Travellers on the Abuja and Kaduna route can heave a sigh of relief after the minister of transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, reiterated yesterday that the Abuja-Kaduna train service will resume this November.
The resumption of the rail service will no doubt revive economic activities in and around the railway stations.
Before the terrorist attacks that grounded the rail service in March, small-scale traders survived on train passengers’ patronage.
The minister gave the hint on the resumption of train service while giving account of his stewardship in the ministry in Abuja yesterday.
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has suffered massive revenue losses as total income revenue generated from passengers dropped by N1.48 billion in the second quarter of 2022, representing a decline of 71 per cent when compared with the first quarter (Q1) of 2022.
This is coming after the minister had stated in October that the train services were resuming in November with short term plans to contain the security challenges. He, however, failed to give a specific date for the resumption of the train services within the month of November.
He said adequate security had been put in place to ensure the safety of passengers.
Sambo said the ministry had learnt enough lessons from the attack on March 28 which claimed the lives of several passengers leading to the suspension of train service on the Abuja-Kaduna route.
Scores of passengers were abducted and at least nine passengers were killed during the attack. Many of the abducted passengers spent months in captivity before they were released.
The federal government secured the release of the last batch of 23 kidnapped hostages in October and promised to resume services on the train route after adequate security measures were put in place.
“The Abuja-Kaduna mishap was very sad. And by the grace of God, we shall not witness anything like that again, not only because we have committed that to prayer but also deliberately taken steps to avoid future occurrence.
“Lessons have been learned and these lessons will be put into place. What are the lessons, safety and security surveillance, constant monitoring 24/7 and seven days a week, 12 months a year, all around the clock. The minister should be able to sit in his office and look at the rail corridor and see what is happening there.
”The president should be able to do that. The director-general of the State Security Service (SSS) should be able to do that and so on and all other security agencies. These are the measures we have put in place. Nobody will again shave our heads behind our backs.
”This month of November, we shall resume that service. Remember, I told you that we will not resume this service until every Nigerian held in captivity is reunited with their families. God has made that possible for security agencies in this country, under the able leadership and support of Mr. President has made that possible,” he said.
