Abuja-Kaduna: Senate Urges China To Rescue Train Attack Victims

The joint committee on land transportation has urged the Chinese Civil Engineering Construction Company, (CCECC) to collaborate with the federal government to hasten actions to rescue the abducted passengers on the Abuja-Kaduna rail attack.

The train attack occurred on March 28th, 2022 in Katari, Kaduna State, Nigeria. More than 160 passengers were on a train, and many were abducted.

The chairman senate committee, Abdulfatai Buhari, who led its members on an oversight function from Abuja to Ibadan said, harping on the need for support on security from the Chinese government to forestall further attacks and help address challenges by putting technology in place which includes WiFi and other measures.

The Senate chairman added that it was unfortunate that abducted passengers had been in captivity for more than forty-seven days appealing that all hands must be on deck to rescue them.

He also called on the China Civil engineering Construction company to work hand in hand with relevant Federal Ministries to provide access roads and enhance electricity supply to improve service delivery by the Nigerian Railway Corporation on the Lagos-Ibadan standard rail gauge.

Speaking on the security measures, he noted that there should be facilities like cameras that can see beyond any limit, when the train is moving, it will have visibility of about two to four miles, to see that road that has been interjected.

“This will curb the security issues and add to our security measures because if the measures are not there is like we are putting money into the dust bin he added”.

In an interview, the NRC’s Managing Director, Fidet Okhira, represented by Director Operations, Niyi Alli, said the corporation had set up situation rooms and working with security agencies to rescue abducted passengers and was committed to putting technology and additional measures in place address security challenges and collaborating with the construction company on three years technical support.