AKTS TO RESUME SOON AMID ADEQUATE SECURITY MEASURES – FG

The Federal Government has disclosed that adequate short and long-term security measures have been put in place to ensure the safety of lives and properties on the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor, following the unfortunate incident of the March 28 attack on a moving passenger train by terrorists.

The Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Jaji Sambo made this known yesterday when he embarked on an inspection tour to assess the state of readiness of the train service to commence operations.

The Minister elucidated some of the security measures to include: increased military personnel, Monitoring Gadgets.”I travelled from Idu to Rigasa to assess the state of readiness of train services between Abuja and Kaduna. Several measures have been put in place to ensure that life and property will be secured when we resume services and I am satisfied with what I have seen,” the Minister said.Speaking further, Sambo said: “I want to assure the public that whatever is humanely possible to secure the lives of the users of the train service have been put in place and we will continue to upgrade it.

We will be monitoring it daily and improve on whatever we’ve put in place “.According to him, some of the measures include the fact that without National Identification Number (NIN) and a valid phone number, one cannot purchase a ticket. ” If you don’t have a NIN, you are not going to board our train. If you are a minor, an adult will register for you and an adult can only register for 4 minors”, Sambo said.

This he further explained puts paid to the issue of ticket racketeering as the NIN is the exclusive details of one person and cannot be shared, adding that entrance to the trains is only guaranteed if the barcode is verified as belonging to the bearer. He explains: “Having secured your ticket, you will not get access to the lounge until the machine reads the barcode on your receipt. Thereafter your complete profile will show on the screen. Only then will you be allowed to go into the lounge. This is what we call customer profiling”. As regards foreigners, Sambo said they must also have a means of identification from the National Identity Card Management Commission (NIMC) that will qualify them to Board the trains.

On the readiness of the line to commence operations, the Minister said: “we want to give sufficient time for adequate enlightenment of the New System before we start”.Still, on the issue of safety, the Minister said: “My assurance to Nigerians is that even I will be using the train, and some of my counterparts who have homes in Kaduna, from next week they will start using this train so I am giving Nigerians full assurance that a human being can give that this train is safe for them to be used. There is absolutely nothing to fear. We have learnt from what has happened and life is about learning lessons and adopting measures to deal with such lessons. As a responsible government, we have seen those lessons and we have devised appropriate measures to counter them. like I always said in the past the service will not resume until everybody in captivity was released and to the glory of God that has been achieved”.

The Minister was accompanied on the inspection tour by the Honourable Minister of  Water Resources, Engr. Suleiman Hussein Adamu, Honourable Minister of State for Transportation, Prince Ademola Adegoroye and Directors of the Federal Ministry of Transportation.

Anastasia Ogbonna

Deputy Director, Press & Public Relations

November 28, 2022

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