Nigerian engineer bags $500m monorail contract in Iraq

Jude Igwemezie, a Nigerian engineer has won a $500 million contract to build a monorail network in Iraq. The monorail network will consist of tracks with single rails, typically elevated for the trains to be suspended from it.

Igwemezie’s company, TransGlobim International won the contract to construct a viable rail transportation network for Najaf, Iraq.

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According to Igwemezie, the construction, which would be completed in three years, and built in two phases, would connect three Islamic holy and historic mosques in Imam Ali, Kufa and Sahle, all in the city of Najaf.

The first phase 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.

Speaking on how he was able to get the contract, the Canada-based engineer made it known that he had been in talks with the Iraq officials to get the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) executed. This he said took him only two months to get.

Igwemezie was quoted to have said that he had tried getting involved with Nigerian officials to construct several rail lines in the country in the last 18 months all to no avail. This he said frustrated him into looking elsewhere before he got the Iraq offer.

“As a Diaspora person, I kept coming back, knocking, to help Nigeria. On the other hand, I can’t knock forever,” he said.

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Why this matters: Igwemezie’s feat has been celebrated, especially on the media space as a counter-narrative to the soiled image that Nigerians abroad have been marked for in recent times.

More so, this feat will give other Nigerians the power to go elsewhere to fulfil their ambition and realise their potentials.