The Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed that he warned about possible attacks on the rail line and tracks that could lead to loss of lives and property before the Abuja-Kaduna terror attack that claimed lives on Monday.
To prevent this, the minister noted that he had requested for necessary digital security and crime prevention equipment that could forestall such disaster, but was not approved.
Briefing journalists after visiting the scene of the incident on Tuesday, the minister expressed dissatisfaction over the incident, which he claimed, could have been averted with relevant digital security equipment in place.
According to him, we knew what the problem would be. We knew we needed to have digital security equipment. We applied for it.
He said, “Because if we had those equipment, you will see nobody on that track. And I warned that lives will be lost. Now, lives are lost. Eight persons dead, 25 persons in the hospital.We don’t know how many persons have been kidnapped. And the cost of that equipment is just N3 billion. The cost of what we’ve lost is more than N3 billion. We’ve lost tracks, we’ve lost locomotives and coaches. We’ve lost human beings. And the equipment is just N3 billion. To fix all the things on that track now, will cost us more than N3 billion. And now even the things we said give us approval to buy – at the time we asked for it, dollar was N400, now it is N500. When you come with sincerity to government and your colleagues and people are stopping you, it is annoying.”