Nigeria’s Senate has approved China Development Bank as the new financier for the country’s Kaduna-Kano rail project at a cost of $973 million after another Chinese lender withdrew from the project in 2020, lawmakers said on Tuesday.
The national assembly had in 2020 approved China’s Exim Bank as financier for the rail project, which was lumped in with the government’s external borrowing plan of $22.8 billion, before the bank withdrew.
Nigeria’s lower house of parliament has also approved the new financier, which will grant a 15-year loan to the rail project at an interest rate of 2.7%.
President Muhammadu Buhari made upgrading Nigeria’s transport network and improving outdated power grids the pillar of his administration, with a view to boosting agriculture and other non-oil industries to cut dependence on dwindling crude revenues. But funding has been a major constraint.
Nigeria’s parliament has approved several billions of dollars in project-tied loans from Chinese and other international lenders but funds have yet to materialize.
In 2022, Nigeria approached Standard Chartered Bank for a loan to fund the Kano-to-Maradi line, which will connect northern states Kano, Jigawa and Katsina, after delays from Chinese lenders. But the government has now turned back to China for funding.
Nigeria’s poor transport and power networks have stymied economic growth for decades, holding back the distribution of wealth in Africa’s biggest economy, where 40% of people live below the national poverty line.
Buhari will leave office in May after handing over to president-elect Bola Tinubu, who has promised to tackle a litany of problems, including double-digit inflation and industrial-scale oil theft that has hampered an economy trying to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic.
![Rev. Fr. Anthony Odiong, a US-based Nigerian Louisiana Catholic priest, was arrested in Florida on Tuesday for possessing child pornography, according to law authorities. The suspect is reportedly accused of many other cases of sexual assault. The Waco, Texas, Police Department announced in a Facebook post on Tuesday that officers detained Father Anthony Odiong in Ave Maria, Florida, with assistance from the United States Marshals Service. Waco police announced in March that they had received "credible information" about a sexual assault allegedly committed by Odiong in Texas in 2012. “During the subsequent investigation, a case of possession of child pornography was uncovered,” the police said. The priest was apprehended in Florida by the Caribbean Regional Fugitive Task Force. The Waco Police Department said that he will be extradited to Texas. Odiong had previously served in the Archdiocese of New Orleans before being removed as priest in December of last year due to controversy over homilies in which he claimed, among other things, that the Catholic Church was being taken over by "the gays." At the time, the priest was also accused of abusive behaviour; a Louisiana lady claimed in U.S. bankruptcy court that Odiong had committed both financial and sexual abuse against her. Prior to joining the New Orleans Archdiocese, Odiong served in at least two Texas parishes. On Tuesday, Waco police stated that during their sexual assault investigation, "the presence of other survivors was revealed." “Multiple women have come forward to tell similar experiences as the sexual assault survivor who reported the initial allegation,” the police department said. “Survivors’ experiences ranged from sexual assault and indecent assault, more commonly recognised as groping, and financial abuse, with some survivors experiencing every element of Anthony Odiong’s manipulation.” The police said they “believe there may be more survivors, and we wish to speak with anyone who [has] had similar encounters” with the priest. The Archdiocese of New Orleans issued a brief news release on Tuesday noting Odiong's arrest in Florida. The archdiocese “encourages anyone with any information to contact law enforcement,” the release said.](https://chronicle.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ezgif-6-4730550ede-450x300.jpg "Odiong: US-based Nigerian Catholic priest convicted over sexual assault")
