15/08/2025
Companies have presented the Federal Government with evidence of $60 billion in financial backing for the development of a high-speed railway.
De-Sadel Nigeria Limited, alongside China Liancai Petroleum Investment Holdings Limited, has announced its intentions to initiate the construction of a planned gas development and a 4,000-kilometre high-speed rail project in Nigeria.
In a statement, it was disclosed that the companies presented proof of funds amounting to $60 billion to Sen. George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF).
Samuel Uko, the Chief Executive Officer of De-Sadel Nigeria Limited, announced that financing for the project will be sourced from the Asian Development Investment Bank.
He said, “Today is a very great day in the life of this administration. The high-speed rail bullet train project that we started 10 years ago has gotten a nod from this administration. It is this administration that has given us almost 90 per cent of approvals.
“Today, with our partners, I have just presented the official proof of fund for the project. The fund is coming from the Asian Development Investment Bank and it is to cover the first phase of the project that cuts across four major cities of Nigeria.
“The rail line is from Lagos to Abuja, to Kano, and from Abuja to Port Harcourt. So this is a very great work that the government has done. The federal government of Nigeria, through the ICRC, approved the Outline Business Case (OBC) and the next step was for us to submit the proof of fund to the government, which we just did. So I believe that in the shortest possible time, Nigeria will start enjoying a high-speed rail.
“$60 billion proof of fund has just been submitted to the government through our financial and technical partners. The first phase of the project is $55 billion. So the fund is ready, and the country is ready to move forward with this project.
“You cannot develop high-speed rail without developing the gas aspect of the economy. As we all know, we don’t have enough gas presently. So the raw material for high-speed rail is power. The raw material for power is gas. So we have to develop the gas aspect to be able to access more gas to power the high-speed rail project.
The 1,600 kilometres that cover the four major cities of the country will take us 36 months to build. But we won’t wait until the 36th month. For instance, from Lagos to Lokoja, we will cut across about six states, and when we get to the second or third state, the people from the first two states will start enjoying the speed train. So, it’s going to be in phases. So that is how the project is being structured.”
