Bandits bomb train, NRC’s N267/month revenue, loan repayment threatened
The 267m generated monthly from the Abuja-Kaduna railway is now under threat following the decision of the Nigeria Railway Corporation to suspend operations following a bomb set off by bandits along the corridor.
The Goodluck Jonathan administration had obtained a $500m loan for the construction of the project, out of which $150m had already been repaid, according to the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi.
However, part of the plan of the regime of the president, Muhammadu Buhari was to use funds generated from the project to offset the loan.
The Kaduna-Abuja railway is currently the largest revenue generating route in the country as it attracts over N267m monthly.
The Managing Director, NRC, Fred Okhiria, had revealed in July that the Abuja-Kaduna route generated an average of N265m monthly, Lagos-Ibadan, 17m monthly, while Warri-Itakpe generated N45m.
Okhiria explained that with the introduction of an additional Diesel Multiple Unit, the corporation had increased the number of train trips between Abuja and Kaduna from 8 to 10 per day just as the trips on that route has been increased from four to six for Wednesdays.
There were also plans to increase the number of goods and passengers conveyed along that but the NRC has halted operations along the Abuja-Kaduna railway corridor, due to an explosion along the Rijana and Dutse end of the track in Kaduna state on Wednesday.
This comes a month after a leaked memo from the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps stated that the Department of States Services had revealed that Boko Haram terrorists are fleeing from Sambisa forest to Rijana Forest in the Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State.
A former Senator from Kaduna State, Shehu Sani, said on his verified Twitter handle that bandits attacked a train on the Abuja-Kaduna Route on Wednesday.
The NRC boss, Okhiria, said on Thursday that services on the route had to be halted in order to carry out thorough investigations on the matter. He, however, promised that services would be restored soon.
Okhiria, however, refuted claims of gunshots aimed at the train driver and the tank of the train.
But the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps said that it lacked the manpower and technology to effectively protect the tracks.
The NSCDC, which is saddled with the responsibility of protecting critical government infrastructure, said it didn’t have sufficient manpower and technology to protect the rail tracks and other national assets across the country.
The civil defence also accused communities of hosting the infrastructure of conniving with criminal elements to vandalize the national assets in their domains.
The corps lamented the refusal of the host communities to give information to security agencies , accusing them of compromise.
Meanwhile, it was observed that scores of passengers were stranded on Thursday at the Rigasa Train Station in Kaduna State, following the alleged bandits suspected to be terrorists attack on the railway.
Passengers who arrived the train station on Thursday morning to board 10.35am, could not make it to Kaduna.
Scores of the passengers were spotted returning to their various homes with their luggage while those with urgent needs to visit had to go through the road.
