By Adeyinka AderibigbeThe Nigerian Railway Corporation may have lost over N531 million to drop in estimated ticket revenue on the Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge Train service, due to the attack on its operations on March 28, this year, the Managing Director Engr Fidet Okhiria has said.
Okhiria who disclosed said on Wednesday, in a press conference at the headquarters of the Corporation in Lagos said the figure was for the five months between March 28 to August this year.
The Managing Director who expressed regrets that some abductees were still been kept by those who carried out the dastard attack on the train assured that the Federal Government is doing everything humanly possible to get all abducted released without recording any fatality or casualty.
Okhiria said four staff of the corporation were still among those being held, assuring that the Federal Government would ensure that all those still in captivity regain their freedom.
“The whole essence is not to release these people by force, because that could lead to incurring unwarranted collateral damage. That is why the security agencies are bidding their time to negotiate their freedom,” he said.
On efforts being made to provide adequate security on the fixed and rolling assets of the railway, Okhiria said the Federal Government has set up a committee headed by the Permanent Secretary Federal Ministry of Transportation Dr Mrs Magdalene Ajani, to look into the security architecture to be put in place to ensure the adequate security not only on the Abuja-Kaduna Standard Guage, but on all the rail networks in the country.
He said government would be deploying real time technology and security systems that would be complemented by the stationing of security agents at various strategic locations on the Abuja-Kaduna corridor. He urged all Nigerians to continue to rally behind the Federal Government and put an end to attacks on the railway assets across the country.
According to Okhiria, it is sheer acts of wickedness to wilfully attack and vandalise the nation’s common asset with a view to reversing all the gains of the federal government in bequeathing a befitting railway system to Nigerians.
Okhiria debunked reports in the social media which accused the corporation of having stopped the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge Train service.
He said the service has continued to run four scheduled services daily, while the Itakpe Warri train runs two train service daily.He however disclosed that the March 28 attack on the train system had negatively affected the projection of the corporation, as the NRC had projected that the Abuja-Kaduna train which had been suspended since March ought by now to have increased to 12 trips, per day, while the Lagos-Ibadan ought by now to be doing 10 trips per day.
Okhiria disclosed that the astronomic rise in the price of diesel which is now being supplied at over N1000 also contributed to the slowdown of operation, a development which he said the corporation has continued to shoulder without any adjustment to the fares.
The railway chief disclosed that rehabilitation work has gone up to Aba on the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt-Maiduguri narrow gauge rail corridor, while efforts are being doubled to get to Enugu before year end.
Work, according to him is also progressing on Kano-Kaduna corridor, where they are already constructing overpass and bridges at Kano, even as he reported appreciable development on the Kano-Maradi corridor, which hitherto was bogged down by issues of land acquisition.
He said Ibadan-Minna is also being bogged down by land acquisition challenges and discussions are in top gear with government institutions which are already discussing with the corporation.
He said the Baro-Minna rail line which was awarded as a direct contract is being worked on, while the Federal Government is prospecting a consortium to fund the Lagos-Calabar coastal rail line.
“In all the areas we are operating to bring rail system to Nigerians we are determined to ensure that Nigerians are not shortchanged,” Okhiria.
The railway chief said Federal Government has ordered huge stock of rolling stock, even as he disclosed that work is at advanced stage at the Kajola Railway Assembly Plant.
Okhiria said the railway is now more poised to provide freight services to Nigerians as movement of cargo from Apapa Ports would begin in November.