The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) yesterday said 14 of the 21 abducted passengers on board the Abuja-Kaduna train on the standard gauge rail have been found alive.
Its Managing Director, Mr Fidet Okhiria, gave an update on the March 28 attack by terrorists at the Kateri-Rijana area of Kaduna State.
He said 362 validated passengers were on board the attacked AK9 train service.
It was not clear whether the abducted family of six and the Managing Director of the Bank of the Agriculture (BoA), Alwan Ali Hassan, were among those found.
There were also doubts yesterday on whether the train and the passengers were insured.
Okhiria told The Nation that the train was insured, but he did not provide details on the company and how much will be paid as compensation to victims.
“No fewer than 186 persons on the manifest are confirmed to be safe and at their various homes with additional 14 persons confirmed safe today (yesterday).
“Also, 51 phone numbers on the manifest are either switched off or not reachable since Tuesday morning.
“A total of 35 phone numbers on the manifest are ringing but no response from the other end.
“Another 60 phone numbers on the manifest when called respond non-existent.
“A total of 22 persons are reported missing by their relatives while eight persons are confirmed dead.
“Two coaches (SP 00016 and SP 00017) earlier re-railed were safely moved to Rigasa station, bringing the total number of recovered coaches safely moved to NRC stations to seven,” Okhiria said.
According to him, intensive work continues on track repairs, adding that more concrete sleepers were moved to the site while some sections of the twisted tracks had been straightened.
Also yesterday, activist-lawyer Femi Falana (SAN) asked President Muhammadu Buhari to order the Inspector General of Police (IG) to prosecute Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi and Okhiria for alleged criminal negligence over the attack.
The Interim Chair of the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB) said the attack was caused “by want of reasonable care, diligence or skill on the part of the Corporation or its servants.”
In a statement, Falana said: “Both Amaechi and Okhiria knew that the Abuja-Kaduna train was not safe; they kept on giving passengers a false sense of security.
“Since both of them knew that the tragedy that befell the nation last week was waiting to happen and did not adopt measures to prevent it, the President should direct the Inspector-General of Police to investigate and prosecute them for criminal negligence.
“Both of them should not be allowed to continue to risk the lives of train passengers in the country.
“In other words, top officials of the NRC and the Ministry of Transportation are liable for the criminal negligence that caused the bomb attack.”
Falana recalled Amaechi saying the attack could have been prevented had the train been equipped with vital security surveillance.
The SAN slammed Okhiria for attributing an explosion on October 21 last year on the rail track to vandals without investigation.
He said Amaechi and the NRC chief had also given assurances that trains on the dangerous route were sell-secured.
Falana said had not denied that a company he recommended to fix the security surveillance on the train was rejected by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) last September for incompetence.
“It means that for the past seven months, the minister abandoned the security surveillance for some inexplicable reasons,” he said.
The SAN advised that the resumption of train services on the route should not be allowed until the security gadgets are fixed.
He added that instead of enriching incompetent contractors and thereby risking the lives of passengers, the Chinese contractors on the rail projects should be invited to install security surveillance on the Abuja-Kaduna trains and others without any further delay.
Pleading with the Federal Government to intensify the search for the 146 passengers whose whereabouts are unknown, he urged the injured passengers and the families of the deceased to sue the Ministry of Transportation and the NRC for aggravated compensation as they are vicariously liable for the tragic incident.
“For the avoidance of doubt, section 78(1) of the NRC Act provides that ‘the Corporation shall not be liable for personal injury to, or loss of life of a passenger unless the personal injury or loss of life is caused by want of reasonable care, diligence or skill on the part of the Corporation or its servants.” The Nation
