Nigerian to build Iraqi railway

A Nigerian engineer, Jude Igwemezie, has won a $500 million contract to build a monorail network in Iraq.

Mr. Igwemezie trained and lives in Canada; he also heads TransGlobim International, the engineering company that won the bid. The contract is to construct what is described as “a viable rail transportation network” for the city of Najaf. The network will connect three Islamic holy and historic mosques in Imam Ali, Kufa and Sahle.

--- Hinting at his frustration to offer his services to Nigeria, Mr. Igwemezie said, “as a Diaspora person, I kept coming back, knocking, to help Nigeria. On the other hand I can’t knock forever.”

Problem of railway in Nigeria

Mr. Igwemezie, who wants to build a standard guage railway system from Lagos to Calabar, believes that Nigeria is a place where railway service is going to be “profitable and successful because of its size and population and because we have a demography similar to that in Europe”. However, he said, the bane of railway in Nigeria is that “we have brought the wrong people to help us”.

http://234next.com/csp/cms/sites/Next/Home/5465440-146/story.csp

If his name was Jason Smith, he would have gotten the contract - the Nigerian government would rather deal with a non-Nigerian. And the main reason is corruption, they'll get more kick-backs from a foreign company with no ties to nigeria. The shameful reality of our so called leaders.

Guy you for post the full article


Nigerian to build Iraqi railway

By Nicholas Ibekwe


September 30, 2009 07:58AMT
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A Nigerian engineer, Jude Igwemezie, has won a $500 million contract to build a monorail network in Iraq.

Mr. Igwemezie trained and lives in Canada; he also heads TransGlobim International, the engineering company that won the bid. The contract is to construct what is described as “a viable rail transportation network” for the city of Najaf. The network will connect three Islamic holy and historic mosques in Imam Ali, Kufa and Sahle.

Frustration of selling good ideas in Nigeria

An elated Mr. Igwemezie told NEXT in a telephone interview that the project is billed to be completed in three years, and will be built in two phases. The first phase, he said, will cover the design, construction and operation of the system while the second phase will involve the expansion of the system and its extension to the Najaf airport and the final phase.

Mr. Igwemezie, who said he has been involved in negotiation with Nigerian officials in the last 18 months to construct several rail lines in the country, disclosed that it took “only two months to get the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) executed with Iraqi officials”.

Hinting at his frustration to offer his services to Nigeria, Mr. Igwemezie said, “as a Diaspora person, I kept coming back, knocking, to help Nigeria. On the other hand I can’t knock forever.”

Problem of railway in Nigeria

Mr. Igwemezie, who wants to build a standard guage railway system from Lagos to Calabar, believes that Nigeria is a place where railway service is going to be “profitable and successful because of its size and population and because we have a demography similar to that in Europe”. However, he said, the bane of railway in Nigeria is that “we have brought the wrong people to help us”.

Gains of railway

Mr. Igwemezie, who lost his father in a road accident, believes that the railway line will take pressure off the roads and rid them of the unnecessary delays and loss of lives associated with road travel.

He described the Benin-Ore road as “a killing field”, and said with the construction of the East-West corridor, there is no reason why someone who lives in Benin cannot work in Lagos since it will only take two hours on an express line to get to Lagos from Benin.

asha 80:


Guy you for post the full article

Some of the folks on this forum are using mobile to access the net - that's why I provided the link.

Nonetheless, it is ironic - how other countries find the quality of our Engineers, and our government can't look pass their next big kick-back.

citizenY:

Dora no go go call this man now. Na so we suppose to begin rebrand. Not to
go call one cut and nail chinaman to come do contract.

And it is Dora's job to give out contracts?

citizenY:

Dora no go go call this man now. Na so we suppose to begin rebrand. Not to
go call one cut and nail chinaman to come do contract.

O boy, u be idiot.

Just because other people dey talk no mean say you suppose talk.

Sometimes, it pays to keep your ignorance to yourself.

This is good news

IMO this kind of feat is only possible in nigeria whenever we practice true federalism and each region wants to compete or genuinely develop her region.

[b]@Omo-Ibo

Please read between the lines and I do not have anything  against your
Auntie. The idea of rebranding must be total, encompassing Nigerians at
home and abroad and of course non nationals.

In the process, "buy Nigeria" plays a key role. Having a Nigerian, tried and tested
doing us proud means that we must find a way of domiciling this talent. That is all
I am saying. They should consider people like Engr. Jude and Omo -Ibo who are making
waves in the diaspora. We should follow due process but that due process must give
adequate protection for Nigerians.

You will recall that the railway company has been handled by Indians and Chinese before
and I was later to learn that Germans were grabbing railway (metro) contracts
in China. We must also consider our nationals all over the world who are working with British
rail and similar ior allied establishments. Let them chip in. If they meet the standards, why not?

In the light of the foregoing, I consider that the issue of idiocy should be the other way round
as that insult is your only contribution to the issue under discussion. You have nothing to your name
on this subject and so you are not among the "other people wey dey talk" and there is no
better exhibition of ignorance that this. You will realise that I am hesitant to ask why you are outside
our shores as this attitude is not in tune with ur rebranding efforts.

Please have a nice day.
[/b]

a prophet rejected in his own home is accepted somewhere else.

Ask him how much in bribe he paid to the corrupt Iraqi officials and you will know that he is still a Nigerian.

And whats the big deal anyway? He heads TransGlobim, so what? They won the project, so what? What makes the story special? Because he is Nigerian? What is the big deal about that? Low thinking perfidies.

looking through their 'profile' they have worked in nigeria several time, theyve just been unlucky not to win a big contract in nigeria

and im not too sure about the company sef!-judging by the profile alone

Dont mind these NairaLanders, screaming blue murder where un necessary. Because they are Nigeria, so the government should pack all the contract in Nigeria and give to them, sick thinking.