it entered with Mes ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Nigerian Govt responds to backlash over MoU with UK firm for PH-Abuja rail line\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Federal Government has reacted to the controversy surrounding the Memorandum of Understand, MoU, it entered with Mes ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Nigeria\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-03-17T19:15:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-17T21:41:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2024\/03\/sm_1710695137.180869.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Nigerian Govt responds to backlash over MoU with UK firm for PH-Abuja rail line\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-03-17T19:15:27+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-17T21:41:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line\"},\"wordCount\":428,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/sites\/3\/2024\/03\/sm_1710695137.180869.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Nigeria\",\"Nigeria\",\"Nigerian Govt\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/nigeria\/policy\/nigerian-govt-responds-to-backlash-over-mou-with-uk-firm-for-ph-abuja-rail-line\",\"name\":\"Nigerian Govt responds to backlash over MoU with UK firm for PH-Abuja rail line - 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