THE Federal Government has stated that train service between Abuja and Kaduna would begin again in November.
This was announced by the minister of transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, today in Abuja while delivering his ministry’s performance report.
According to reports from Channels Television, he stated that sufficient security had been put in place to protect the safety of the passengers.
However, the minister did not state when precisely the rail will begin to run.
Remember that following a terrorist attack on a moving passenger train in Kaduna on March 28, 2022 that resulted in multiple fatalities and numerous passenger abductions, the Nigerian Railway Corporation discontinued train operations along the route.
Later, the prisoners were freed one by one until everyone had been set free.
And according to Fidet Okhiria, the managing director of Nigeria Railway Corporation, who revealed in late September, the FG, had stated that the rail lines between Abuja and Kaduna would be closed until the bandits’ captives were freed.
He stated that the company had repaired the track and restored the damaged rolling stock, however, the train services would not be resumed until the remaining hostages were safely released.
“Government has set up a committee to ensure maximum security for both train passengers and facilities during operation.
“We believe proper security measures should be put in place and until then, the Federal Government won’t approve the functioning of the train station.
“The minister of transportation is leading the struggle for the safe release of those still in captivity. We could not go with force to ensure no one loses their life. We are talking about present-day technology so that we can have real-time monitoring and deploying a lot of security agencies to be at strategic locations.
“We have made several visits to the Inspector General of Police, to the ministry for information, and we are working together to ensure that Nigerians are safe, not just the rail users. Anytime they release some people, we crosscheck from our manifest to ensure that their names are on the manifest and we do the report to the appropriate authority.”
