Gunmen, just two weeks ago, attacked a Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) passenger train from Abuja to Kaduna. The passenger manifest showed there were 362 people “on board the AK9 train service” on March 28. A statement by the corporation’s managing director, Mr. Fidet Okhiria, subsequently, said, “Of the 362 validated passengers on board the attacked AK9 train service on March 28, 186 persons on the manifest are confirmed to be safe and at their various homes (additional 14 persons confirmed safe today (last Sunday)).” He announced that 8 passengers had been confirmed killed in the attack and 22 reported missing by relations.
The train attack happened a day after terrorists reportedly seized Kaduna International Airport, took control of its navigation system and stopped all flights to and from the airport. However, that has been denied by the military that said the attack happened six kilometres outside the airport.
Be that as it may, this new face of terror, in the very heart of the nation’s military fortifications, is disturbing. Kaduna hosts many of the military’s facilities and formations, yet, ironically, so called bandits and terrorists are not deterred. The state governor, Nasir El Rufai, frightened by daring armed men, has made an open call for external mercenaries. He is echoing his Borno colleague Prof. Zullum.
Mercenaries or not is not the question now. What needs to be openly addressed is the revelation by transport minister Rotimi Amaechi that the government dismissed his recommendation of air surveillance of the rail network. He stated in his presentation that the Bureau of Public Procurement had reviewed his plan and had given “a certificate of no objection” for the contract, adding that the project would be funded from the N71.4bn budget of the ministry. He, however, noted that it was just a pilot programme and if it worked, it would be replicated across the country. He said the system would work in such a way that if the rail was tampered with, it would send signals to an observation platform.
According to a memo obtained by a national newspaper during the Federal Executive Council meeting of September 24, 2021, Amaechi recommended that a firm, Mogjan Nigeria Limited, be given the contract worth N3.7bn. The firm, which was incorporated on August 6, 2019, had recorded a turnover of just N84.9m. The memo said ministers in the council questioned the capacity of the firm to deliver as well as the failure of Amaechi to provide enough detail on the efficacy of the equipment.
There was also scanty record of the company’s past projects to prove that it was capable of executing such a project. “We had doubts about the capability of a company, which was formed less than two years prior and had no track record of handling a contract of N3.7bn or a contract on surveillance systems. The company was also to be paid upfront. Our investigation pointed to a conflict of interest,” said a top Presidency official.
It is important to note that it was in the midst of this bureaucratic toing and fro-ing that the bandits struck, as if some Insider leaked the indecision to them. The government did not accept its minister’s suggestion but offered none of its own. The rail service became a sitting duck for the bandits to strike at and they did. The result of indecision is always painful as this train attack has shown.
