A Nigerian Air Force Fighter jet will henceforth escort the Abuja-Kaduna train when it resumes operations.
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi disclosed this when he visited victims of the train attack at the 44 Nigerian Army Reference Hospital in Kaduna on Wednesday.
“The Nigerian Air Force used to escort the train but for the past one or two weeks, they said the weather has been so bad that they can’t fly”, Amaechi said.
”They say it’s below 500 and if it’s below 500 they will run into an accident, so they have not been flying that is why this attack was successful.
”They said they have resumed flying now and any time we are ready to travel they will have to escort the train”, he said.
Amaechi also disclosed that President Buhari has approved the employment of villagers to keep watch of the tracks in the next six-seven months.
He said the villagers would provide some security watch until some electronic surveillance equipment are installed.
”If they see any thing they suspect they should let us know so that we can let the security know.
”All these are measures we will take until we install the security equipment.”
He said that the Department of State Security Services would be involved in recruiting the villagers to ensure that those recruited were not informants to terrorists.
He said President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the immediate repair of the damaged Abuja-Kaduna rail track.
Work would commence in earnest so as to resume operations, he said.