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Nigeria’s Transport Minister Just Said the Quiet Part Out Loud: China’s No Longer Funding Large-Scale Railways in Africa

by Eric Olander
File photo of Nigerian Transportation Minister Rotimi Amaechi. PIUS UTOMI EKPEI / AFP

Nigerian Transportation Minister and likely presidential candidate, Rotimi Amaechi, publicly acknowledged what’s been widely known: that China is no longer in the business of financing massive, multi-billion railway projects in Nigeria.

“We are stuck with lots of our projects because we cannot get money. The Chinese are no longer funding,” he told The Guardian newspaper (Nigeria). “So, we are now pursuing money in Europe,” he added.

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