ABU Zaria Golden Handshake
with China: Transferring Railway Engineering Technology to Nigeria
“Buy one, get one free (BOGOF)” is a
popular slogan in advertisement media, which entices customers to purchase such
items even when they initially didn’t plan to do so. As an advertisement blitz
for a new item coming to the market and wishing to conquer it, one can
understand why sometimes producers/manufacturers may sell below the production cost
of their products to gain market acceptability. What if the product is well
accepted by market and is highly competitive? Then, the scenario becomes not
only innovative but also very astounding and amazing. This is exactly the
scenario that can best describe the “ABU Zaria Golden Handshake with China”.
Some Students of Ahmadu Bello University Zaria are on their way to obtaining
two degrees from two distinguished universities for a 5–year engineering degree
programme study. Ordinarily, a student must spend 5 – year period satisfactorily
to earn an engineering degree of any discipline but the ABU handshake with Central
South University of China is making it possible for these students to earn
degrees of ABU and CSU simultaneously. This program, christened “3+2”, is equivalent
to buy-one-and-get-one-free as announced by the Director of Academic Planning,
ABU, Prof M. F. Isiaku during the farewell programme for the first batch of
students to enjoy this “bonus”. To the best
of my knowledge, this is a new innovation, which is unparalleled in the history
of educational system in Nigeria. What does “3+2” mean? What need is “3+2”
designed to address? How did the journey of “3+2” start? These questions and
few others will expose the light at the end of the tunnel and bring the bright
future destination of “3+2” journey to focus.
Customarily, five years is the duration for
undergraduate engineering degree program in Universities in Nigeria and many
other countries. Thus, “3+2” (equals to five years) is an innovative strategy,
which awards two degrees of engineering after spending three years in Ahmadu Bello
University Zaria and two years in Central South University in China. One
admission, two degree certificates in two engineering disciplines from two
famous universities (ABU and SCU) in two different continents and in two
different languages (English and Chinese). The beneficiaries of “3+2” are
certainly going to experience two different worlds and secure universal
knowledge to play both worlds efficiently for the benefits of mankind
especially Africans and Chinese. “3+2” is a program targeting top class 300 –
level students of Mechanical and Civil Engineering Departments of ABU Zaria.
The students of Civil Engineering would be awarded Bachelor of Engineering (Civil
Eng) from ABU Zaria and Bachelor of Engineering (Railway Eng) from SCU China
after successful completion of the “3+2” programme. Similarly, students from
Mechanical Engineering Department would be awarded Bachelor of Engineering
(Mechanical Eng) from ABU Zaria and Bachelor of Engineering (Equipment and
Control Eng) from SCU China after successful completion.
The “3+2” programme was conceived
essentially to address the urgent and pressing developmental need for efficient
mass transportation in Nigeria and the rest of Africa –, particularly railway
system. Road transport is the most common means of transportation in Nigeria. It
is relatively affordable and readily available even in the remotest parts of
the country. Road transport however, faces myriad of problems stemming from decaying
transport infrastructure and poor maintenance culture of Nigerians in general. Potholes
are a common occurrence on Nigerian roads. The poor state of the roads and
other infrastructure lead to accidents with high toll deaths and injuries.
Early this year, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported 2,598 deaths from
road accidents within a six month period between October, 2017 and March, 2018.
The breakdown showed that 1, 306 people died in road accidents in the fourth
quarter of 2017 while 1, 292 others died in accidents in the first quarter of
2018. This is because there is too much pressure on the few good roads existing
in far aparts.
The other two common means of
transportation in Nigeria are railway and air aside waterways in riverine and
coastal areas. While the railway system is grossly inadequate and inefficient, air
transport is the most risky with catalogue of challenges; high fares, fight
delays, poorly maintained and failing
infrastructures and mostly unaffordable to many Nigerians. Generally, lack of
funds limits initiatives to invest in variety of other means of transportation
such as cruise boats, monorails, trams and underground transportation systems making
them all sound like myths and impracticable. Considering the level of our
national development, Railway system is the most viable means of mass transportation
of people, goods and and services that is why the “3+2” program was conceived.
Kudos to ABU Zaria and National University Commission for being amenable to
accept this giant breakthrough.
As stated by the Director of Academic
Planning, Prof. Isiaku, “railway is a critical pivot on which every nation’s
economic growth depends”. I cannot but agree with him because transportation
and logistics account for significant cost of production in developing countries
like Nigeria. However, the robustness of railway system and its huge capacity
to efficiently transport goods and people in a safe and most economically
viable manner can significantly reduce cost of production. An improved railway
system will certainly enhance national productivity in a sustainable manner. Prof. Isiaku reminded the audience that
Nigeria enjoyed the services of railway system under the colonial
administration and postcolonial period as the system was functioning
efficiently with the technical support of the colonial masters. When the
support was withdrawn, railway system began to collapse gradually until it
grounded to a complete halt, robbing many young Nigerians the benefits of enjoying
such services. Historically, Nigerians
older than 45 years of age can recall that after Nigeria became independent
from Great Britain, the colonial-era railways progressively fell into a state
of disrepair. Passenger traffic on the Nigerian railways fell from 11 million
in 1964, when the Nigerian population was barely 42 million people to 1.6
million in 2003 when the Population increased to 110 million people. Freight
traffic almost collapsed, falling from 3 million tons in 1964 to less than 100,000
tons in 2000. In early 2013, it took 31 hours for passenger trains to travel
between Lagos and Kano, at an average speed of just 45 km/hr. one can imagine
colossal cost to the passengers. In 2006, the Nigerian government awarded an
$8.3 billion contract to the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC)
to construct a standard gauge railway from Lagos to Kano. The railway is being
built in segments. Only the segment between Abuja and Kaduna has been completed
so far, and services began officially in July 2016. The segment between Lagos
and Ibadan is under construction.
As a citadel of learning, ABU Zaria studied
the situation and the trend of events in the transportation sector,
particularly the railway technology, took advantage of the government’s
commitment to revive the railway sector and then conceived the “3+2” program. The
program is a product of strategic thinking of the egg–heads of the ABU academia
aimed at developing indigenous railway technology and manpower in Nigeria at
shortest possible time. It is a strategic plan to make Nigeria lead African
nations in the development of railway technology with active collaboration of
the People Republic of China. “3+2” Program perfectly synchronizes the implementation
of African Union’s “Vision 2040” for Railway Revitalization in Africa, which
was adopted by the AU member states in June 2014. Part of AU’s Vision 2040 is the
creation of an integrated high-speed train network that connects all African
capitals and commercial centers on the continent, facilitating the movement of
goods, people and services. Compared to other continents, Africa is the least
interconnected thus hampering trade. “Until we begin to connect our countries,
our trade will not be meaningful in terms of making a dent in the development
that we need to undertake,” says Adama Deen, Head of Infrastructure at NEPAD,
as quoted by Construction and Civil Engineering News publication of January
2018. Hopefully, very soon, one may hear that the Chief Executive Officers of
Railway Corporations for Kenyan, Tanzania, Malawi and similar African countries
are Nigerians and products of “3+2” program.
Can ABU and CSU achieve “3+2” program based on their track records of
academic quality? The pioneer set of 45 students who had already spent their
first 3 years in ABU have started their sojourn, they are already in China and
heading to Central South University, China for the remaining 2 years. Who is
the brain behind the progress of “3+2” program so far? Professor Ibrahim Garba,
the inexorable and visionary Vice Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University can
deservedly be credited with the initiation and exponential progress of “3+2”
program (To be continued next week)
No comments:
Post a Comment