Nigerian Air Force jets would start escorting trains to protect them from any kind of security threat and attack, Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has said.
The Minister disclosed this in Kaduna on Wednesday when he took an on-the-spot assessment of the scene of attack of an Abuja-Kaduna train by bandits.
He said security measures were already being put in place, adding that President Muhammadu Buhari has started giving directives on what should be done, adding that efforts were now on to install security sensors on the tracks
Amaechi also revealed that repair of the rail bombed by the bandits would soon commence. “I’m sure by the time we finish the repair of the rail tracks, we would have gotten approval for the security equipment and we would possibly have installed it.
“But even if it hasn’t been installed yet, we have spoken with the management of the Nigerian Air Force to escort the trains. They were previously escorting the trains, but recently the weather has been very bad and visibility dropped to below 500 metres, so they couldn’t fly.
“So, they’ve not been flying and this is why this (the attack) was successful. They have resumed flying and will escort the trains when we resume.”
The minister said Buhari has approved that the ministry should employ people who would work on rail tracks for the next six to seven months until the security equipment was installed.
“We intend to employ villagers on the corridor so that they can report any suspicious movement to us and the security agencies,” he stated.
Amaechi said the Army had given maximum medical care to the patients, who were brought to the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital, Kaduna.
He stated, “They treated the patients with bomb wounds and for the lady with gun wounds in her heart, they are bringing in a specialist, a cardiologist, to attend to her.”
