Nasir el-Rufai is just being clever by half in expressing his frustration at not being made a minister by attacking the funding of a rail project in Lagos by the Federal Government.
Under Buhari, Nigeria took out a $2 billion loan to build a railway in Niger Republic. Did el-Rufai complain then? Not at all! Today, that same Niger is now hostile towards Nigeria.
If we can build a railway worth $2 billion (which was 10% of Niger Republic’s GDP as at then) for a foreign country, simply because General Buhari’s father was from Niger Republic, why shouldn’t the Federal Government contribute towards building a railway in Lagos State?
After all, 8% of Nigeria’s population lives in Lagos, while 35% of our GDP comes from Lagos, which contributes ₦44.17 trillion to our economy. How much does Niger Republic contribute to our GDP?
Did the Federal Government under Jonathan not also spend $1.2 billion building the Abuja-Kaduna superfast 187-kilometre railway?
Did el-Rufai register a complaint then? Even el-Rufai himself used government money to pay herdsmen not to kill (they collected the money and increased the killing). But he does not want government money to go towards building infrastructure to benefit Nigerians?
Secondary schools are constitutionally the responsibility of the Federal Government, yet under Jonathan, the Federal Government spent $769 million in building 165 Almajiri Schools in every northern state. Why did El-Rufai not complain then? Why only complain now that the Federal Government is contributing towards a rail project in Lagos State, Nigeria’s commercial capital?
Losing out on being a minister should not make you so demented that you begin to attack a government you once begged to be a part of.
