NRC gets six high-tech patrol vehicles for Abuja-Kaduna rail line

The Federal Government has presented six Hilux patrol vehicles equipped with radar scanners to the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) for effective monitoring of security solution on the Abuja-Kaduna railway corridor.

Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, while handing over the vehicles to the NRC Managing Director, Mr Fidet Okhiria, at the Idu Train Station, Abuja, said, “We are all aware of the security situation in the country as a whole; we thought about supporting NRC on the security architecture of the Idu-Abuja rail track.”
He also said, “Remember this is a project that has long been completed, commissioned and operational. So this was a project for 2021, at least to improve the security apparatus tor the patrolling of that route and so, the ministry has to procure these vehicles to support the NRC and the Nigeria Police working on that route to effectively police that route and that is why the ministry procured this.”
The minister, represented by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Transportation, Mrs Magdalene Ajani, said the vehicles were “to aid what the security agents are doing. If there is an emergency call, they will be able to move from point A to B and it may not necessarily be along the rail track. It is part of the things that they need to do to keep the place safe.”
According to the minister, most of the rail tracks have security gadgets, just as there are local people patrolling along with the civil defence, the police corps of the Nigerian Railway Corporation.
“But for the movement of the security personnel, we need these vehicles.”
He further said that the vehicles went through a proper procurement process.
Speaking earlier, the Managing Director, NRC, Mr. Fidet Okhiria stated that the move was to show that the corporation had risen up to the security challenges it was facing, adding, “The minister has decided to buy us some vehicles to ease insecurity around the tracks. That is why today, what we are doing is the handing over of the six Hilux vehicles that can be used for patrol, aiding the security personnel in moving about and ensuring that the tracks are secured and guarded.”
On how the vehicles would get to the tracks, the NRC MD said, “If we have issues, like maybe someone is arrested, we have to move there and we have to get there. And we are also to get some machines to put at various stations, two or three machines for easier access so that if there is any report, we can get there in other words, these machines are mainly on ground at areas that are accessible and where is not accessible, we can send the vehicles there and this is a step in a right direction and these vehicles were already in the plan.”