We Are Yet To Achieve Desired Level Of Railway Security, NRC DG Says

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has admitted to the delicate state of the nation’s railway security architecture, following the recent attack on its Igueben sub-station in Edo State.

The NRC Director General, Fidet Okhiria made the assertion while featuring on Channels Television, Sunrise Daily on Tuesday.

Okhiria described the recent incident at Edo train station where at least 32 passengers were abducted as sabotage despite the role of the Corporation in ensuring “nothing went wrong”.

He said, “At this point, we have not gotten to the peak of that security architecture we want in our stations, although it is out of the ordinary; we don’t have that in railway operations.

“We have been liaising with the security agents, the Inspector General of Police, Chief of Defence Staff, Chief of Army Staff and Chief of Air Staff to raise the security committee that the Minister of Transportation, Mu’azu Sambo set up which is made up of military personnel and to ensure that the right people are deployed to our train station and the train.

“I don’t think there is a perfect security situation even the United States still tackles security issues. We just pray that Nigerians change their minds because that is the best way we can live in peace and the earlier we apprehend these evil people the better for everyone.”

He noted that operatives of the Edo police command and other security agencies are making relentless efforts to rescue the remaining abductees, five of which were reported to have been rescued while one escaped.

The Railway DG further disclosed that the abductors may have divided the victims into groups, but security operatives are ahead of the plans.