{"id":2031,"date":"2025-02-15T10:13:13","date_gmt":"2025-02-15T10:13:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/?p=2031"},"modified":"2025-02-15T10:13:13","modified_gmt":"2025-02-15T10:13:13","slug":"2025-budgetsenator-umeh-raises-alarm-over-omission-of-south-east-south-south-north-east-from-light-rail-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/2025\/02\/15\/2025-budgetsenator-umeh-raises-alarm-over-omission-of-south-east-south-south-north-east-from-light-rail-project\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Budget:Senator Umeh raises alarm over omission of South-East, South- South, North East from Light Rail project"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Apparently disturbed by the glaring exclusion of the Light Rail project popularly known as “Eastern rail line” that cuts across South South, South East and North East geopolitical zones of the country in the 2025 budget, Senator Victor Umeh expressed serious concern over the omissions.<\/div>\n
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The lawmaker had on 23rd of November, 2023, sponsored a motion that was passed on the floor of the Senate which was co-sponsored by 35 Senators on the need to construct standard gauge rail from Port Harcourt through Aba, Makurdi, to Maiduguri and yet\u00a0 no provision was made in the 2025 budget that was passed on Thursday.<\/div>\n
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Senator Umeh had before the commencement of final consideration of the Appropriation Bill at the Committee on Supply by the Senate after it had had an Executive session on the passage of the budget raised a point of Order on the obvious omission of the Eastern rail line project in the budget in an attempt to see whether the upper chamber would see reason with him and factor this item in the budget but it was like crying over a spoilt milk.<\/div>\n
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His submission reads in part,”Last year, I raised an observation that there was an omission. And that omission was the non-provision of huge sum of money for the construction of standard gauge rail from South South through South East, , North Central, North West because of Kafanchan in Kaduna Sate and then, North East.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0“I said that that corridor has no functional railway system, and none has been constructed there. It has been abandoned. And I was thinking that this bill would incorporate the need to build that railway. Also, drawing from the fact that on the 23rd of November, 2023, I sponsored a motion here and co-sponsored by 35 Senators on this corridor, on the need to construct standard gauge rail from Port Harcourt through Aba, Makurdi, to Maiduguri and no provision was made.<\/div>\n
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“You recall that you were presiding on that date, and you told me that until the breakdown comes out, that you might not be sure that that provision was not made.<\/div>\n
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\u00a0“We waited and the breakdown came out, and that rail line has zero allocation; no money for that railway line. We took it up at the Committee level, Senator Adamu Aliero will bear me witness, the Minister could not give any satisfactory answer. Now, the President has made additional appropriation request up to four point something trillion, itemizing projects that will be built with the funds, particularly the transportation infrastructure provision of N700 billion.<\/div>\n
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“For rails, N300 billion, N400 billion for light rail development in urban centers. That light rail line was also omitted again out of the N4.5 trillion. I said that those people who are using this rail line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri have been abandoned again.”<\/div>\n
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\u00a0Continuing he said,”And this last provision in this budget, not even a dime was put on that railway line and it’s not acceptable to our people. So, am standing again to say, even though we are at the point of passing this budget, the Senate should take appropriate note on this.”<\/div>\n
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” The President of the Senate, you have to intervene. Any time the President brings a request here, this Senate will consider it. So, that Eastern rail line has to be accommodated in this programme, yes, for the good of this country, and the good of all.<\/div>\n
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“I therefore, raise a motion that the next supplementary budget that will be brought to this National Assembly should come with that.”<\/div>\n
Responding to Senator Umeh motion, the Presiding President of the Senate who also doubles as Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Barau Jibrin explained that the matter was raised by Senator Umeh at their closed door session and assured that it would be communicated to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure that it would be included in the supplementary Budget.<\/div>\n
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“This matter was raised during the executive session and it was agreed that this matter will be communicated to the President, and we will work in conjunction with the Executive, to ensure that the matter is addressed. So, this matter has been resolved and appropriate action will be taken,he noted.<\/div>\n
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Again commenting on the subject matter at his resumed sitting to preside over the plenary, President of the Senate, Senator Godswill Akpabio further re-echoed the importance of Senator Umeh’s cry for inclusion of the Eastern Rail Line project in the supplementary because of it huge economic benefits to the three geopolitical zones in particular and Nigerians in general.<\/div>\n
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He said,The issue raised by Senator Umeh affects the three zones: South South is involved, South East is involved and North East is also involved. When I was a young person, less than ten years, I took train from Aba all the way to Zaria to attend interview in the Nigeria Military School.<\/div>\n
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“So, we will take it up with the Executive so that it will be included in the Appropriation Act. It will ease movement and create employment opportunities and assist in the movement of goods and services. So, I thank you for your motion and I thank our colleagues for their contributions.”<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Apparently disturbed by the glaring exclusion of the Light Rail project popularly known as “Eastern rail line” that cuts across South South, South East and North East geopolitical zones of the country in the 2025 budget, Senator Victor Umeh expressed serious concern over the omissions. The lawmaker had on 23rd of November, 2023, sponsored a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2032,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[219,1236,1238,1239,767,1237,1058],"class_list":["post-2031","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-economy","tag-budget","tag-eastern","tag-line","tag-omission","tag-project","tag-rail","tag-supplementary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2031"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2033,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2031\/revisions\/2033"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyechoes.ng\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}