Traders and residents of Dawanau, Kano State, have staged a protest over what they described as inadequate and unpaid compensation for properties demolished in the ongoing Kano-Maradi railway project.
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The demonstrators, mostly traders from the bustling Dawanau Grains Market, gathered at the project site on Thursday to express their grievances, lamenting the handling of the compensation process. Some affected individuals claimed they had received insufficient payments, while others alleged they had not been compensated at all despite their properties being marked for demolition.
Nura Muhammad, one of the affected traders, voiced his frustration, warning that more properties were set to be demolished. He called on President Bola Tinubu, Deputy Senate President Barau Jibrin, and other key stakeholders to intervene before further damage was done to their livelihoods.
The Kano-Maradi railway project, a 248-kilometer standard gauge railway linking Nigeria and Niger Republic, is a major infrastructure initiative valued at $1.9 billion. Funded through a loan from the Export-Import Bank of China, with counterpart funding from the Nigerian government, the project aims to enhance trade, reduce transportation costs, and boost economic development in the region.
