The Managing Director of NRC, Fidet Okhiria, disclosed this during an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria on Monday, January 1.

He started, “What is limiting us is the night operations, and that is not the way trains should operate. The train is meant to operate at all times. People may like to travel in the evening, but because of the security situation in the country, we limit ourselves to the daytime.”

“We intend to bring back passenger and freight trains from Port-Harcourt to Aba, Lagos to Kano, and Kaduna because of the dry ports,” Okhiria said.

According to the NRC DG, this simply means that the corporation will begin six train trips daily on the standard gauge train across the board.

He said, “We are going to increase the number of train trips to six on Lagos-Ibadan, Warri-Itakpe, and Abuja-Kaduna, which means the trips will be three times to and three times fro, making six trips in a day.

“The trips will commence before the second quarter of 2024. Right now, they are running four trips—two up and two down across the board

The organisation said the decision became necessary following rising security challenges.

The incident came barely one year after the March 28, 2022 attack by bandits on the Abuja-Kaduna train, resulting in the death of about 14 passengers while 65 others were abducted.

One of the victims and 21-year-old student of Kaduna State University, Lois Azurfa John, told our correspondent why she declined marriage proposals by the Boko Haram commander while in the custody of the insurgents.

A public announcement by the NRC posted on the passengers’ WhatsApp Group obtained by our correspondent said the closure was “till further notice.”

The statement reads, “Public Announcement: This is to inform our general public and most especially our esteemed passengers, that Ekehen Station has been temporarily closed due to security issues, till further notice.”

Another notice reads, “Due to the incident at Ekehen station on Saturday, WITS 01/ 02 will no longer stop at Ekehen Station. Please advise our customers.”

Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on Saturday evening abducted many passengers waiting to board a train from the Igueben station in Igueben Local Government Area of Edo State to Warri in Delta State, while many others sustained injuries.

The Spokesperson for Edo State Police Command, Chidi Nwabuzor, confirmed the incident in a statement.

According to him, the abductors, armed with AK 47, invaded the train station and shot sporadically into the air before abducting scores of intending travellers into the bush.

Nwabuzor said that many of the passengers sustained bullet wounds, assuring that operatives were on the trail of the abductors with an aim to rescue those the kidnappers herded into the bush.

He said, “This is to inform the gentlemen of the press that on January 7, 2023, at about 1600hrs, an unspecified number of herdsmen armed with AK-47 riffles attacked the train station at Igueben, Edo State and kidnapped an unspecified number of passengers who were waiting to board the train to Warri.

“The kidnappers who shot sporadically into the air before kidnapping some passengers left some persons with bullet wounds. The Area Commander Irrua, DPO Igueben Division, and men have visited the scene of the crime with members of the Edo State Security Network, local vigilantes, and hunters with a view to protecting the lives and property of the remaining passengers.

“Bush combing operations have commenced in order to rescue the victims and arrest the fleeing kidnappers. Further developments will be communicated.”

Multiple sources in the Ministry of Transportation and the NRC  confided in one of our correspondents that the train services would not resume until the security along the Lagos-Kano route and the Ajaokuta train station  was guaranteed.

It was also learnt that the NRC  suspended services at the Ajaokuta station along Warri-Itakpe route because of the attack on some passengers by gunmen on Monday.

It was gathered that the Lagos-Kano train services were suspended because of the high level of insecurity in Niger and Kaduna states, which are the routes of the train heading to Kano from Lagos.

The NRC Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, confirmed the suspension of the train services at the Ajaokuta station and the Lagos-Kano route.

Speaking on the services along the Warri-Itakpe route, he stated, “We have not stopped (services), rather what we said was that we are not going to be stopping at the Ajaokuta station.

“This is because yesterday (Monday), while passengers were leaving the station with their private cars and buses, they had people shooting at them. So we said we will not stop there again for passengers.

The train is still running, but for now we will not be stopping at Ajaokuta because they have some concerns there. We heard that they removed their traditional ruler in that location and the local government chairman there.”

According to him, apart from the Abuja-Kaduna route, the corporation had also suspended services on the Lagos-Kano route because of security concerns.

Asked if there was any other train service that was not operating aside from the Abuja-Kaduna service, the NRC boss said, “No, apart from the Lagos to Kano (train service) because the Kaduna route is affected by the activities of bandits; and it (Lagos-Kano route) was stopped because we have to pass through Minna and Kaduna when heading to Kano. So we have to stop it for now.”

The Federal Government had on August 13, 2021, resumed the operations of the Lagos-Kano train service.

The Regional District Manager, Northern District of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mr. Ismail Adebiyi, disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on August 8.

In March, this year, the corporation denied reports that it had suspended the Lagos-Kano train service after a derailment in Jebba, Kwara State in February.

Okhiria, however, stated that the Federal Government had improved the security on the trains, adding that more men from the police and civil defence were being deployed to protect the facilities.

We have asked them to intensify security by giving us more policemen and civil defence officers,” he stated.

According to him, the Lagos-Ibadan train service was still running, adding that other services aside from the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Kano services were also operating.

After the bombing of the Abuja-Kaduna train, the government had adopted some measures to boost security on the train services.

In April, the NRC announced that beginning from May this year, it would start linking the profiles of its train passengers with their National Identification Numbers.

Also in April, the government directed the corporation to handover tickets and passengers’ identification to Secure ID, the company in charge of the e-ticketing platform for Abuja-Kaduna rail service.