*Assures of safety, security of passengers
The Federal Government has announced the resumption of train services on the Abuja-Kaduna route before the end of November, 8 months after it was suspended following terrorists attack.
The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, announced this on Monday while presenting the score card of his ministry in Abuja.
He said adequate security has been put in place to ensure the safety of passengers.
Sambo did not, however, specify the date of the resumption of the train services.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) suspended train services along the route after terrorists attacked a moving passenger train in Kaduna on March 28, killing several and abducting scores of passengers.
The captives were later released in batches till they were all freed.
Thereafter, the Federal government had declared the Abuja-Kaduna train service suspended until those held captive by bandits were released.
Then, the management of the NRC had said: “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.”