According to the Federal Government, train service between Abuja and Kaduna would start up again in November.
This was announced by the minister of transportation, Mu’azu Sambo, on Monday in Abuja while delivering his ministry’s scorecard.
He claimed that sufficient security had been put in place to guarantee the wellbeing of the travelers.
However, the minister did not state when the rail will start running.
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.
The FG had said that the Abuja-Kaduna rail lines would remain shut until those held captives by bandits were released.
Speaking to journalists in Lagos in late September, the Managing Director, Nigeria Railway Corporation, Fidet Okhiria, disclosed this.
He noted that the corporation had restored the damaged rolling stock and fixed the track, but the train service would not resume without the safe release of the remaining passengers held hostage.
“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.”
