ABUJA-KADUNA RAILWAY: FGN PROCURES HITECH TRUCKS, SCANNERS TO BOOST SECURITY

Oru Leonard

The Federal Ministry of Transportation has handed over six operational vehicles equipped with state of the art gadgets to help secure the Abuja-Kaduna rail line.

The Minister, Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Dr Magdalene Ajani While handing over the vehicles to the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), disclosed that the government is doing everything possible to secure the country as a whole but, the minister thought about supporting NRC on the security architecture of the Abuja-Kaduna rail track.

“At least to improve the security apparatus for the patrolling of that route and so, the ministry has to procure these vehicles to support NRC and the Nigeria Police working non stop on that route to effectively police that route and that is why the minister procured this.

“Remember this is a project that has long being completed, commissioned and is operational, so this was a project for 2021, at least to improve the security apparatus for the patrolling of that route and so, the ministry has to procure these vehicles to support NRC and the Nigeria Police working on that route to effectively police that route”.

“The security apparatus we have for most of the rail track has a number of components into it. We have the local people that are patrolling, the Civil Defence, the police corps of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, and we have locations where stations are, where we need the security men to be able to move from one location to the other in addition to the fact that we are also looking at surveillance applications and fibre optical equipment too but for the movement of the security, we need these vehicles.

“The vehicles are not meant to be plying on the rail tracks, it is to aid what the security agents are doing. If there is an emergency call, they will be able to move from point A to B and it may not necessarily be along the rail track. It is part of the things that they need to do to keep the place safe. ”

Even though the cost of the facility was not disclosed, Ajani said the vehicles were acquired through a proper procurement process.

Speaking, the Board Chairman, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) Engr. Ibrahim Alhassan, noted that the gesture by the Ministry is a wake-up call to show that the NRC cannot do it alone without support of other institutions in government, organizations and private sector as well as anyone that can assist to make life easier and safer for the passengers.

He stated that the vehicles and the scanners are going to be deployed to give NRC a backup to do whatever they need to do, adding that the NRC needs mobility as security personnel cannot just sit at a place.

In his words, “The insecurity in this country is something else, it is unprecedented. We have seen things happen in other countries where Nigeria has helped out with insecurity, but unfortunately, we have been on peacekeeping missions and other things in other countries but here, nobody is offering a helping hand.

“I think what the Ministry has done is very welcomed, we really appreciate it and we feel that we are not alone, we are being supported. By and large, the operations we run are more or less kind of social security operations. Without the trains a lot of people would not be able to travel. When the last unfortunate incident happened when we did not run for two days a lot of people could not travel.

“So, we need to be able to distribute these vehicles to our various operational locations so that we can monitor and patrol. Patrol and monitoring is key and the scanners will provide additional security so that passengers boarding will be safe”, he remarked.

According to him “What we are doing is the handing over of the six Hilux vehicles that can be used as patrol vehicles in aiding the security personnel in moving about and ensuring the tracks.”

“Today Technology is growing up and we have to advance in technology that can detect the tiniest explosives.

Also speaking, the NRC Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria said the vehicles will operate within the stations that are accessible, noting also that the NRC is considering having a railroad as well as a digitized audio and video system where alarm can be raised when the track is tampered with.

“This is to show that we are rising up to the challenges we are facing with security. The Minister decided to buy some vehicles, the six Hilux vehicles will be used to aid the security personnel in moving about so that the tracks are properly patrolled and guided. The purchase of the vehicles was already in the process before the attack on the Abuja-Kaduna track.

“NRC is expecting a lot of scanners such as the luggage, walkthrough and parcel scanners and we are working with the trends in technology to have scanners that can detect explosives no matter how minute they are. We have five explosive detectors here, there are more than these, the rest are in Lagos”, he said.

While receiving the keys to the six Hilux vehicles, he said, “On behalf of the Board, Management of Railway and Nigerians, we say thanks to the Minister and the Permanent Secretary for this marvelous gesture. You know, without logistics for easy movement, even when you catch a thief and there is nothing to move him, it will be a difficult thing. This is a good gesture and just the beginning because we know better things are coming. Thanks and God bless you”.

Recall that during a recent in inspection of the CCECC projects in Kano and Katsina respectively, the Honourable Minister of Transportation, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi has said that the vigor by which the Federal Government is pushing to connect the country through its radical ongoing rail projects should not be misconstrued as a ploy to sway Nigerians ahead of the 2023 general elections.